STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3116 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 2, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to directing counties and the city of New York to request a congressionally char- tered veterans' organization to arrange for the funeral and burial of a deceased veteran who has no next of kin or other person to make such arrangements The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1-a of section 148 of the 2 general municipal law, as amended by chapter 29 of the laws of 2016, is 3 amended and a new paragraph (f) is added to read as follows: 4 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in the case 5 of a veteran, as defined in section forty-two hundred three of the 6 public health law, who died in a county or the city of New York leaving 7 no funds or insurance sufficient to pay funeral and burial expenses of 8 such veteran and such veteran has no next of kin or person of record 9 previously designated to control his or her final disposition pursuant 10 to section four thousand two hundred one of the public health law, such 11 county or the city of New York [may] shall request a congressionally 12 chartered veterans' organization within the county or the city of New 13 York where the decedent resided at the time of death, to engage the 14 services of a funeral firm to conduct the funeral and burial services. 15 (f) (i) Such veterans' organization and/or the funeral firm engaged to 16 provide such services may make application to the division of veterans' 17 services for indigent burial reimbursement as provided in this section 18 as joint claimant with the veterans' organization, or with the consent 19 of such veterans' organization. 20 (ii) If such veterans' organization declines such request for any 21 reason, a county or the city of New York may directly engage the 22 services of a funeral firm which shall then serve as a sole claimant. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02695-01-3
A. 3116 2 1 (iii) The application form shall also contain the following informa- 2 tion about the funeral firm whose services are being engaged: (1) name; 3 (2) full address; (3) telephone; (4) e-mail address; (5) name of funeral 4 director supervising the services; (6) the supervising funeral direc- 5 tor's license number; and (7) any other information the director of the 6 division of veterans' services may require. 7 (iv) Such application must also be signed and dated by the supervising 8 funeral director. 9 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 10 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.