STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5433
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR, SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing the New York
state service corps; to amend the parks, recreation and historic pres-
ervation law and the public health law, in relation to the New York
state service corps - health services track; and to repeal title 2-B
of article 2 of the public health law, relating to the New York state
health service corps
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 45 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 45. New York state service corps. 1. There is hereby created a New
4 York state service corps, administered by the New York state department
5 of labor in conjunction and coordination with the department of parks,
6 recreation and historic preservation and the department of health.
7 2. The New York state service corps shall provide service opportu-
8 nities for interested applicants, including youth, young unemployed
9 people, recent high school, college, and post-secondary graduates, as
10 well as recent retirees and individuals who have recently completed or
11 are pursuing a high school equivalency examination or program. Such
12 service opportunities shall include, but not be limited to, (i) residen-
13 tial and non-residential corps opportunities; (ii) one- and two-year
14 fellowship programs; (iii) internship opportunities for currently
15 enrolled students; and (iv) programs authorized under any other section
16 of law including but not limited to New York state service corps - green
17 jobs, conservation, and revitalization tracks and New York state service
18 corps - health services track.
19 3. All fellowship and internship opportunities maintained by the
20 commission under this section shall be educational in nature, focused on
21 providing unique opportunities to youth, young adults, graduates and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08624-01-5
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1 retirees, and shall not wholly replace work currently performed by any
2 civil service title.
3 4. Applicants for any fellowship or internship under this section
4 shall be placed in opportunities that are deemed most likely to further
5 an applicant's stated educational and professional interests, in order
6 to provide the maximum educational value possible.
7 5. The department shall maintain and operate a unified application
8 process for service corps opportunities and shall work with appropriate
9 agencies and, as appropriate, the New York state commission on national
10 and community service to develop and administer service corps programs.
11 § 2. The section heading and subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 3.23 of
12 the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, as amended by chap-
13 ter 128 of the laws of 1987, paragraph a of subdivision 3 as amended by
14 chapter 717 of the laws of 1988, are amended to read as follows:
15 New York state [conservation] service corps - green jobs, conserva-
16 tion, and revitalization tracks. 1. [A] The New York state [conserva-
17 tion corps] service corps - green jobs, conservation, and revitalization
18 tracks (hereafter referred to as the "corps") within the office is here-
19 by established for the following purposes:
20 a. To protect air, fish, forest, land, water and wildlife;
21 b. To help maintain and improve botanical gardens, historic sites,
22 libraries, museums, parks, parkways, refuges, trails, zoos and other
23 recreational, artistic or cultural investments;
24 c. To aid agricultural, fishing, forestry and tourist industries;
25 d. To provide jobs and job training for young unemployed [men and
26 women] people, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as
27 recent graduates of high school, high school equivalency, college, and
28 post-secondary programs, to act as a stepladder to permanent employment;
29 e. To foster co-operation among civilian and governmental agencies in
30 order to educate the public about state resources;
31 f. To reinforce the "I Love New York" campaign;
32 g. To take advantage of the capital investment in facilities and
33 equipment already in place from the programs of youth and young adult
34 and civilian conservation corps paid for by federal dollars;
35 h. To educate the participants about our natural environment and
36 cultural heritage, teach first aid and disaster procedures, and to
37 otherwise encourage them to further their education; and
38 i. To do such other projects which provide disaster relief, increase
39 energy conservation, promote green jobs, improve fire prevention, beau-
40 tify highways, control insects and rodents, upgrade public lands,
41 promote resiliency against harm from changes in weather patterns or
42 general climate change, enhance art and cultural resources, and revital-
43 ize [urban areas] cities, towns, and villages.
