News from Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb
Assembly Office:
933 Legislative Office Building • Albany, NY 12248 • (518) 455-3751
District Offices:
607 West Washington Street • Suite 2 • Geneva, NY 14456 • (315) 781-2030
E-mail:

For Release: IMMEDIATELY, November 30, 2012
Contact: Doug Finch (315) 781-2030
Creation of a "NYS Natural Disaster Relief Fund" would help families hurting from Hurricane Sandy, enhance our preparedness for future disasters
Weekly column from Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,C,I-Canandaigua)

There is an urgent need to help hundreds of thousands of New York families caught in the path of Hurricane Sandy. As relief and recovery efforts continue, the human toll and financial cost of that massive storm - estimated at $42 billion - are nearly too much to comprehend. We have a duty to help those who are hurting and take proactive steps to ensure New York has even more resources at the ready to weather natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, blizzards and ice storms.

"NEW YORK STATE NATURAL DISASTER RELIEF FUND"

I am introducing legislation - the "New York State Natural Disaster Relief Fund" - that would allow individuals and businesses to contribute to a voluntary tax contribution check-off fund and make tax-deductible donations for natural disaster relief, modeled after other voluntary state check-off funds for breast cancer research and wildlife conservation. My proposed New York State Natural Disaster Relief Fund, maintained by the State Department of Taxation and Finance and the State Comptroller, would allow personal and corporate taxpayers to contribute by checking a box on their state income tax returns.

DONATIONS TO THE FUND WOULD BE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE

My legislation creates a formal mechanism allowing tax-deductible charitable donations to the New York State Natural Disaster Relief Fund; voluntary donations made through current check-offs are not tax-deductible, whereas donations made directly to the New York State Natural Disaster Relief Fund would be. As of today, Arkansas is the only state providing an income tax return check-off for donations to a disaster relief fund, similar to one that my proposal establishes. There are currently eight different Funds - my legislation creates the ninth - that state tax filers can check off on their income tax forms to give voluntary contributions:

  • Return a Gift to Wildlife (est. 1982);
  • Lake Placid Olympic Training Center Fund (est. 1995);
  • Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund (est. 1996);
  • Missing & Exploited Children Clearinghouse Fund (est. 1997);
  • Alzheimer's Disease Fund (est. 1999);
  • Prostate Cancer Research Fund (est. 2004);
  • World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Fund (est. 2005); and
  • Volunteer Firefighting & EMS Recruitment and Retention Fund (est. 2009).

During the past five years, taxpayers contributed more than $10 million to these important funds. Over 28,000 taxpayers made voluntary contributions to the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund in 2011 for a total of $488,878. Since its inception in 1996, this Fund has collected more than $8.5 million.

NYS NATURAL DISASTER RELIEF FUND IS ONE MORE WAY TO HELP

Creating a New York State Natural Disaster Relief Fund is one more way to ensure that families and communities impacted by natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy have additional financial resources to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

What do you think? I want to hear from YOU! Send me your feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding this or any other issue facing New York State. You can always contact my district office at (315) 781-2030 or e-mail me at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us.