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Mental Hygiene Law § 15.01 · Article 15. Admission of People With Developmental Disabilities to Schools

Definitions

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 15.01 Definitions.

As used in this article:

"in need of care and treatment" means that a person has a developmental disability and would benefit from care and treatment as a resident in a school.

"in need of involuntary care and treatment" means that a person is in need of in-patient care and treatment as a resident in a school, that such care and treatment is essential to his or her welfare, and that his or her judgment is so impaired that he or she is unable to understand the need for such care and treatment and that he or she poses a real and present risk of substantial physical harm to himself or herself or others.

"need for retention" means that a person who has been admitted to a school pursuant to this article is in need of involuntary care and treatment in a school for a further period.

"record" of a patient shall consist of admission, transfer or retention papers and orders, and accompanying data required by this article and by the regulations of the commissioner.

"director of community services" means the director of community services for the mentally disabled appointed pursuant to article eleven of this chapter.

any provisions of this article which explicitly or implicitly apply to, or reference, persons who are, or who are alleged to be, mentally retarded shall be deemed to apply to, or to be a reference to, persons who are, or who are alleged to be, developmentally disabled.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/MHY15.01
Text hash
sha256 4da9bf00869ab4ead4ec3f70b7aedfb2edb5e553d4d6a2a1be08701e4aded762
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.