STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6538 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 5, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SCHIAVONI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs AN ACT to amend the county law, the labor law, the mental hygiene law, the military law, the public health law and the real property tax law, in relation to changing references to the name of the division of veterans' services to the department of veterans' services 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 10 of section 677 of the coun- 2 ty law, as added by chapter 95 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 (a) The coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner shall report 5 to the [division] department of veterans' services, in a form, and time 6 frame developed by the department of health in a manner that is protec- 7 tive of privacy and contains aggregate, rather than individual data to 8 the extent practicable, any death which appears to be caused by suicide 9 by a person who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's physician or 10 medical examiner, is a veteran. 11 § 2. Section 201-h of the labor law, as added by chapter 584 of the 12 laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows: 13 § 201-h. Posting of veterans' benefits and services. 1. The department 14 shall consult with the [division] department of veterans' services to 15 create and distribute a veterans' benefits and services poster. 16 2. Such poster shall, at a minimum, include information regarding the 17 following services available to veterans: 18 a. contact and website information for the [division] department of 19 veterans' services and the [department's] department of labor's veter- 20 ans' program; 21 b. substance abuse and mental health treatment; 22 c. educational, workforce, and training resources; 23 d. tax benefits; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10556-01-5
A. 6538 2 1 e. New York state veteran drivers' licenses and non-driver identifica- 2 tion cards; 3 f. eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits under state and/or 4 federal law; 5 g. legal services; and 6 h. contact information for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 7 Veterans Crisis Line. 8 3. Every employer in the state with more than fifty full-time equiv- 9 alent employees shall display the poster created pursuant to this 10 section in a conspicuous place accessible to employees in the workplace. 11 § 3. Subdivision (a) of section 33.27 of the mental hygiene law as 12 separately amended by chapters 517 and 522 of the laws of 2022, is 13 amended to read as follows: 14 (a) There is hereby established the office of the independent 15 substance use disorder and mental health ombudsman program that will be 16 operated or selected by the office of addiction services and supports, 17 in consultation with the office of mental health for the purpose of 18 assisting individuals with a substance use disorder and/or mental 19 illness to ensure that they receive appropriate health insurance cover- 20 age. The office of addiction services and supports in consultation with 21 the office of mental health shall provide annual outreach services to 22 other state and local entities, including but not limited to the [divi- 23 sion] department of veterans' services, the office for people with 24 developmental disabilities, the office of children and family services, 25 the department of corrections, or providers contracted by such agencies 26 to provide assistance to the impacted populations to make them aware of 27 the independent substance use disorder and mental health ombudsman 28 program and the assistance they provide. 29 § 4. Subdivisions 1-d and 1-e of section 247 of the military law, 30 subdivision 1-d as added by chapter 582 of the laws of 2022 and subdivi- 31 sion 1-e as added by chapter 583 of the laws of 2022 and separately 32 renumbered by chapters 609 and 610 of the laws of 2023, are amended to 33 read as follows: 34 1-d. The governor is hereby authorized to present in the name of the 35 legislature of the state of New York, a medal, to be known as the "New 36 York State Vietnam War Commemorative Medal", bearing a suitable 37 inscription, to any person: (i) who is a resident of the state of New 38 York; or (ii) who was a resident of the state of New York while serving 39 in the armed forces of the United States; (iii) who served in the United 40 States Armed Forces, defined as army, air force, navy, marine corps, or 41 coast guard, or the organized militia defined as the army national 42 guard, the air national guard, the New York naval militia, or the New 43 York guard, on active duty abroad in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, 44 or in the contiguous waters or air space thereof during the period of 45 time from November first, nineteen hundred fifty-five through May 46 seventh, nineteen hundred seventy-five; and (iv) who was honorably 47 discharged or released under honorable circumstances or who has a quali- 48 fying condition, as defined in section [three hundred fifty] one of the 49 [executive] veterans' services law, and received a discharge other than 50 bad conduct or dishonorable discharge, or is a discharged LGBT veteran, 51 as defined in section [three hundred fifty] one of the [executive] 52 veterans' services law, and received a discharge other than bad conduct 53 or dishonorable discharge. No person shall receive more than one New 54 York State Vietnam War Commemorative Medal. In the event of the death of 55 any eligible person prior to the receipt of such commemorative medal, 56 such commemorative medal shall be presented to the designated represen-
