NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8374

Senate Bill S8374

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Removes the federal poverty level requirement for recipients where it concerns the one-time disregard of earned income

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Social Services Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 24, 2024	referred to social services

co-Sponsors

2023-S8374 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Social Services
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §131-a, Soc Serv L

2023-S8374 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Removes the federal poverty level requirement for recipients where it concerns the one-time disregard of earned income following job entry.

2023-S8374 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8374

SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to removing the
federal poverty level requirement for recipients of social services
where it concerns the one-time disregard of earned income following job
entry for up to six consecutive months

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The bill eliminates a 200% of Federal Poverty Level income threshold
from the one-time, six-month earned income disregard for job entrants
having completed a public assistance employment training program, as
enacted in the FY 20232024 budget, as originally proposed in S.2144
(Persaud).

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one removes "and that the recipient's total income shall not be
more than two hundred percent of the federal poverty level" from subpar-

agraph 8 of paragraph a of subdivision 8 of Social Services Law

Section 131-a.

Section two of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Many public assistance recipients who are working to attain greater
self-sufficiency encounter economic barriers as their rising incomes
disqualify them from various benefits. Such benefits include, but are
not limited to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medi-
caid, childcare and rental assistance. When a household no longer quali-
fies for benefits (even with minimum wage incomes), the costs associated
with purchasing healthcare and paying for childcare are often too great
and can thus deter some recipients from fully re-entering the workforce.

Under this legislation, individuals entering the paid workforce after
participating in a qualified state or federal job training program (or
welfare-to-work program) would be allowed to continue receiving benefits
alongside earned income for a maximum of six months. This would allow
recipients to save earned income in an amount exceeding statutory limits
so that recipients can absorb future expenses that will increase as a
result of disqualification from various federal and state benefits. The
Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance has implemented a
similar program.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8374 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8374
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 24, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in  relation  to  removing  the
   federal  poverty  level  requirement for recipients of social services
   where it concerns the one-time disregard of  earned  income  following
   job entry for up to six consecutive months

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph (xiii) of paragraph (a) of  subdivision  8  of
 section  131-a of the social services law, as added by section 2 of part
 X of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   (xiii) once during the lifetime of a recipient of  public  assistance,
 all of the earned income of such recipient will be disregarded following
 job entry, provided that such exemption of income for purposes of public
 assistance  eligibility shall be for no more than six consecutive months
 from the initial date of obtaining such employment [and that the recipi-
 ent's total income shall not be more than two  hundred  percent  of  the
 federal  poverty  level].  In  the  event  a recipient moves from one to
 another social services district, this disregard shall follow the recip-
 ient.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14068-01-4

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S8374

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Roxanne J. Persaud