Provides additional benefits for veterans; provides for services and counseling related to post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries; requires reports to the legislature concerning the number of veterans who are incarcerated.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6685
IN SENATE
February 27, 2014
___________
Introduced by Sens. ZELDIN, GRISANTI, MARTINS, MAZIARZ, RANZENHOFER --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing certain
benefits to veterans; and to amend the correction law, in relation to
requiring certain reports relating to veterans
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 3803 of the public health law, as
2 amended by chapter 743 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. There is hereby created within the department the veterans health
5 care information program (referred to in this section as the "program"),
6 which shall provide information on health issues associated with mili-
7 tary duty, including but not limited to Agent Orange, Gulf War
8 Syndromes, toxic materials or harmful physical agents such as, depleted
9 uranium, and hepatitis C, and specific mental and physical health issues
10 including post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and
11 other brain-related injuries, for veterans, their surviving spouses and
12 health care providers.
13 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 29 of the correction law, as amended by
14 section 12 of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is
15 amended and a new subdivision 5 is added to read as follows:
16 1. The department shall continue to collect, maintain, and analyze
17 statistical and other information and data with respect to persons
18 subject to the jurisdiction of the department, including but not limited
19 to: (a) the number of such persons: placed in the custody of the depart-
20 ment, assigned to a specific department program, accorded community
21 supervision and declared delinquent, recommitted to a state correctional
22 institution upon revocation of community supervision, or discharged upon
23 maximum expiration of sentence; (b) the criminal history of such
24 persons; (c) the social, educational, and vocational circumstances of
25 any such persons; [and,] (d) the institutional and community supervision
26 programs and the behavior of such persons; and, (e) the military back-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06299-03-4
S. 6685 2
1 ground and circumstances, if such person served in the United States
2 armed forces. Provided, however, in the event any statistical informa-
3 tion on the ethnic background of the inmate population of a correctional
4 facility or facilities is collected by the department, such statistical
5 information shall contain, but not be limited to, the following ethnic
6 categories: (i) Caucasian; (ii) Asian; (iii) American Indian; (iv)
7 Afro-American/Black; and (v) Spanish speaking/Hispanic which category
8 shall include, but not be limited to, the following subcategories
9 consisting of: (1) Puerto Ricans; (2) Cubans; (3) Dominicans; and (4)
10 other Hispanic nationalities.
11 5. The commissioner shall report to the legislature on the number of
12 inmates who are currently serving sentences in state correctional facil-
13 ities and any local correctional facilities who have served in the
14 United States armed forces. Such report shall include, but not be limit-
15 ed to the following: a breakdown of the number of inmates by branch of
16 service, time period of military service and the type of discharge the
17 inmate received upon separation from the military. Such report shall be
18 done annually.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
20 it shall have become a law; provided, that any rules and regulations
21 necessary for the timely implementation of this act on its effective
22 date shall be promulgated on or before such date.
