Bill Text: NY S08187 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes and funds the close the waitlist fund by utilizing a tax surcharge to pay for providing senior services to individuals who have been waitlisted to receive such senior services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-12 - PRINT NUMBER 8187A [S08187 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08187-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8187--A

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 11, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to  the  Committee  on  Finance  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend the state finance law and the tax law, in relation to
          establishing and funding the close the waitlist fund

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Legislative intent. The Older Americans Act was signed into
     2  law  by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 as part of "The Great Socie-
     3  ty". The primary purpose of the Older Americans Act was to  support  the
     4  local  provision  of  quality  services to seniors, including home care,
     5  meals,  preventative  medical  services,  transportation  and  caregiver
     6  assistance.  The  basic  structure  of  the  Older Americans Act and its
     7  implementation at the state,  city  and  municipal  level  has  remained
     8  largely  unchanged  for six decades, despite the composition, preponder-
     9  ance and needs of Older New Yorkers changing in dynamic fashion. Signif-
    10  icant changes are warranted as the senior population in our state is the
    11  fastest growing of all segments; in particular those age  80  and  above
    12  are  growing at the swiftest rate of all subgroups. Efforts are underway
    13  in the United States congress to modernize the Older Americans  Act  and
    14  provide additional funding to meet historical demand. New York State has
    15  undertaken  a  State  Master Plan On Aging Process in recognition of the
    16  fact that the system needs to change to  ensure  that  our  seniors  are
    17  empowered, supported and put in a position to thrive. However, irrespec-
    18  tive  of  all  these grand designs, there are still tens of thousands of
    19  individuals who, for decades, have been waitlisted for  senior  services
    20  and  thousands  more  who when they hear they will be put on a waitlist,
    21  decline to be added for fear they will die before services are rendered.
    22  The purpose of this bill is to close the waitlist forever, by  providing
    23  necessary,  modest  funding  from specific sources. This investment will
    24  actually save money as senior services allow people to stay at home, age
    25  in place, avoid institutionalization and/or spending down to Medicare.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14043-02-4
        S. 8187--A                          2

     1    § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-rr to
     2  read as follows:
     3    §  99-rr.  Close  the waitlist fund. 1.  A special fund to be known as
     4  the "close the waitlist fund" is hereby established in  the  custody  of
     5  the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance.
     6    2.  The  fund  shall  consist of all monies appropriated, credited, or
     7  transferred to such fund pursuant to law, all  monies  required  by  any
     8  provision  of law to be paid into or credited to the fund and any inter-
     9  est earnings which may accrue from the investment of monies in the fund.
    10  Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the state from receiving
    11  grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the  fund  as  defined  in
    12  this section and depositing them in the fund according to law.
    13    3.  Monies  of  the  fund,  when  allocated, shall be available to the
    14  office for the aging to provide senior services to individuals who  have
    15  been waitlisted to receive such senior services.
    16    4.  Monies  shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
    17  the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by  the  director  of
    18  the office for the aging.
    19    §  3.  The  tax  law is amended by adding a new section 602 to read as
    20  follows:
    21    § 602. Tax surcharge for senior services. (a) In addition to the taxes
    22  authorized by this part for all taxable  years  beginning  on  or  after
    23  January  first, two thousand twenty-five, a tax surcharge on the taxable
    24  income of every resident married individuals filing joint returns, resi-
    25  dent married individuals filing  separate  returns,  resident  surviving
    26  spouses,  resident  heads of households, resident unmarried individuals,
    27  and resident estates and trusts, there is hereby imposed  an  additional
    28  tax surcharge at a rate of up to:
    29    If the taxable income is:   the tax surcharge is:
    30    Not over $10,000,000        0
    31    Over $10,000,000            .5% of taxable income
    32    (b)  The  tax  surcharge  imposed  pursuant  to  the authority of this
    33  section shall be administered, collected, and distributed by the commis-
    34  sioner in the same manner as the other taxes  imposed  pursuant  to  the
    35  authority  of  this  article, and all of the provisions of this article,
    36  shall apply to the tax surcharge authorized by this  section;  provided,
    37  however, that the provisions of section six hundred ninety-eight of this
    38  article  and  one  hundred  seventy-one-a  of this chapter directing the
    39  deposit and disposition of all taxes, interest and  penalties  collected
    40  shall not apply to any such surcharge.
    41    (c)  Notwithstanding  any  provision of this section or of section six
    42  hundred ninety-eight of this article and one  hundred  seventy-one-a  of
    43  this  chapter  to the contrary, the total revenue from the tax surcharge
    44  imposed pursuant to the authority of this  section,  including  interest
    45  and  penalties,  shall be credited to the close the waitlist fund estab-
    46  lished pursuant to section ninety-nine-rr of the state finance  law  and
    47  shall be applied exclusively to or in aid or support of providing senior
    48  services  to individuals who have been waitlisted to receive such senior
    49  services.
    50    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all tax
    51  years commencing on and after January 1, 2025.