Establishes the youth justice innovation fund to make funds available to community-based organizations for services and programs with the purpose of youth development and preventing youth arrest and incarceration.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10264
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROMERO, HEVESI, SOLAGES, OTIS, McDONALD, SIMON,
KELLES, GALLAGHER, SHRESTHA -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the
youth justice innovation fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section
2 89-gg to read as follows:
3 § 89-gg. Youth justice innovation fund. 1. A fund to be known as the
4 "youth justice innovation fund" is hereby established in the custody of
5 the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance.
6 2. The fund shall consist of fifty million dollars transferred to such
7 account pursuant to a plan developed by the director of the budget from
8 funds made available for the purposes of funding services for youth
9 through the age of twenty-five, and any interest earnings which may
10 accrue from the investment of monies in the fund. Nothing contained
11 herein shall prevent the state from receiving grants, gifts or bequests
12 for the purposes of the fund as defined in this section and depositing
13 them into the fund according to law.
14 3. Monies of the fund shall be available to the division of criminal
15 justice services and shall be provided to community-based organizations
16 to be expended for services and programs with the purpose of youth
17 development and preventing youth arrest and incarceration, including,
18 but not limited to, those providing violence-prevention services for
19 youth, alternatives to detention, placement and incarceration programs
20 for youth, and reentry, education, and employment training and placement
21 programs for youth through the age of twenty-five.
22 4. On or before the first day of March of each year, the director of
23 the division of criminal justice services shall provide a written report
24 to the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,
25 the minority leader of the senate, the minority leader of the assembly,
26 the chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly
27 ways and means committee, the chair of the senate committee on codes,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01830-01-5
A. 10264 2
1 the chair of the assembly committee on codes, the state comptroller, and
2 the public. Such report shall include how the monies of the fund were
3 utilized during the preceding calendar year, and shall include:
4 (a) the amount of money disbursed from the fund and the award process
5 used for such disbursements;
6 (b) recipients of awards from the fund;
7 (c) the amount awarded to each recipient;
8 (d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
9 (e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
10 mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeed-
11 ing fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior fiscal
12 year.
13 5. Monies shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
14 the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the director of
15 the division of criminal justice services.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to expend-
17 itures made on and after April 1, 2025.
