§ 81 — Veterans' home assistance fund

§ 81. Veterans' home assistance fund. 1. There is hereby established\nin the joint custody of the commissioner of taxation and finance and the\ncomptroller, a special fund to be known as the "veterans' home\nassistance fund".\n 2. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the department\nof taxation and finance, pursuant to the provisions of sections two\nhundred nine-J and six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax law, and all\nother moneys appropriated, credited or transferred thereto from any\nother fund or source pursuant to law. For each state fiscal year, there\nshall be appropriated to the fund by the state, in addition to all other\nmoneys required to be deposited into such fund, an amount equal to the\naggregate of the amounts of moneys collected and deposited into the\nveterans' home assistance fund pursuant to sections two hundred nine-J\nand six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax law and all other moneys\nreceived and deposited into such fund from grants, gifts and bequests\nduring the immediately preceding calendar year. Nothing in this section\nshall prevent the state from soliciting and receiving grants, gifts or\nbequests for the purposes of the fund as defined in this section and\ndepositing them into the fund according to law.\n 3. On or before the first of February each year, the comptroller shall\ncertify to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the\nspeaker of the assembly, the chair of the senate finance committee and\nthe chair of the assembly ways and means committee, the amount of monies\ndeposited into the veterans' home assistance fund during the immediately\npreceding calendar year as the result of revenues collected pursuant to\nsections two hundred nine-J and six hundred twenty-seven-c of the tax\nlaw, and from all grants, gifts and bequests to such fund.\n 4. Moneys of the fund shall be expended only for the care and\nmaintenance of veterans' homes operated by agencies of the state, and\nshall be disbursed equally each state fiscal year to each of the\nfollowing five veterans' homes: the state home for veterans and their\ndependents at Oxford, the state home for veterans in the city of New\nYork, the state home for veterans at Batavia, the state home for\nveterans at Montrose and the Long Island state veterans home at Stony\nBrook university.\n 5. Moneys shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of\nthe comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the commissioner\nof health, for veterans' homes operated by the department of health, and\nby the chancellor of the state university of New York, for the veterans'\nhome operated by the state university of New York.\n 6. Moneys in the veterans' home assistance fund shall be kept separate\nand shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the custody of the\ncommissioner of taxation and finance and/or the comptroller.\n 7. On or before the first of February each year, the commissioner of\nhealth shall provide a written report to the temporary president of the\nsenate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance committee,\nchair of the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the senate\ncommittee on health, chair of the assembly health committee, the state\ncomptroller and the public. Such report shall include how the monies of\nthe fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year and shall\ninclude:\n (a) the amount of money dispersed from the fund and the award process\nused for such disbursements;\n (b) the recipients of awards from the fund;\n (c) the amount awarded to each;\n (d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and\n (e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include\nestimates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and\nsucceeding fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior\nfiscal year.\n