Bill Text: NY A08095 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Directs the division of veterans' services to maintain a discharge upgrade advisory board program to provide written non-binding advisory opinions to veterans of the state of New York who are appealing their character of discharge from the discharge review board or the board for corrections of military or naval records for their branch of service on the federal level.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)

Status: (Passed) 2019-11-11 - signed chap.481 [A08095 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A08095-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8095--A

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 31, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. BARRETT, D'URSO, BLAKE, CUSICK, ASHBY -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on Veterans'  Affairs  --  reported
          and  referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee discharged,
          bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and  recommitted  to  the
          Committee on Rules

        AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to directing the division
          of  veterans'  services to maintain a discharge upgrade advisory board
          program

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 353 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
     2  subdivision 24 to read as follows:
     3    24.  To maintain a discharge upgrade advisory board program within the
     4  division to provide written non-binding advisory opinions to veterans of
     5  the state of New York appealing their character of  discharge  from  the
     6  discharge  review board or the board for corrections of military records
     7  for their branch of service on the federal level. Individuals may submit
     8  an application with evidence, including all  relevant  documents,  which
     9  shall  be  reviewed by the discharge upgrade advisory board program in a
    10  timely manner. If such board  finds  the  veteran's  application  for  a
    11  discharge upgrade is meritorious, then the board will provide the veter-
    12  an  with  a written opinion advocating for the discharge review board or
    13  board for corrections of military or naval records to grant that  veter-
    14  an's  appeal.  The  division  shall  post  information  on the discharge
    15  upgrade advisory board program  on  its  official  webpage.  The  annual
    16  report  required  by  subdivision  eleven  of this section shall contain
    17  information including, but not limited to, the number of cases reviewed,
    18  and the number of cases where a veteran's application was  found  to  be
    19  meritorious.
    20    §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    21  have become a law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13121-02-9