AN ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH; EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF MEDICAL TESTS REQUIRED FOR NEWBORN CHILDREN.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 24-1-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 359, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

     "24-1-6. TESTS REQUIRED FOR NEWBORN INFANTS.--

          A. The department shall adopt screening tests for the detection of congenital diseases that shall be given to every newborn infant, except that, after being informed of the reasons for the tests, the parents or guardians of the newborn child may waive the requirements for the tests in writing. The screening tests shall include at a minimum:

                (1) 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA deficiency;

                (2) 3-OH 3-CH3 glutaric aciduria;

                (3) argininosuccinic acidemia;

                (4) mitochondrial acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase deficiency;

                (5) biotinidase deficiency;

                (6) carnitine uptake defect;

                (7) citrullinemia;

                (8) congenital adrenal hyperplasia;

                (9) congenital hypothyroidism;

                (10) cystic fibrosis;

                (11) galactosemia;

                (12) glutaric acidemia type I;

                (13) Hb S/beta-thalassemia;

                (14) hearing deficiency;

                (15) homocystinuria;

                (16) isovaleric academia;

                (17) long-chain L-3-OH acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency;

                (18) maple syrup urine disease;

                (19) medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency;

                (20) methylmalonic acidemia;

                (21) multiple carboxylase deficiency;

                (22) phenylketonuria;

                (23) proponic acidemia;

                (24) sickle cell anemia;

                (25) trifunctional protein deficiency;

                (26) tyrosinemia type I; and

                (27) very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency.

          B.  In determining which other congenital diseases to screen for, the secretary shall consider the recommendations of the New Mexico pediatrics society of the American academy of pediatrics.

          C. The department shall institute and carry on such laboratory services or may contract with another agency or entity to provide such services as are necessary to detect the presence of congenital diseases.

          D. The department shall, as necessary, carry on an educational program among physicians, hospitals, public health nurses and the public concerning congenital diseases.

          E. The department shall require that all hospitals or institutions having facilities for childbirth perform or have performed screening tests for congenital diseases on all newborn infants except if the parents or guardians of a child object to the tests in writing."

     Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The provisions of this act shall become effective upon appropriation to expand screening tests for newborn infants for detection of congenital diseases contained in Senate Bill 190 or similar legislation in the first session of the forty-seventh legislature becoming law.

HB 479

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