Directs all state agencies to designate a veterans' liaison to provide information and assistance to veterans regarding benefits and services available to veterans within the various state agencies.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7544
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 5, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to requiring all
state agencies to appoint veterans' liaisons
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The veterans' services law is amended by adding a new
2 section 29-b to read as follows:
3 § 29-b. Veterans' liaisons. 1. As used in this section the term "state
4 agency" shall mean any department, board, bureau, division, commission,
5 council or committee within the executive branch.
6 2. Each state agency shall designate at least one employee to act as a
7 liaison with veterans within such agency or served by such agency. Such
8 liaison shall be funded from existing appropriations in each agency.
9 Upon designating a veterans' liaison, which shall be done within ninety
10 days, all state agencies shall inform the department in a form and
11 manner to be prescribed by the department. An employee designated to act
12 as a veterans' liaison must first complete an initial training provided
13 by appropriate staff designated by the department before assuming the
14 duties of a veterans' liaison. Thereafter all veterans' liaisons shall
15 annually receive supplemental trainings provided by the department. A
16 state agency may also, in consultation with the department, prescribe
17 such additional trainings for its veterans' liaisons as it deems neces-
18 sary and relevant to assisting veterans employed or served by the agen-
19 cy.
20 3. Each state agency shall conspicuously post the name and contact
21 information of its current veterans' liaisons on its website and a list-
22 ing of all state agency veterans' liaisons shall be maintained by the
23 department and updated at least annually on its website.
24 4. The duties of a veterans' liaison may include but not be limited
25 to: (a) providing information and assistance to veterans regarding bene-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10588-03-3
S. 7544 2
1 fits and services available to veterans at the liaison's agency or other
2 state agencies including the department; (b) ensuring active communi-
3 cation, coordination and cooperation are maintained with members of the
4 public as well as other state and local agencies regarding the agency's
5 efforts to assist veterans; (c) advising agency staff as to how to iden-
6 tify and address the unique needs of veterans within or served by the
7 agency; (d) informing veterans within the agency as to applicable
8 employee personnel policies; (e) promoting the recruitment, retention,
9 and professional development of veteran employees within the agency; and
10 (f) making efforts to identify veterans as defined in section one of
11 this article within or served by the agency on an annual basis.
12 5. Information received pursuant to this section will be provided to
13 the department. Information collected pursuant to this section shall be
14 protected under article six-A of the public officers law against disclo-
15 sure of confidential material and used only to determine the number of
16 veterans who are employed by or seeking services from the state of New
17 York.
18 6. The department shall develop guidelines and a best practices docu-
19 ment for veterans' liaisons in consultation with state agencies and with
20 input solicited from the veterans' liaisons designated by such agencies.
21 Further, the department shall include engagement with veterans' liaisons
22 as part of its efforts to develop collaborative relationships with state
23 agencies pursuant to subdivision thirty-seven of section four of this
24 article.
25 7. The annual report required by subdivision seventeen of section four
26 of this article shall contain a description of the department's activ-
27 ities and collaborations with veterans' liaisons and any recommendations
28 of the department with respect to the veterans' liaisons program estab-
29 lished under this section.
30 § 2. Subdivision 37 of section 4 of the veterans' services law is
31 amended to read as follows:
32 37. To develop collaborative relationships among state, federal, and
33 local agencies, veterans' liaisons pursuant to section twenty nine-b of
34 this article, and private organizations, including but not limited to
35 the office of mental health, state office for the aging, and office of
36 addiction services and supports, to help facilitate access to services
37 by members of the uniformed services and veterans who are residents of
38 the state and their families.
39 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
40 have become a law.
