ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson signed dozens of bills into law Thursday aimed at cracking down on bad doctors and improving training to control infection in hospitals.

Now any disciplinary charge against a physician will be made public, instead of being kept secret until a case is proved. Investigations can take six months.

Paterson said the bills he signed will improve patient safety.

Sen. Kemp Hannon, a Nassau County Republican, said the measures he sponsored are a collaboration between legislators and the Democratic governor.

The goal is to give the Office of Professional Medical Conduct more power and oversight of physicians, to provide more information to New Yorkers in the case of public health threats, and to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

In 2007, the state Health Department received 8,163 complaints against doctors. Of those, officials opened 4,151 investigations. Ultimately charges were brought against just 311 physicians. Health officials said the vast majority of those were sustained, meaning the doctor was found guilty of misconduct.

“Strengthening the disciplinary system for physicians and giving the public more information, combined with enhancing infection control measures, is vital to the safety of all of our citizens,” Paterson said.

Hannon, the Senate Health Committee chairman, said the measures will clarify the Health Department's power in taking action against dangerous physicians.

The infection-related measures were, in part, a reaction to Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist from Long Island accused of dipping syringes more than once into vials of medicine, contaminating the drugs and infecting at least one person with hepatitis.

Paterson also vetoed a slew of costly bills.

In other action, Paterson:

• Signed the textbook access act requiring colleges and universities to provide greater transparency, choice and pricing of textbooks and other college resources they require students to buy. The bill aims to end “bundling” by companies and other practices that can unnecessarily cost students more.

• Signed a bill into law that requires greater training for prospective teachers, current teachers and administrators in recognizing autism and the needs of children with autism.

Paterson also vetoed 34 bills, including:

• Two bills to protect older New Yorkers. One would have required the Department of Transportation to identify areas with a high rate of pedestrian accidents involving the elderly, with an eye for taking action. Another would have created a “fall and injury preventing program” along with an “injury prevention coordinating council.” Paterson said the bills' flaws include a lack of funding.

•  Two bills to foster entrepreneurship. One would have opened more economic development funds to entrepreneurs and create a $25,000 “entrepreneur of the year award.”

• A bill that would have avoided more than $5 million in state and local sales tax over two years in the purchase of television converters. The bill would have waived sales tax in the purchase of analog converter boxes that older TVs will need to work beginning Feb. 17 when signals are broadcast digitally.

• A bill that would have allowed a worker's seniority - rather than the needs of a state agency - to be a determining factor in who is transferred.

The union-backed bill had been vetoed five times by previous governors.

“I do not believe that placing a straitjacket on agency discretion in this manner is the best approach for managing state government,” Paterson stated in his veto message.

On the Net:

http://www.state.ny.us