STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2529--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 19, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BARRON, HEVESI, PEOPLES-STOKES, WILLIAMS, GOTT-
FRIED, COOK, CARROLL, STECK, AUBRY, TAYLOR, JACKSON, FORREST --
Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Social Services -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to the powers of a
social services official to receive and dispose of a deed, mortgage or
lien
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 106 of the social services law, as amended by
2 section 1 of part S of chapter 56 of the laws of 2014, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 § 106. Powers of social services official to receive and dispose of a
5 deed, mortgage, or lien. 1. A social services official responsible, by
6 or pursuant to any provision of this chapter, for the administration of
7 assistance [or care] granted or applied for [may] shall not accept a
8 deed of real property and/or a mortgage thereon on behalf of the social
9 services district for the assistance [and care] of a person at public
10 expense [but such property shall not be considered as public property
11 and shall remain on the tax rolls and such deed or mortgage shall be
12 subject to redemption as provided in paragraph (a) of subdivision six
13 hereof].
14 2. [A social services official may not assert any claim under any
15 provision of this section to recover] (a) Notwithstanding subdivision
16 one of this section, if, prior to the effective date of the chapter of
17 the laws of two thousand twenty-one that amended this section, a social
18 services official accepted a deed of real property and/or a mortgage on
19 behalf of the social services district for the assistance of a person at
20 public expense, such social services official shall not assert any claim
21 under any provision of this section to recover:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00308-03-1
A. 2529--A 2
1 (1) payments made as part of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
2 (SNAP), child care services, Emergency Assistance to Adults or the Home
3 Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)[.
4 3. A social services official may not assert any claim under any
5 provision of this section to recover];
6 (2) payments of public assistance if such payments were reimbursed by
7 child support collections[.
8 4. A social services official may not assert any claim under any
9 provision of this section to recover];
10 (3) payments of public assistance unless, before [it has accepted] a
11 deed or mortgage was accepted from an applicant or recipient, [it has]
12 the official first received a signed acknowledgment from the applicant
13 or recipient acknowledging that:
14 [(a)] A. benefits provided as part of Supplemental Nutrition Assist-
15 ance Program (SNAP), child care services, Emergency Assistance to Adults
16 or the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) may not be included as part
17 of the recovery to be made under the mortgage or lien; and
18 [(b)] B. if the applicant or recipient declines to provide the lien or
19 mortgage the children in the household shall remain eligible for public
20 assistance.
21 [5. (a)] (b) Such property shall not be considered public property and
22 shall remain on the tax rolls and such deed or mortgage shall be subject
23 to redemption as provided in subparagraph one of paragraph (d) of this
24 subdivision.
25 (c) (1) Until a deed, mortgage, or lien, accepted prior to [or after]
26 the effective date of this [act,] section is satisfied or otherwise
27 disposed of, the social services district shall issue and mail to the
28 last known address of the person [giving] who gave such deed or mort-
29 gage, or his or her estate or those entitled thereto, a biennial
30 accounting of the public assistance incurred and repairs and taxes paid
31 on property. The social services district shall provide such accounting
32 no later than February first, two thousand sixteen and biennially there-
33 after.
34 [(b)] (2) Such accounting shall include information regarding the debt
35 owed as of the end of the district's most recent fiscal year including,
36 but not limited to:
37 [(1)] A. an enumeration of all public assistance incurred by the
38 person [giving] who gave such deed or mortgage or his or her household
39 to date;
40 [(2)] B. the current amount of recoverable public assistance under the
41 deed or mortgage;
42 [(3)] C. the amount of any credits against public assistance including
43 but not limited to:
44 [A.] (i) the amount of child support collected and retained by the
45 social services district as reimbursement for public assistance;
46 [B.] (ii) recoveries made under section one hundred four of this
47 title;
48 [C.] (iii) recoveries made under section one hundred thirty-one-r of
49 this chapter.
50 [(4)] D. Said accounting shall also provide information regarding the
51 manner in which payments may be made to the social services district to
52 reduce the amount of the mortgage or lien.
