Senate Bill S215

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                   215

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 7, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  KRUGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and
  Community Development

AN  ACT  to amend the public housing law and the private housing finance
  law, in relation to excluding certain  tuition  costs  from  aggregate
  annual  income  in  determining  eligibility  for occupancy of certain
  housing projects

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.   The closing paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 156 of
the public housing law, as amended by chapter 893 of the laws  of  1974,
is amended to read as follows:
  The  "probable aggregate annual income" means the annual income of the
chief wage earner of the family plus all other income of  other  members
of the family over the age of twenty-one years, plus a proportion of the
income  of members under the age of twenty-one years to be determined by
the authority solely for the purpose of establishing rent  to  be  paid,
EXCLUDING  THEREFROM THE COST OF TUITION, BOOKS, ROOM AND BOARD, IF ANY,
NOT EXCEEDING THE SUM OF FIFTEEN HUNDRED  DOLLARS,  FOR  EACH  DEPENDENT
CHILD  WHO  IS OR HAS BEEN A FULL TIME STUDENT DURING FIVE MONTHS OF THE
CALENDAR YEAR  AT  ANY  COLLEGE,  COMMUNITY  COLLEGE,  GRADUATE  SCHOOL,
PROFESSIONAL  SCHOOL, OR ANY OTHER INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION WHICH
NORMALLY MAINTAINS A REGULAR FACULTY AND CURRICULUM AND NORMALLY  HAS  A
REGULARLY  ORGANIZED  BODY  OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE PLACE WHERE
ITS EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ARE CARRIED ON, AND except that the authority
may exclude a proportion of the income of other members  of  the  family
over  the  age of twenty-one years for the purpose of determining eligi-
bility for admission or continued occupancy, or for establishing  rental
of  such  family,  or  for all such purposes, subject to approval by the
commissioner with respect to state projects.

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

                                                           LBD03107-01-9

S. 215                              2

  S 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 31 of the private hous-
ing finance law, as amended by chapter 260  of  the  laws  of  1996,  is
amended to read as follows:
  (a) The dwelling or non-housekeeping accommodations without board in a
company project shall be available for persons or families of low income
whose  probable  aggregate  annual  income  at the time of admission and
during the period of occupancy does not exceed, the greater of  (i)  the
median  income for such persons or families for the metropolitan statis-
tical area in which the project is located, or if a project  is  located
outside  a  metropolitan  statistical  area,  the median income for such
persons or families for the county in which the project is  located,  as
most  recently determined by the United States department of housing and
urban development, in which case any person or family becoming  eligible
for  admission pursuant to this subparagraph shall pay, from the time of
admission, a rental surcharge as provided for in  subdivision  three  of
this section, computed on the basis of the income limitations applicable
to such persons or families in the absence of this subparagraph, or (ii)
seven  times  the  rental,  including the value or cost to them of heat,
light, water and cooking fuel, of the dwellings that may be furnished to
such persons or families, except that in the case of families with three
or more dependents, such ratio shall not exceed eight to one. The "prob-
able aggregate annual income" in the  case  of  dwelling  accommodations
means the annual income of the chief wage earner of the family, plus all
other  income  of other members of the family over the age of twenty-one
years, plus a proportion of income of gainfully employed  members  under
the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  the proportion to be determined by the
company as approved by the commissioner or the  supervising  agency,  as
the  case  may  be, EXCLUDING THEREFROM THE COST OF TUITION, BOOKS, ROOM
AND BOARD, IF ANY, NOT EXCEEDING THE SUM OF FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS, FOR
EACH DEPENDENT CHILD WHO IS OR HAS BEEN A FULL TIME STUDENT DURING  FIVE
MONTHS  OF THE CALENDAR YEAR AT ANY COLLEGE, COMMUNITY COLLEGE, GRADUATE
SCHOOL, PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL, OR ANY OTHER INSTITUTION OF  HIGHER  EDUCA-
TION  WHICH  NORMALLY  MAINTAINS  A  REGULAR  FACULTY AND CURRICULUM AND
NORMALLY HAS A REGULARLY ORGANIZED BODY OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE
PLACE WHERE ITS EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ARE CARRIED ON, AND ALSO  exclud-
ing therefrom a deduction of fifteen thousand dollars from the income of
secondary  wage  earners of the family or a larger deduction if approved
by the commissioner or the supervising  agency,  as  the  case  may  be,
except  that  the company, as approved by the commissioner or the super-
vising agency, as the case may be,  may  exclude  a  proportion  of  the
income  of  other members of the family over the age of twenty-one years
for the purpose of determining eligibility for  admission  or  continued
occupancy,  or  for  establishing  the rental of such family, or for all
such purposes; in the case of such  non-housekeeping  accommodations  it
means  the annual income of the occupant, provided that the commissioner
or supervising agency, as the case may be,  may  make  rules  and  regu-
lations  relative  to the allocation of the income of a family among the
members thereof for the purpose of determining the  income  attributable
to such occupant.
  S 3. Subdivision 5 of section 85-a of the private housing finance law,
as  amended  by  chapter 182 of the laws of 1997,  is amended to read as
follows:
  5. The "probable aggregate annual income" means the annual  income  of
the  chief wage earner of the family plus all other income of members of
the family over the age of twenty-one years, plus a  proportion  of  the
income  of members under the age of twenty-one years to be determined by

S. 215                              3

the commissioner, EXCLUDING THEREFROM THE COST OF TUITION,  BOOKS,  ROOM
AND BOARD, IF ANY, NOT EXCEEDING THE SUM OF FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS, FOR
EACH  DEPENDENT CHILD WHO IS OR HAS BEEN A FULL TIME STUDENT DURING FIVE
MONTHS  OF THE CALENDAR YEAR AT ANY COLLEGE, COMMUNITY COLLEGE, GRADUATE
SCHOOL, PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL, OR ANY OTHER INSTITUTION OF  HIGHER  EDUCA-
TION  WHICH  NORMALLY  MAINTAINS  A  REGULAR  FACULTY AND CURRICULUM AND
NORMALLY HAS A REGULARLY ORGANIZED BODY OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE
PLACE WHERE ITS EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ARE CARRIED ON, AND ALSO  exclud-
ing therefrom a deduction of fifteen thousand dollars from the income of
secondary  wage  earners of the family or a larger deduction if approved
by the commissioner or the supervising  agency,  as  the  case  may  be,
except  that the company, as approved by the commissioner, may exclude a
proportion of the income of other members of the family over the age  of
twenty-one  years  for the purpose of determining eligibility for admis-
sion or continued occupancy, or for  establishing  the  rental  of  such
family, or for all such purposes.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.