Relates to creating the traumatic brain injury trust fund

Title of bill

An act to amend the state finance law and the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the creation of the traumatic brain injury trust fund

Purpose or general idea of bill

To create the traumatic brain injury trust fund.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends the state finance law by adding a new section 99-y, creating the traumatic brain injury fund and its authority. The authority shall consist of ten members all appointed by the Governor. The authority shall have the power to accept applications for disbursements of available money from the fund. It is also provided that monies of the fund shall be expended only to qualified individuals not eligible for Medicaid funded, or otherwise insurance covered, traumatic brain injury programs and services. A qualified individual must provide medical documentation of a traumatic brain injury, as defined by section two thousand seven hundred forth-one of the public health law; New York residency for at least ninety consecutive days prior to application date; proof of less than one hundred thousand dollars in liquid assets; proof of denial from other funding sources; and willingness to accept services from an approved facility or program.

Section 2 amends subdivision 3 of section 1809 of the vehicle and traffic law, allowing the comptroller to deposit ten percent surcharge for traffic violations of sections eleven hundred eighty, eleven hundred ninety-two and twelve hundred twelve of this chapter to the credit of the traumatic brain injury trust fund.

Section 3 amends subdivision 2 of section 1809-c of the vehicle and traffic law, providing that the state comptroller shall deposit ten percent of such money collected pursuant to this section to the credit of the traumatic brain injury trust fund.

Section 4 is the effective date.

Justification

Traumatic brain injury is one of the major contributing factors to all injury-related death in the United State (U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). In New York, there were more than 140,000 incidents with a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury in 2009 and more than 2,000 deaths were related to traumatic brain injury (NYSDOH, 2011).

According to the New York State Department of Health's Five Year Traumatic Brain Injury Action in 2012, the current New York State TBI program provides the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver that serves over 2,700 persons annually. The waiver uses Medicaid funding to provide supports and services to assist individuals with a TBI toward successful inclusion in the community by allowing waiver participants move from a nursing facility to the community.

However, because the waiver serves only Medicaid eligible individuals with a nursing home level of care need injured between the ages of 18 and 64, a small percentage of individuals in the state living with TBI access the specialized community services available through the waiver. Therefore, this legislation would establish a TBI Trust Fund to support the cost of certain TBI services for those who are not

eligible for Medicaid funded or other insurance covered programs and services.

Prior legislative history

2013: A.9746 - Referred to Ways and Means

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

Immediately