53 [(c)] (3) In the event that a biennial accounting is not issued and
54 mailed to the last known address of the person [giving] who gave such
55 deed or mortgage or his or her estate or those entitled thereto, within
56 the time period required in [paragraph (a) of this subdivision] subpara-
A. 2529--A 3
1 graph one of this paragraph, no public assistance shall be recoverable
2 under this section for the previous two fiscal years. In the event that
3 a biennial accounting is not issued and mailed to the last known address
4 of the person [giving] who gave such deed or mortgage or his or her
5 estate or those entitled thereto, within the time period required in
6 [paragraph (a) of this subdivision] subparagraph one of this paragraph,
7 and such person has received no recoverable public assistance in the
8 district's most recent fiscal year, no public assistance shall be recov-
9 erable under this section for the most recent two fiscal years where
10 public assistance remains recoverable.
11 [6. (a) (1)] (d) (1) A. Until such property or mortgage is sold,
12 assigned or foreclosed pursuant to law by the social services official,
13 the person [giving] who gave such deed or mortgage, or his or her estate
14 or those entitled thereto, may redeem the same by the payment of all
15 expenses incurred for the support of the person, and for repairs and
16 taxes paid on such property, provided, however, that a social services
17 official may enter into a contract for such redemption, subject to the
18 provisions of this [paragraph] subparagraph, and containing such terms
19 and conditions, including provisions for periodic payments, without
20 interest, for an amount less than the full expenses incurred for the
21 support of the person and for repairs and taxes paid on such property
22 (hereinafter called a "lesser sum"), which lesser sum shall in no event
23 be less than the difference between the appraised value of such property
24 and the total of the then unpaid principal balance of any recorded mort-
25 gages and the unpaid balance of sums secured by other liens against such
26 property.
27 [(2)] B. In the case of a redemption for a lesser sum, the social
28 services official shall obtain (i) an appraisal of the current market
29 value of such property, by an appraiser acceptable to both parties, and
30 (ii) a statement of the principal balance of any recorded mortgages or
31 other liens against such property (excluding the debt secured by the
32 deed, mortgage or lien of the social services official). Any expenses
33 incurred pursuant to this [paragraph] subparagraph shall be audited and
34 allowed in the same manner as other official expenses.
35 [(3)] C. Every redemption contract for any lesser sum shall be
36 approved by the department upon an application by the social services
37 official containing the appraisal and statement required by [subpara-
38 graph two] clause B of this subparagraph, a statement by the social
39 services official of his or her reasons for entering into the contract
40 for such lesser sum and any other information required by regulations of
41 the department.
42 [(4)] D. So long as the terms of the approved redemption contract are
43 performed, no public sale of such property shall be held.
44 [(5)] E. The redemption for a lesser sum shall reduce the claim of the
45 social services official against the recipient on the implied contract
46 under section one hundred four of this [chapter] title or under any
47 other law, to the extent of all sums paid in redemption.
48 [(b)] (2) In order to allow a minimum period for redemption, the
49 social services official shall not sell the property or mortgage until
50 after the expiration of one year from the date he or she received the
51 deed or mortgage, but if unoccupied property has not been redeemed with-
52 in six months from the date of death of the person who conveyed it to
53 him or her by deed the social services official may thereafter, and
54 before the expiration of such year, sell the property.
55 [(c)] (3) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, upon the death
56 of the person or his or her receiving institutional care, if the mort-
A. 2529--A 4
1 gage has not been redeemed, sold or assigned, the social services offi-
2 cial may enforce collection of the mortgage debt in the manner provided
3 for the foreclosure of mortgages by action.
4 [(d)](4) Provided the department shall have given its approval in
5 writing, the social services official may, when in his or her judgment
6 it is advisable and in the public interest, release a part of the prop-
7 erty from the lien of the mortgage to permit, and in consideration of,
8 the sale of such part by the owner and the application of the proceeds
9 to reduce said mortgage or to satisfy and discharge or reduce a prior or
10 superior mortgage.
11 [(e)](5) While real property covered by a deed or mortgage is occu-
12 pied, in whole or in part, by an aged, blind or disabled person who
13 executed such deed or mortgage to the social services official for old
14 age assistance, assistance to the blind or aid to the disabled granted
15 to such person before January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four, the
16 social services official shall not sell the property or assign or
17 enforce the mortgage unless it appears reasonably certain that the sale
18 or other disposition of the property will not materially adversely
19 affect the welfare of such person. After the death of such person no
20 claim for assistance granted him or her shall be enforced against any
21 real property while it is occupied by the surviving spouse.
