Excludes Medicare premiums from the definition of income for purposes of the senior citizen rent increase exemptions (SCRIE) program and the disability rent increase exemption (DRIE).
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A792A
SPONSOR: Rosenthal TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to excluding
veterans' benefits and workers' compensation benefits from the defi-
nition of income for purposes of the senior citizen rent increase
exemptions (SCRIE) program and the disability rent increase exemption
(DRIE)
PURPOSE:
This legislation will exclude Medicare benefits as income under the
Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) benefit and the Disabili-
ty Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) programs.'
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 476-b of the real property tax law
Section two establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under the New York City Rent Freeze Program, which is administered by
the New York City Department of Finance (Finance), individuals who live
in rent regulated apartments, are 62 years or older or have a disabili-
ty, earn $50,000 or less and pay 30% of their income toward rent, are
exempt from future rent increases. According to a 2022 report issued by
Finance, approximately 72,000 households are enrolled in the Rent Freeze
Program, and recipients receiving SCRIE and DRIE have an average income
of $19,845 and $16,881, respectively. Given the gravity of New York's
affordable housing crisis, this program is instrumental in keeping
seniors and people with disabilities in their homes.
Since current law requires an annual income of $50,000 or less to quali-
fy for SCRIE or DRIE, recipients of Medicare benefits often find them-
selves slightly over the income threshold. This problem arises because
for recipients of Medicare, the money that covers their benefit is auto-
matically deducted from their Social Security checks, which is classi-
fied as an insurance payment under federal law. Due to this classifica-
tion, Medicare payments are not deducted from a person's income when
determining SCRIE/DIRE eligibility. This means that the income
SCRIE/DRIE views when looking at a person's application is higher than
the money they actually receive. To remedy this, this legislation would
exclude Medicare benefits as countable income for SCRIE and DRIE. People
who receive Medicare should not be refused life-saving rental benefits.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
792--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, STERN, SEAWRIGHT, REYES, BERGER --
read once and referred to the Committee on Aging -- recommitted to the
Committee on Aging in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to excluding
veterans' benefits and workers' compensation benefits from the defi-
nition of income for purposes of the senior citizen rent increase
exemptions (SCRIE) program and the disability rent increase exemption
(DRIE)
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of clause (B) of subparagraph (ii) of
2 paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 467-b of the real property tax
3 law, as amended by chapter 276 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read
4 as follows:
5 provided, however, that income may be calculated as the income from
6 all sources after deduction of all income and social security taxes and
7 medicare premiums and includes social security and retirement benefits,
8 supplemental security income and additional state payments, public
9 assistance benefits, interest, dividends, net rental income, salary or
10 earnings, and net income from self-employment, but shall not include
11 gifts or inheritances, payments made to individuals because of their
12 status as victims of Nazi persecution, as defined in federal P.L.
13 103-286, or increases in benefits accorded pursuant to the social secu-
14 rity act or a public or private pension paid to any member of the house-
15 hold which increase, in any given year, does not exceed the consumer
16 price index (all items United States city average) for such year which
17 take effect after the date of eligibility of head of the household
18 receiving benefits hereunder whether received by the head of the house-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02562-05-6
A. 792--A 2
1 hold or any other member of the household, when the following conditions
2 are met:
3 § 2. The opening paragraph of clause (ii) of subparagraph 2 of para-
4 graph f of subdivision 1 of section 467-c of the real property tax law,
5 as amended by chapter 276 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as
6 follows:
7 provided, however, that income may be calculated as the income
8 received by the eligible head of the household combined with the income
9 of all other members of the household from all sources after deduction
10 of all income and social security taxes and medicare premiums and
11 includes without limitation, social security and retirement benefits,
12 supplemental security income and additional state payments, public
13 assistance benefits, interest, dividends, net rental income, salary and
14 earnings, and net income from self employment, but shall not include
15 gifts or inheritances, payments made to individuals because of their
16 status as victims of Nazi persecution as defined in federal P.L.
17 103-286, nor increases in benefits accorded pursuant to the social secu-
18 rity act or a public or private pension paid to any member of the house-
19 hold which increase, in any given year, does not exceed the consumer
20 price index (all items United States city average) for such year which
21 take effect after the eligibility date of an eligible head of the house-
22 hold receiving benefits hereunder whether received by the eligible head
23 of the household or any other member of the household, when the follow-
24 ing conditions are met:
25 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