44 3. The corps shall consist of the following components:
45 a. Summer: for youth enrollees, aged fourteen--[eighteen] twenty-four;
46 b. Seasonal: for unemployed young adult enrollees, aged sixteen--twen-
47 ty-four;
48 c. Non-residential: for young adult enrollees, aged sixteen--twenty-
49 four;
50 d. Residential: for young adult enrollees, aged eighteen--twenty-five;
51 e. Volunteer: for interested persons of any age who are members of an
52 organized group which has proper leadership and insurance;
53 f. Crew Leader: for young adults, aged eighteen and over;
54 g. Staff: for adults, aged twenty-one and up, who are needed for the
55 few positions enrollees or crew leaders cannot fill; [and]
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1 h. Director: for adults, aged twenty-five and up, who are in charge of
2 local or state projects, residential camps, or overall program of
3 corps[.]; and
4 i. Fellow: for young adult enrollees, who will receive an educational
5 and professional benefit from the experience provided by any program
6 operated under this section, and who shall work for a set-term of one or
7 two-years as determined by the office.
8 § 3. Title 2-B of article 2 of the public health law is REPEALED and a
9 new title 2-B is added to read as follows:
10 Title 2-B
11 NEW YORK STATE SERVICE CORPS - HEALTH SERVICES TRACK
12 Section 231. New York state service corps - health services track.
13 232. Powers and duties.
14 § 231. New York state service corps - health services track. 1. The
15 commissioner shall establish within the department the New York state
16 service corps - health services track (hereinafter "corps"). The commis-
17 sioner shall, in conjunction with the department of labor and, as appro-
18 priate, the New York state commission on national and community service,
19 have central responsibility for administering the provisions of this
20 title with respect to increasing the availability of health services in
21 certain eligible facilities and institutions.
22 2. For purposes of this title: (a) "health corps professional" means a
23 nurse, physician's assistant, dental hygienist, occupational therapist,
24 speech-language pathologist, audiologist, physical therapist, midwife,
25 other health professional other than a physician or dentist, or any
26 other professional with demonstrated proficiency in early childhood
27 health or development who is determined by the commissioner, in consul-
28 tation with the commissioners of education, correctional services,
29 mental health, persons with developmental disabilities, secretary of
30 state, and the president of the civil service commission, to possess the
31 skills and training appropriate to the needs of eligible institutions
32 and facilities;
33 (b) "eligible institutions and facilities" means: (i) facilities oper-
34 ated by the department of correctional services, office of mental health
35 and office of persons with developmental disabilities; (ii) non-profit
36 agencies possessing operating certificates issued by the office of
37 mental health or office for persons with developmental disabilities or
38 under contract with the commission for the blind and visually hand-
39 icapped; (iii) not-for-profit diagnostic and treatment centers licensed
40 under article twenty-eight of this chapter which have a critical short-
41 age of health personnel, as determined by the commissioner and which
42 serve the medically indigent and Medicaid eligible persons; (iv) health
43 care facilities operated by the department, provided that at any time
44 the total number of placements in such facilities shall not exceed ten
45 percent of the total number of placements under this section; (v) in the
46 case of midwives, not-for-profit facilities licensed under article twen-
47 ty-eight of this chapter which serve the medically indigent and Medicaid
48 eligible birthing parents; and (vi) an education program operated pursu-
49 ant to section thirty-six hundred two-ee of the education law.
50 § 232. Powers and duties. The commissioner shall, in consultation
51 with the commissioners of education, correctional services, mental
52 health, persons with developmental disabilities, secretary of state, and
53 the president of the civil service commission, have the following powers
54 and duties:
55 1. to recruit and select health corps professionals for service in
56 eligible institutions and facilities;
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1 2. to place health corps professionals in eligible institutions and
2 facilities pursuant to agreements with the appropriate eligible insti-
3 tutions and facilities;
4 3. to develop criteria for the selection of applicants for placement
5 under this program including, but not limited to, the student's academic
6 achievement, previous work experience in their chosen health profession
7 and a demonstrated interest in working with institutionalized popu-
8 lations, communities with serious health needs including but not limited
9 to populations with high rates of chronic illness or Medicaid eligibil-
10 ity, and children under the age of five.
11 4. to accept and expend any grants, awards or other funds or appropri-
12 ations as may be available to effectuate the purposes of this title
13 subject to the limitations as to the approval of expenditures and audit
14 as prescribed for state funds by the state finance law; and
15 5. to do any and all other things necessary to carry out its func-
16 tions, powers and duties and to effectuate the purposes of this title.
17 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
18 it shall have become a law.
