Authorizes the division of veterans' affairs to provide eligible veterans with financial assistance for purchasing, training and the upkeep of service dogs and emotional support dogs.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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20
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 4, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN -- 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 executive law, in relation to authorizing the divi-
sion of veterans' affairs to provide eligible veterans with financial
assistance for purchasing, training and the upkeep of service dogs and
emotional support dogs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 368-a
2 to read as follows:
3 § 368-a. Service dog and emotional support dog grant assistance. 1.
4 For the purposes of this section, the term "service dog" shall have the
5 same meaning as provided for in subdivision seven of section forty-sev-
6 en-b of the civil rights law.
7 2. For the purposes of this section, the term "emotional support dog"
8 shall mean a dog providing therapeutic support to an owner.
9 3. The division shall provide eligible veterans with: (a) grant
10 assistance of up to seven thousand five hundred dollars for the purchase
11 and training of a service dog from an organization providing service
12 dogs for post-traumatic stress disorder and/or traumatic brain injury;
13 or (b) grant assistance of up to five thousand dollars for the purchase
14 and training of a service dog from a professional service dog trainer or
15 an owner-trainer. The division shall provide eligible veterans receiving
16 grant assistance pursuant to this subdivision with an amount of not less
17 than fifty dollars a month for the continued upkeep of the service dog
18 as long as the eligible veteran is in possession of the service dog.
19 4. The division shall provide eligible veterans with grant assistance
20 of up to five hundred dollars for the purchase and training of an
21 emotional support dog, as well as an amount of not less than thirty-five
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05680-01-7
S. 20 2
1 dollars a month for the continued upkeep of the emotional support dog as
2 long as the eligible veteran is in possession of the emotional support
3 dog.
4 5. To be eligible to receive grant assistance under this section, an
5 individual must:
6 (a) be a veteran, which, for the purposes of this section, shall mean
7 resident of this state who served on active duty in the United States
8 army, navy, marine corps, air force, coast guard or the reserves compo-
9 nent, or who served in active military service of the United States as a
10 member of the army national guard, air national guard, New York guard or
11 New York naval militia, who was released from such service other than by
12 dishonorable discharge;
13 (b) receive a diagnosis from a licensed physician or licensed mental
14 health professional of post-traumatic stress disorder, a traumatic brain
15 injury, or both, causing a disability as that term is defined in subdi-
16 vision twenty-one of section two hundred ninety-two of this chapter;
17 (c) receive a letter from a licensed physician or licensed mental
18 health provider certifying that the individual would benefit from the
19 use of a service dog or emotional support dog; and
20 (d) have an annual income of fifty thousand dollars or less.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
22 it shall have become a law; provided, however the division of veterans'
23 affairs is authorized and directed to promulgate regulations to imple-
24 ment the provisions of this act immediately.