Bill Text: NY S08596 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

New York Senate Bill 8596 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Expands eligibility under the veterans tuition awards program to all New York resident veterans, regardless of combat service.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-11-11 - APPROVAL MEMO.12 [S08596 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08596-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8596--A

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 20, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when printed to be committed to the Committee on  Veterans,  Home-
          land  Security  and  Military  Affairs  --  committee discharged, bill
          amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
          tee

        AN  ACT to amend the education law, in relation to expanding eligibility
          under the veterans tuition awards program

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

     1    Section 1. Paragraph d of subdivision 1 of section 669-a of the educa-
     2  tion  law, as amended by section 46 of part PP of chapter 56 of the laws
     3  of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
     4    d. "Other eligible [combat] veteran" means: an individual who (i) is a
     5  resident of this state, (ii) served in the armed forces  of  the  United
     6  States [in hostilities that occurred after February twenty-eighth, nine-
     7  teen hundred sixty-one, as evidenced by their receipt of an Armed Forces
     8  Expeditionary  Medal,  Navy Expeditionary Medal, or Marine Corps Expedi-
     9  tionary Medal], and (iii) was either discharged under  honorable  condi-
    10  tions, including but not limited to honorable discharge, discharge under
    11  honorable  conditions,  or general discharge, or has a qualifying condi-
    12  tion, as defined in section one of the veterans' services law,  and  has
    13  received  a  discharge  other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such
    14  service, or is a discharged LGBT veteran, as defined in section  one  of
    15  the  veterans' services law, and has received a discharge other than bad
    16  conduct or dishonorable from such service.
    17    § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 669-a  of  the  education
    18  law,  as  amended  by  section  3 of part N of chapter 57 of the laws of
    19  2008, is amended to read as follows:
    20    a. Tuition awards  are  available  for  all  [Vietnam,  Persian  Gulf,
    21  Afghanistan  and] other eligible [combat] veterans, as defined in subdi-
    22  vision one of this section, who are enrolled, pursuant to paragraph a of
    23  subdivision four of section six  hundred  sixty-one  of  this  part,  in
    24  approved  undergraduate  or  graduate programs at degree granting insti-
    25  tutions or enrolled in approved vocational  training  programs  and  who

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13592-03-4

        S. 8596--A                          2

     1  apply  for  a tuition assistance program award, for up to the equivalent
     2  of eight full-time semesters, pursuant to section six hundred sixty-sev-
     3  en of this subpart.
     4    §  3.  Subdivision 4 of section 669-a of the education law, as amended
     5  by section 4 of part N of chapter 57 of the laws of 2008, is amended  to
     6  read as follows:
     7    4.  Every  recipient  shall  receive  an  award equal to the amount of
     8  undergraduate or graduate  tuition  for  residents  of  New  York  state
     9  charged  by  the state university of New York or actual tuition charged,
    10  whichever is less, for each semester, or the equivalent,  of  full  time
    11  study,  or  a  pro-rated  amount for part-time study; provided, however,
    12  that such award shall not be reduced by any benefits available under the
    13  federal Montgomery GI Bill act of 1984 or the federal Pell grant program
    14  pursuant to section one thousand seventy-a of title twenty of the United
    15  States code.
    16    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.