81. Veterans' home assistance fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody of the commissioner of taxation and finance and the comptroller, a special fund to be known as the "veterans' home assistance fund".
2. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the department of taxation and finance, pursuant to the provisions of sections two hundred nine-J and six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax law, and all other moneys appropriated, credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. For each state fiscal year, there shall be appropriated to the fund by the state, in addition to all other moneys required to be deposited into such fund, an amount equal to the aggregate of the amounts of moneys collected and deposited into the veterans' home assistance fund pursuant to sections two hundred nine-J and six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax law and all other moneys received and deposited into such fund from grants, gifts and bequests during the immediately preceding calendar year. Nothing in this section shall prevent the state from soliciting and receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the fund as defined in this section and depositing them into the fund according to law.
3. On or before the first of February each year, the comptroller shall certify to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee, the amount of monies deposited into the veterans' home assistance fund during the immediately preceding calendar year as the result of revenues collected pursuant to sections two hundred nine-J and six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax law, and from all grants, gifts and bequests to such fund.
4. Moneys of the fund shall be expended only for the care and maintenance of veterans' homes operated by agencies of the state, and shall be disbursed equally each state fiscal year to each of the following five veterans' homes: the state home for veterans and their dependents at Oxford, the state home for veterans in the city of New York, the state home for veterans at Batavia, the state home for veterans at Montrose and the Long Island state veterans home at Stony Brook university.
5. Moneys shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the commissioner of health, for veterans' homes operated by the department of health, and by the chancellor of the state university of New York, for the veterans' home operated by the state university of New York.
6. Moneys in the veterans' home assistance fund shall be kept separate and shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the custody of the commissioner of taxation and finance and/or the comptroller.
7. On or before the first of February each year, the commissioner of health shall provide a written report to the temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance committee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the senate committee on health, chair of the assembly health committee, the state comptroller and the public. Such report shall include how the monies of the fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year and shall include:
(a) the amount of money dispersed from the fund and the award process used for such disbursements;
(b) the recipients of awards from the fund;
(c) the amount awarded to each;
(d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
(e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include estimates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeeding fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior fiscal year.
Last modified: February 3, 2019