Provides assistance to incarcerated individuals being released from correctional facilities for enrollment in safety net assistance, public assistance, supplemental assistance program (SNAP), special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC), the home energy assistance program (HEAP), supplemental security income, and state supplemental payments.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5059
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 18, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
AN ACT to amend the social services law and the correction law, in
relation to assistance programs for individuals being released from
correctional facilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 158 of the social services law, as
2 amended by section 1 of part U of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 4. (a) Social services officials shall determine eligibility for safe-
5 ty net assistance within thirty days of receiving an application for
6 safety net assistance. Such officials shall notify applicants of safety
7 net assistance about the availability of assistance to meet emergency
8 circumstances or to prevent eviction.
9 (b) Within seventy-two hours from when the state board of parole
10 approves the residence of a person that the department of corrections
11 and community supervision is set to release, the correctional facility's
12 benefits navigator shall complete such person's application for safety
13 net assistance. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term "correc-
14 tional facility" shall have the same meaning as defined by section two
15 of the correction law.
16 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 112 of the correction law, as amended by
17 chapter 322 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
18 2. The commissioner shall have the management and control of persons
19 released on community supervision and of all matters relating to such
20 persons' effective reentry into the community, as well as all contracts
21 and fiscal concerns thereof. The commissioner shall have the power and
22 it shall be [his or her] the commissioner's duty to inquire into all
23 matters connected with said community supervision. The commissioner
24 shall make such rules and regulations, not in conflict with the statutes
25 of this state, for the governance of the officers and other employees of
26 the department assigned to said community supervision, and in regard to
27 the duties to be performed by them, as [he or she] the commissioner
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05057-01-5
S. 5059 2
1 deems proper and shall cause such rules and regulations to be furnished
2 to each employee assigned to perform community supervision. The commis-
3 sioner shall also prescribe a system of accounts and records to be kept,
4 which shall be uniform. The commissioner shall also make rules and regu-
5 lations for a record of photographs and other means of identifying each
6 incarcerated individual released to community supervision. The commis-
7 sioner shall appoint officers and other employees of the department who
8 are assigned to perform community supervision. Where applicable, a
9 correctional facility shall provide each person with applications for
10 public assistance, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP)
11 under section ninety-five of the social services law, special supple-
12 mental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC) under 42
13 USC § 1786, and the home energy assistance program (HEAP) as adminis-
14 tered by the office of temporary and disability assistance, in accord-
15 ance with section one hundred fifty-eight of the social services law, 42
16 USC § 1383 and section two hundred nine of the social services law.
17 Benefits navigators shall provide assistance in completing such applica-
18 tions. Each correctional facility shall ensure every incarcerated indi-
19 vidual whose residence has been approved has an individual assigned to
20 them in applying for safety net programs in accordance with paragraph
21 (b) of subdivision four of section one hundred fifty-eight of the social
22 services law. The department may contract with not-for-profit providers
23 with experience assisting individuals with benefits applications.
24 § 3. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 500-q to
25 read as follows:
26 § 500-q. Re-entry services. Each incarcerated individual shall be
27 eligible to apply for re-entry services, which shall include, but not
28 limited to safety net assistance, supplemental security income and state
29 supplemental payments prior to their earliest expected release date in
30 accordance with section one hundred fifty-eight of the social services
31 law, 42 USC § 1383 and section two hundred nine of the social services
32 law, respectively. The offender rehabilitation coordinator or other
33 person in charge of re-entry services at a local correctional facility
34 shall provide assistance in completing and filing such applications and
35 may contract with not-for-profit providers with experience assisting
36 individuals during the application and appeals processes for such bene-
37 fits to provide incarcerated individuals with assistance in completing
38 applications for such benefits. Each correctional facility shall be
39 required to report to the executive, the temporary president of the
40 senate and the speaker of the assembly on how they are providing such
41 re-entry services. Such reporting shall include metrics on the follow-
42 ing:
43 (a) how many people were deemed eligible for at least one type of
44 benefit, disaggregated by type of benefit;
45 (b) for how many people were applications submitted, disaggregated by
46 type of benefit;
47 (c) for any people deemed eligible but for whom applications were not
48 submitted, disaggregated by demographic; and
49 (d) the reason that such applications were not filed, disaggregated by
50 type of benefit and by reason.
51 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
52 ing the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediate-
53 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
54 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
55 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
