Revises the New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry such that it is easier to navigate; relates to the updating and availability of the registry.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1242--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. ADDABBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Securi-
ty and Military Affairs -- recommitted to the Committee on Veterans,
Homeland Security and Military Affairs in accordance with Senate Rule
6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to revising the
New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 29-a of the veterans' services law, as added by
2 chapter 14 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 29-a. [Veterans] New York state veteran's memorial and monument
4 registry. 1. The New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry
5 is hereby established and shall be developed and maintained by the
6 department [is directed to develop a veterans memorial registry in
7 consultation] in collaboration with the director of the New York state
8 military museum and veterans resource center, the commissioner of the
9 office of parks, recreation and historic preservation, the commissioner
10 of the office of general services [and], the state historian, state
11 archivist, and relevant agencies and statewide veteran organizations and
12 local posts and chapters of such veteran organizations as well as munic-
13 ipal associations. The registry shall be made available on the depart-
14 ment's website.
15 2. The registry shall consist of a searchable and filterable database
16 of those [veterans] veteran's memorials and monuments located within the
17 state submitted pursuant to subdivision three of this section. The
18 registry shall include, but not be limited to, information regarding the
19 location, history, significance, and any available images of [a memori-
20 al] such veteran's memorials and monuments, and who or what veteran or
21 battle such memorial is honoring. Additional information may include
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02553-03-5
S. 1242--A 2
1 historical information such as who authorized the erection of such memo-
2 rial or monument and the year of the dedication. Such registry shall be
3 searchable and filterable by location, veteran [or], conflict, era,
4 battle, war or any other criteria the state commissioner deems relevant.
5 3. The state commissioner shall issue, on behalf of the department, a
6 public request for information for any county, city, town, or village
7 desiring to have any memorial or monument located within their munici-
8 pality listed within the registry. Each county, city, town[, or] and
9 village may submit responses to the department's request for information
10 at any time after the request for information has been issued. Individ-
11 uals and organizations, including but not limited to, local veterans'
12 service agencies staff and members of congressionally chartered veter-
13 ans' service organizations may provide recommendations to a municipality
14 for inclusion in the registry. In responding to the department's public
15 request for information, a municipality shall identify [the memorial or]
16 any memorials and monuments it desires to have included in the registry
17 and submit any information required pursuant to subdivision two of this
18 section to the department. The registry shall be updated promptly after
19 the department receives submitted memorial and monument information.
20 § 2. Section 4 of the veterans' services law is amended by adding a
21 new subdivision 40 to read as follows:
22 40. To make available to all governing bodies of each municipality
23 via, among other things, publications on the department's website, the
24 free mobile application established pursuant to subdivision twenty-one
25 of this section, and local veterans' service agencies established pursu-
26 ant to section fourteen of this article, information regarding the New
27 York State Veteran's Memorial and Monument Registry established pursuant
28 to section twenty-nine-a of this article. Such information covered under
29 this subdivision shall be maintained and updated annually.
30 § 3. The commissioner of the New York city department of veterans'
31 services established pursuant to title thirty-one of the administrative
32 code of the city of New York shall, in consultation with the commission-
33 er of the New York city department of parks established pursuant to
34 title eighteen of the administrative code of the city of New York,
35 consider making submissions to the registry pursuant to this act.
36 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
