Bill Text: NY S05489 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Provides for taxpayer gifts for lupus education and prevention, and establishes the lupus education and prevention fund and outreach program.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-14 - SUBSTITUTED BY A2788B [S05489 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S05489-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5489--A
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     March 31, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens. PARKER, HOYLMAN -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when printed to be committed to the  Committee  on  Investigations
          and  Government  Operations  --  committee  discharged,  bill amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN ACT to amend the tax law and the state finance law,  in  relation  to
          providing  for  taxpayer gifts for lupus education and prevention, and
          establishing the lupus education  and  prevention  fund  and  outreach
          program
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Legislative  intent.  The  legislature  hereby  finds  the
     2  following:
     3    (a)  Lupus is a serious, complex, debilitating autoimmune disease that
     4  can cause inflammation and tissue damage to virtually any  organ  system
     5  in  the body, including the skin, joints, other connective tissue, blood
     6  and blood vessels, heart, lungs, kidney, and brain.
     7    (b) Lupus research estimates that approximately one and a half to  two
     8  million Americans live with some form of lupus; lupus affects women nine
     9  times more often than men and eighty percent of newly diagnosed cases of
    10  lupus develop among women of childbearing age.
    11    (c)  Lupus  disproportionately  affects women of color -- it is two to
    12  three times more common among African-Americans, Hispanics,  Asians  and
    13  Native Americans and is generally more prevalent in minority populations
    14  -- a health disparity that remains unexplained. According to the Centers
    15  for  Disease  Control  and  Prevention  the  rate of lupus mortality has
    16  increased since the late 1970s and is higher among older  African-Ameri-
    17  can women.
    18    (d) No new drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-
    19  tration  specifically  for lupus in nearly forty years and while current
    20  treatments for the disease can be effective, they can lead  to  damaging
    21  side effects.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03211-04-7
        S. 5489--A                          2
     1    (e)  The  pain and fatigue associated with lupus can threaten people's
     2  ability to live independently, make it difficult to maintain  employment
     3  and  lead normal lives, and one in five people with lupus is disabled by
     4  the disease, and consequently receives support from government programs,
     5  including  Medicare,  Medicaid,  social  security disability, and social
     6  security supplemental income.
     7    (f) The estimated average annual cost  of  medical  treatment  for  an
     8  individual  with lupus can range between ten thousand dollars and thirty
     9  thousand dollars; for people who have the most serious  form  of  lupus,
    10  medical  costs  can  greatly  exceed  this amount, causing a significant
    11  economic, emotional and social burden to the entire family and society.
    12    (g) More than half of the people with lupus suffer four or more  years
    13  and  visit  three  or  more  physicians  before obtaining a diagnosis of
    14  lupus; early diagnosis of and commencement of treatment  for  lupus  can
    15  prevent or reduce serious organ damage, disability, and death.
    16    (h)  Despite  the magnitude of lupus and its impact on individuals and
    17  families, health professional and public understanding of lupus  remains
    18  low; only one of five Americans can provide even basic information about
    19  lupus,  and  awareness  of lupus is lowest among adults ages eighteen to
    20  thirty-four -- the age group most likely to develop symptoms of lupus.
    21    (i) Lupus is a significant  national  health  issue  that  deserves  a
    22  comprehensive  and coordinated response by state and federal governments
    23  with involvement of the health care provider, patient, and public health
    24  communities.
    25    § 2. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 209-K to  read  as
    26  follows:
    27    §  209-K.  Gift  for lupus education and prevention. A taxpayer in any
    28  taxable year may elect to contribute to the support of the lupus  educa-
    29  tion and prevention fund. Such contribution shall be in any whole dollar
    30  amount  and  shall  not  reduce the amount of the state tax owed by such
    31  taxpayer. The commissioner shall include space on the  corporate  income
    32  tax  return  to  enable  a taxpayer to make such contribution.  Notwith-
    33  standing any other provision of law, all revenues collected pursuant  to
    34  this  section  shall  be  credited to the lupus education and prevention
    35  fund and shall be used only for those  purposes  enumerated  in  section
    36  ninety-seven-pppp of the state finance law.
    37    §  3.  The tax law is amended by adding a new section 630-e to read as
    38  follows:
    39    § 630-e. Gift for lupus education and prevention. An individual in any
    40  taxable year  may  elect  to  contribute  to  the  lupus  education  and
    41  prevention  fund.  Such contribution shall be in any whole dollar amount
    42  and shall not reduce the amount of state tax owed  by  such  individual.
    43  The  commissioner  shall include space on the personal income tax return
    44  to enable a taxpayer to  make  such  contribution.  Notwithstanding  any
    45  other  provision  of law all revenues collected pursuant to this section
    46  shall be credited to the lupus education and prevention  fund  and  used
    47  only  for  those purposes enumerated in section ninety-seven-pppp of the
    48  state finance law.
    49    § 4. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section  97-pppp
    50  to read as follows:
    51    §  97-pppp.  Lupus  education  and prevention fund. 1. There is hereby
    52  established in the joint custody of the  commissioner  of  taxation  and
    53  finance  and  the  comptroller, a special fund to be known as the "lupus
    54  education and prevention fund".
    55    2. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the  department
    56  of  taxation  and  finance,  pursuant  to  the provisions of section two
        S. 5489--A                          3
     1  hundred nine-K and section six hundred thirty-e of the tax law, and  all
     2  other  moneys  appropriated,  credited  or  transferred thereto from any
     3  other fund or source pursuant to law. Nothing contained in this  section
     4  shall prevent the state from receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the
     5  purposes of the fund as defined in this section and depositing them into
     6  the fund according to law.
     7    3.  Monies  of the fund shall be expended only for lupus education and
     8  prevention projects. As used  in  this  section,  "lupus  education  and
     9  prevention  projects"  means  educational projects, including grants for
    10  lupus education and prevention  programs,  which  are  approved  by  the
    11  department of health.
    12    4.  Monies  shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
    13  the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by  the  commissioner
    14  of health.
    15    5.  To the extent practicable, the commissioner of health shall ensure
    16  that all monies received during a fiscal year are expended prior to  the
    17  end of that fiscal year.
    18    6.  On or before the first day of February each year, the commissioner
    19  of health shall provide a written report to the temporary  president  of
    20  the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance commit-
    21  tee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the senate
    22  committee  on  health, chair of the assembly health committee, the state
    23  comptroller and the public.  Such report shall include how the monies of
    24  the fund were utilized during the preceding  calendar  year,  and  shall
    25  include:
    26    (a)  the amount of money disbursed from the fund and the award process
    27  used for such disbursements;
    28    (b) recipients of awards from the fund;
    29    (c) the amount awarded to each;
    30    (d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
    31    (e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
    32  mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeed-
    33  ing fiscal years, along with the actual results from  the  prior  fiscal
    34  year.
    35    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.