A. 6538 3 1 tative of the deceased. The adjutant general, in consultation with the 2 director of the [division] department of veterans' services, shall make 3 such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary for the proper 4 presentation and distribution of such medals. 5 1-e. The governor is hereby authorized to present in the name of the 6 legislature of the state of New York, a medal, to be known as the "New 7 York State Korean War Commemorative Medal", bearing a suitable 8 inscription, to any person: (i) who is a resident of the state of New 9 York, or (ii) who was a resident of the state of New York while serving 10 in the armed forces of the United States; (iii) who served in the United 11 States Armed Forces, defined as army, air force, navy, marine corps, or 12 coast guard, or the organized militia defined as the army national 13 guard, the air national guard, the New York naval militia or the New 14 York guard, on active duty on the Korean peninsula, its contiguous 15 waters, or its airspace in the Korean War defined as the period of time 16 from June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred fifty through January thir- 17 ty-first, nineteen hundred fifty-five; and (iv) who was honorably 18 discharged or released under honorable circumstances or who has a quali- 19 fying condition, as defined in section [three hundred fifty] one of the 20 [executive] veterans' services law, and received a discharge other than 21 bad conduct or dishonorable discharge, or is a discharged LGBT veteran, 22 as defined in section [three hundred fifty] one of the [executive] 23 veterans' services law, and received a discharge other than bad conduct 24 or dishonorable discharge. No person shall receive more than one New 25 York State Korean War Commemorative Medal. In the event of the death of 26 any person prior to the receipt of such commemorative medal, such comme- 27 morative medal shall be presented to the designated representative of 28 the deceased. The adjutant general, in consultation with the director of 29 the [division] department of veterans' services, shall make such rules 30 and regulations as may be deemed necessary for the proper presentation 31 and distribution of such medals. 32 § 5. Paragraph (y) of subdivision 1 of section 201 of the public 33 health law, as added by chapter 95 of the laws of 2022, is amended to 34 read as follows: 35 (y) To develop a form by which a coroner, coroner's physician or 36 medical examiner, pursuant to section six hundred seventy-seven of the 37 county law, shall report to the [division] department of veterans' 38 services any death which appears to be caused by suicide by a person 39 who, to the knowledge of the coroner, coroner's physician or medical 40 examiner, is a veteran. This form shall at a minimum: (i) ensure 41 compliance with the strictest privacy protections and encourage data 42 aggregation to the extent feasible; (ii) provide the address to which 43 the form is to be mailed or submitted electronically; and (iii) include 44 the county of residence and the branch of service of deceased veterans 45 during the reporting period. 46 § 6. Subdivision 3 of section 2805-o of the public health law, as 47 added by chapter 75 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows: 48 3. Every nursing home, residential health care facility and every 49 adult care facility licensed and certified by the department pursuant to 50 title two of article seven of the social services law or article forty- 51 six-B of this chapter, including all adult homes, enriched housing 52 programs, residences for adults, assisted living programs, and assisted 53 living residences, with the permission of individuals identifying them- 54 selves as veterans or spouses of veterans, shall transmit such veteran 55 status information to the [division] department of veterans' services.
A. 6538 4 1 § 7. Subdivision 10 of section 458 of the real property tax law, as 2 added by section 35 of part AA of chapter 56 of the laws of 2019, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 10. The commissioner shall develop in consultation with the director 5 of the New York state [division] department of veterans' services a 6 listing of documents to be used to establish eligibility under this 7 section, including but not limited to a certificate of release or 8 discharge from active duty also known as a DD-214 form or an Honorable 9 Service Certificate/Report of Causality from the department of defense. 10 Such information shall be made available to each county, city, town or 11 village assessor's office, or congressional chartered veterans service 12 officers who request such information. The listing of acceptable mili- 13 tary records shall be made available on the internet websites of the 14 [division] department of veterans' services and the office of real prop- 15 erty tax services. 16 § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.