Establishes the hire a vet grant program; provides grants to municipalities where a veteran is hired and employed, for not less than twelve continuous and uninterrupted months in a full-time or part-time position.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6005
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 4, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. BASKIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Securi-
ty and Military Affairs
AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to establishing
the hire a vet grant program; and providing for the repeal of such
provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The veterans' services law is amended by adding a new
2 section 36 to read as follows:
3 § 36. Hire a vet grant. 1. Allowance of grant. A municipality shall be
4 allowed a grant equivalent to the credit provided to eligible taxpayers
5 in the "hire a vet credit" as established in subdivision twenty-nine of
6 section two hundred ten-B of the tax law, where such municipality hires
7 and employs, for not less than twelve continuous and uninterrupted
8 months (hereinafter referred to as the "twelve-month period") in a full-
9 time or part-time position, a qualified veteran within the state. The
10 municipality may claim the grant in the year in which the qualified
11 veteran completes the twelve-month period of employment with the munici-
12 pality.
13 2. Qualified veteran. A qualified veteran is an individual:
14 (a) who served on active duty in the United States army, navy, air
15 force, space force, marine corps, coast guard or the reserves thereof,
16 or who served in active military service of the United States as a
17 member of the army national guard, air national guard, New York guard or
18 New York naval militia, or who served in the active uniformed services
19 of the United States as a member of the commissioned corps of the
20 national oceanic and atmospheric administration or the commissioned
21 corps of the United States public health service; who (i) was released
22 from active duty by general or honorable discharge; or (ii) has a quali-
23 fying condition, as defined in section one of this chapter, and has
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01512-01-5
S. 6005 2
1 received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such
2 service; or (iii) is a discharged LGBT veteran, as defined in section
3 one of this chapter, and has received a discharge other than bad conduct
4 or dishonorable from such service;
5 (b) who commences employment with the municipality on or after January
6 first, two thousand twenty-six, and before January first, two thousand
7 twenty-eight; and
8 (c) who certifies by signed affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that
9 such individual has not been employed for thirty-five or more hours
10 during any week in the one hundred eighty-day period immediately prior
11 to such individual's employment by the municipality.
12 3. Prohibition. A municipality shall not discharge an employee and
13 hire a qualifying veteran solely for the purpose of qualifying for this
14 grant. This section shall not be deemed to amend, modify or supersede
15 any other law which prescribes the qualifications which a person must
16 have to be appointed to a position subject to the civil service law.
17 4. Amount of grant. (a) The amount of the grant shall be fifteen
18 percent of the total amount of wages paid to the qualified veteran
19 during the veteran's first twelve-month period of employment. Provided,
20 however, that, if the qualified veteran is a disabled veteran, as
21 defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section eighty-five of
22 the civil service law, the amount of the grant shall be twenty percent
23 of the total amount of wages paid to the qualified veteran during the
24 veteran's first twelve-month period of employment.
25 (b) The grant allowed pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed in
26 any year:
27 (i) fifteen thousand dollars for any qualified veteran, other than a
28 disabled veteran, employed in a full-time position for one thousand
29 eight hundred twenty or more hours in one twelve-month period;
30 (ii) twenty thousand dollars for any qualified veteran who is a disa-
31 bled veteran employed in a full-time position for one thousand eight
32 hundred twenty or more hours in one twelve-month period;
33 (iii) seven thousand five hundred dollars for any qualified veteran,
34 other than a disabled veteran, employed in a part-time position for at
35 least one thousand forty hours but not more than one thousand eight
36 hundred nineteen hours in one twelve-month period; and
37 (iv) ten thousand dollars for any qualified veteran who is a disabled
38 veteran employed in a part-time position for at least one thousand forty
39 hours but not more than one thousand eight hundred nineteen hours in one
40 twelve-month period.
41 5. Definition. For purposes of this section, "municipality" means any
42 county, city, town, village or school district.
43 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
44 deemed repealed January 1, 2029.
