What's happening
This bill creates a scratch-off lottery game to fund a new veterans' assistance fund supporting veterans' education and training.
Why it matters
Creates a dedicated funding stream for veterans’ programs. by ensuring all net proceeds from the new scratch-off game go into a special veterans’ assistance fund, potentially increasing resources without diverting money from existing programs.
Targets support for veterans' education, job training, and entrepreneurship,. specifically allowing the fund to reimburse individual veterans (with priority for those with service-connected disabilities) for approved educational and training expenses—helping veterans transition to civilian life and improve career prospects.
Prioritizes assistance for disabled veterans,. with explicit preference and higher priority for those with higher disability ratings, meaning the most vulnerable veterans may benefit first from the new program.
Provides transparency and accountability. by keeping the new fund separate from other state monies and requiring oversight and approval by the state director of veterans’ affairs, aiming to ensure funds are used only for intended veterans’ support purposes.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Create Veterans Lottery Game
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
1 Multi-sponsor
History
- Referred to ways and means
- Referred to ways and means
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5630
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 14, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. CURRAN, FINCH, GRAF -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GIGLIO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the tax law and the state finance law, in relation to establishing the veteran assistance lottery game
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 1621 to read as follows:
§ 1621. Veteran assistance lottery game. 1. The director shall develop and implement a scratch-off lottery game whose revenue, after payment of prizes and associated administrative costs of such games, shall be deposited in the veterans' assistance fund as established in section ninety-seven-pppp of the state finance law. This lottery game shall be marketed and distributed in the same manner as all lottery games controlled by the division. This section shall not diminish any efforts or funding for other lottery games under the control of the division. Each ticket shall clearly state that all proceeds from ticket sales go towards the veterans' assistance fund.
2. The division of lottery shall establish and begin selling tickets as required by this section no later than December thirty-first, two thousand seventeen.
§ 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 97-pppp to read as follows:
§ 97-pppp. Veterans' assistance fund. 1. The veterans' assistance fund is established in the sole custody of the state comptroller. Monies in the fund shall be kept separate and not commingled with other funds in the custody of the comptroller.
2. Monies of the fund shall be expended only for costs associated with assistance for veterans including but not limited to, higher education, job and vocational training, and entrepreneurship and business training
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08467-01-7
A. 5630 2
approved by the state director of veterans' affairs. Monies shall be payable from the fund by the comptroller on vouchers approved by the state director of veterans' affairs.
3. The state director of veterans' affairs shall create a direct grant program that will disburse funds to reimburse individual veterans for the costs of approved educational programs based upon application and eligibility criteria established by such state director, with a preference given to veterans who have been assigned a disability rating by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and with a higher priority granted to veterans with higher disability ratings.
4. Monies shall be credited towards the fund in the form of gift, donation, federal assistance or grant, transfers, payment, appropriation or by a dedicated revenue source including the veteran assistance lottery game as established in section sixteen hundred twenty-one of the tax law.
5. Monies of the fund shall not be used, transferred or appropriated for any purpose other than what is provided in this section, except that such monies may be used for costs associated with administering the program within the division of veterans' affairs.
6. For the purposes of this section, "veteran" shall have the meaning defined in section three hundred fifty of the executive law.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.