22 [(f)](6) Except as otherwise provided, upon the death of a person who
23 executed a lien to the social services official in return for old age
24 assistance, assistance to the blind or aid to the disabled granted prior
25 to January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four, or before the death of
26 such person if it appears reasonably certain that the sale or other
27 disposition of the property will not materially adversely affect the
28 welfare of such person, the social services official may enforce such
29 lien in the manner provided by article three of the lien law. After the
30 death of such person the lien may not be enforced against real property
31 while it is occupied by the surviving spouse.
32 [7.](e) The sale of any parcel of real property or mortgage on real
33 property by the social services official, under the provisions of this
34 section, shall be made at a public sale, held at least two weeks after
35 notice thereof shall have been published in a newspaper having a general
36 circulation in that section of the county in which the real property is
37 located. Such notice shall specify the time and place of such public
38 sale and shall contain a brief description of the premises to be sold,
39 or upon which the mortgage is a lien, as the case may be. Unless in the
40 judgment of the social services official, it shall be in the public
41 interest to reject all bids, such parcel or mortgage shall be sold to
42 the highest responsible bidder.
43 [8.](f) It is permissible for social services officials to subordinate
44 a mortgage taken on behalf of the social services district pursuant to
45 this section. In the event that a social services official determines to
46 subordinate a mortgage, or lien, he or she shall do so within thirty
47 days of receipt of written notice that the mortgagor is attempting to
48 modify their mortgage that is held by a mortgagee with superior lien
49 rights and subordination of the social services district's mortgage is
50 required by such mortgagee in order for it to approve or complete the
51 modification.
52 § 2. Section 360 of the social services law, as added by chapter 722
53 of the laws of 1951, subdivisions 1 and 3 as amended by section 92 of
54 part B of chapter 436 of the laws of 1997, subdivision 2 as amended by
55 chapter 909 of the laws of 1974, and subdivision 4 as amended by chapter
56 803 of the laws of 1959, is amended to read as follows:
A. 2529--A 5
1 § 360. Real property of legally responsible relatives[; deeds and
2 mortgages may be required]. [1.] The ownership of real property by an
3 applicant or applicants, recipient or recipients who is or are legally
4 responsible relatives of the child or children for whose benefit the
5 application is made or the aid is granted, whether such ownership be
6 individual or joint as tenants in common, tenants by the entirety or
7 joint tenants, shall not preclude the granting of family assistance or
8 the continuance thereof if he or they are without the necessary funds to
9 maintain himself, herself or themselves and such child or children.
10 [The social services official may, however, require, as a condition to
11 the granting of aid or the continuance thereof, that he or she be given
12 a deed of or a mortgage on such property in accordance with the
13 provisions of section one hundred six.
14 2. However, while the property covered by the deed or mortgage is
15 occupied, in whole or in part, by the responsible relative who gave such
16 deed or mortgage to the social services official or, by a child for
17 whose benefit the aid was granted the social services official shall not
18 sell the property or assign or enforce the mortgage without the written
19 consent of the department; and, when the property is occupied by such
20 child, such consent shall not be given unless it appears reasonably
21 certain that the sale or other disposition of the property will not
22 materially adversely affect the welfare of such child.
23 3. The net amount recovered by the social services department from
24 such property, less any expenditures approved by the department for the
25 burial of the relative or the child who dies while in receipt of aid
26 under this title, shall be used to repay the social services district,
27 the state and the federal government their proportionate share of the
28 cost of family assistance granted. The state and federal share shall be
29 paid by the social services district to the state and the manner and
30 amount of such payment shall be determined in accordance with the regu-
31 lations of the department.
32 4. If any balance remains it shall belong to the estate of the legal-
33 ly responsible relative or relatives and the public welfare district
34 shall forthwith credit the same accordingly, and, provided they claim it
35 within four years thereafter, pay it to the persons entitled thereto.
36 If not so claimed within four years it shall be deemed abandoned proper-
37 ty and be paid to the state comptroller pursuant to section thirteen
38 hundred five of the abandoned property law.
39 5. The proceeds or moneys due the United States shall be paid or
40 reported in such manner and at such times as the federal security agency
41 or other authorized federal agency may direct.]
42 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
43 the date on which it shall have become a law.
