Directs the veterans service commission to submit a report regarding coordinated services for veterans with service-connected disabilities to the veterans' service director by April 1, 2029.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8897
IN SENATE
January 13, 2026
___________
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
AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to directing the
veterans service commission to submit a report relating to coordinated
services for veterans with service-connected disabilities to the
veterans' services director
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby recognizes that
2 New York state's veterans, particularly those who suffered from
3 service-connected disabilities, have unique needs as a result of the
4 sacrifices they made during their military service. It is also hereby
5 acknowledged by the legislature that due to the complexity of their
6 needs, such individuals require accessible, coordinated, and specialized
7 services within their communities from multiple state and local agen-
8 cies. The legislature finds that there may be a need for a statewide
9 comprehensive program to coordinate such services.
10 § 2. Section 3 of the veterans' services law is amended by adding a
11 new subdivision 6 to read as follows:
12 6. The commission, in consultation with the office of the chief disa-
13 bility officer by April first, two thousand twenty-nine, shall submit a
14 report to the director reviewing the services provided to veterans with
15 service-connected disabilities by state and local veterans' service
16 agencies. The report shall identify any deficiencies in the availabili-
17 ty, accessibility and delivery of such services.
18 (a) The services reviewed in the report shall include, but not be
19 limited to:
20 (i) education and vocation related services, including training and
21 retraining services;
22 (ii) healthcare services, including medical, mental, dental, rehabili-
23 tation and counseling services;
24 (iii) career, employment and re-employment services;
25 (iv) housing related services;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14388-01-6
S. 8897 2
1 (v) transportation services;
2 (vi) long term care services;
3 (vii) personal care services;
4 (viii) adult day healthcare services;
5 (ix) family outreach and family caregiver services; and
6 (x) legal services, including veterans' benefits claims assistance.
7 The report shall provide any findings and recommendations as to how
8 these services may be improved, or better coordinated and how informa-
9 tion pertaining to such services can be better communicated to veterans.
10 To the extent feasible, the report shall also identify any needs of
11 veterans with service-connected disabilities that are unmet by existing
12 services and include recommendations as to how they may be addressed.
13 (b) The report shall also include findings and recommendations on the
14 necessity and feasibility of implementing a comprehensive statewide
15 program of coordinated service for veterans with service-connected disa-
16 bilities. Once completed, the commission shall publish such report on
17 the division's website and provide for a thirty-day public comment peri-
18 od prior to such report being delivered to the director. A synopsis of
19 the comments shall be included in the report that is submitted.
20 Upon the receipt of the report the state director shall submit a copy
21 of the report to the governor, temporary president of the senate and
22 speaker of the assembly.
23 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
24 have become a law.
