Bill Text: NY A03116 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Directs counties and the city of New York to contact a veterans' organization to provide for the disposition of the unclaimed remains of a deceased veteran when such veteran has no next of kin or other person designated to provide for the disposition of his or her remains; provides process.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-06-08 - substituted by s454a [A03116 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03116-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         3116--A

                               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  -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the general municipal law  and  the  veterans'  services
          law,  in  relation  to  directing counties and the city of New York to
          request a congressionally chartered 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 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] one of the veterans' services law, or who has a qual-
     7  ifying condition as defined in section one of the veterans' services law
     8  and  has received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable, or
     9  is a discharged LGBT veteran as defined in section one of the  veterans'
    10  services  law  and  has  received  a discharge other than bad conduct or
    11  dishonorable, who died in a county or the city of New  York  leaving  no
    12  funds or insurance sufficient to pay funeral and burial expenses of such
    13  veteran  and  such veteran has no next of kin or person of record previ-
    14  ously designated to control his or her  final  disposition  pursuant  to
    15  section  four  thousand  two  hundred one of the public health law, such
    16  county or the city of New York [may]  shall  request  a  congressionally
    17  chartered  veterans'  organization  within the county or the city of New
    18  York where the decedent resided at the time  of  death,  to  engage  the
    19  services of a funeral firm to conduct the funeral and burial services.
    20    §  2.  Section  4 of the veterans' services law is amended by adding a
    21  new subdivision 38 to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02695-03-3
        A. 3116--A                          2

     1    38. To develop an application process  for  congressionally  chartered
     2  veterans'  organizations  to  receive  reimbursement of costs associated
     3  with funeral and burial  services  for  indigent  veterans  pursuant  to
     4  subdivision  one-a  of  section  one  hundred forty-eight of the general
     5  municipal  law.  The  application  shall  contain  information about the
     6  funeral firm whose services were engaged pursuant to section one hundred
     7  forty-eight of the general municipal law and any other information  that
     8  the  department may require. The application must be signed and dated by
     9  the supervising funeral director.
    10    § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
    11  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.