New York State Assembly

 
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A01817 Summary:

A01817 Actions:

A01817 Committee Votes:

Committee:SOCIAL SERVICES   Chair:Davila      
DATE:04/29/2025AYE/NAY:16/1  Action: Favorable refer to committee Ways and Means        
Davila
Aye
Molitor
Aye
Solages
Aye
Simpson
Aye
Eichenstein
Aye
McDonough
Excused
Reyes
Aye
Friend
Nay
Forrest
Aye
Bailey
Aye
Gonzalez-Rojas
Aye
De Los Santos
Aye
Simone
Aye
Raga
Aye
Berger
Aye
Valdez
Aye
Romero
Aye
O'Pharrow
Aye

Committee:WAYS AND MEANS   Chair:Pretlow      
DATE:05/27/2025AYE/NAY:32/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Rules        
Pretlow
Aye
Ra
Aye
Glick
Aye
Fitzpatrick
Aye
Colton
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Cook
Aye
Blankenbush
Aye
Benedetto
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Weprin
Aye
Walsh
Aye
Ramos
Aye
DeStefano
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Manktelow
Aye
McDonald
Aye
Smullen
Aye
Rozic
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Bronson
Aye
Dilan
Absent
Seawright
Aye
Hyndman
Excused
Walker
Excused
Bichotte Hermel
Aye
Simon
Aye
Cruz
Aye
Otis
Aye
Solages
Aye
Hunter
Aye
Epstein
Aye
Septimo
Aye

Committee:RULES   Chair:Glick      
DATE:05/29/2025AYE/NAY:27/0  Action: Favorable         
Heastie
Excused
Barclay
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Cook
Aye
Blankenbush
Aye
Glick
Aye
Ra
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Brabenec
Aye
Colton
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Paulin
Aye
Smith
Aye
Peoples-Stokes
Aye
Jensen
Aye
Benedetto
Aye
Lavine
Excused
Lupardo
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Davila
Excused
Hyndman
Aye
Rozic
Excused
Bronson
Aye
Hevesi
Aye
Hunter
Aye
Taylor
Aye
Cruz
Aye
Vanel
Aye

A01817 Floor Votes:

A01817 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A1817
 
SPONSOR: Rosenthal

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to defining "closed
period of eligibility" for purposes of certain supplemental security
income and including such time period in the eligibility requirements of
such supplemental security income
 
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
 
Section one amends subdivisions one, three and ten of the section 208 of
the social services law, as added by chapter 1080 of the laws on 1970 by
adding a new subdivision 13.
 
Section two amends paragraph b of subdivision one section 209 of the
social services law as added by chapter 180 of the laws of 1974.
 
Section three sets forth the effective date.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
Many senior New Yorkers and those with disabilities rely on the Supple-
mental Security Income (SSI), a needs-based program available only to
those with limited income and resources. In New York, SSI has a federal
component and a state component, which is known as the State Supple-
mental Program (SSP). The State took over administration of the SSP from
the federal government in 2014 and realized a multimillion dollars
savings annually as a result. Currently, New York's SSP provides a
monthly benefit of $23 or $87 for individuals and $46 or $104 for
couples, depending on living arrangement.
 
People may be simultaneously eligible for both SSI and Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI), which is based on their earnings, and may
apply for both. If the SSDI claim is approved, the beneficiary will be
subject to a five-month waiting period before receipt of the first SSDI
payment, pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 404.315. During this five-month waiting
period, claimants with little or no other income may be eligible to
receive SSI benefits, which are not subject to a waiting period.
 
Eligibility for SSP benefits when people become eligible for SSI, and
SSP benefits are payable as of the month that SSI payments begin.  Some
of these claimants will no longer be eligible for SSI or SSP payments
once their SSDI benefits begin if the SSDI amount is higher than the SSI
Federal Benefit Rate plus the SSP amount.
 
Because of appeals and delays in the administrative process, the Social
Security Administration does not typically make a determination regard-
ing SSI eligibility until well after the five-month SSDI waiting period
has run. Additionally, federal rules require that the agency process an
SSI claim before processing any concurrent SSDI claim. As a result, many
people who apply for both SSI and SSDI with SSDI benefit amounts greater
than the SSI rate but who otherwise satisfy the financial criteria of
SSI will invariably be granted SSI only to have it terminated when the
SSDI claim is approved. They will be paid retroactive SSI by the Social
Security Administration, which often encompasses the five-month SSDI
waiting period time.
 
In January 2021, OTDA adopted new SSP administrative regulations.  These
regulations make a number of so-called "clarifying" revisions, including
a "clarifying" revision requiring an individual or couple to be in
active receipt of SSI benefits to be eligible for SSP - including retro-
active SSP payments. The OTDA regulations now preclude the receipt of
the same retroactive benefits for a subset of potential SSP recipients,
including those individuals or couples who would only be eligible for
SSP benefits during their five-month waiting period for SSDI benefits.
The estimated population of affected recipients is several thousand very
low-income seniors and/or New Yorkers with disabilities.
 
By limiting recipients to "active participants," the OTDA regulations
undo decades of policy and practice with respect to the payment of
retroactive SSP benefits. The changes also administratively subvert
three Court decisions that directed the agency to pay SSP benefits to
people who were eligible for SSI for a closed period. In addition, if
the program was still being administered by the federal government,
seniors and New Yorkers with disabilities would still be receiving SSP
benefits during a closed period.
 
Finally, when OTDA proposed assuming responsibility for the adminis-
tration of New York's SSI State Supplement Program in 2012, it promised
to put in place "an effective and efficient SSP project..., and that the
vulnerable individuals served by this program will not be negatively
impacted by this change." Once New York State took over administration
of the SSP program, OTDA stopped paying these retroactive benefits that
had previously been paid when the SSP was administered by SSA, despite
being directed by both its own fair hearing bureau and the Courts to
continue paying them. The resulting new regulations do not live up to
that promise, and instead are doing harm to exceptionally vulnerable New
Yorkers and their families.
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
Undetermined.
 
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
2023-24: A.5515 - Passed Assembly; S.1998 - Referred to Social Services
 
2021-22: A.7528 - Referred to Social Services; S.7035 - Committed to
Rules
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

A01817 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1817
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 14, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Social Services
 
        AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to defining "closed
          period of eligibility" for purposes of certain  supplemental  security
          income  and including such time period in the eligibility requirements
          of such supplemental security income
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Subdivisions  1,  3,  and 10 of section 208 of the social
     2  services law, as added by chapter 1080 of the laws of 1974, are  amended
     3  and a new subdivision 13 is added to read as follows:
     4    1. "Supplemental security income benefits" shall mean payments made by
     5  the  [secretary  of  the  federal  department  of  health, education and
     6  welfare] federal commissioner of social  security  to  aged,  blind  and
     7  disabled persons pursuant to title sixteen of the federal social securi-
     8  ty act.
     9    3.  The  "[secretary]  commissioner"  shall mean the [secretary of the
    10  federal department of health, education and welfare] federal commission-
    11  er of social security.
    12    10. An "eligible individual" shall mean a person who is or was  eligi-
    13  ble to receive additional state payments pursuant to section two hundred
    14  nine of this title.
    15    13. A "closed period of eligibility" shall refer to a determination of
    16  the social security administration that a person was previously eligible
    17  for  supplemental  security  income benefits for a period of time in the
    18  past, but is no longer eligible at the time such determination  is  made
    19  or at the time the social security administration communicates eligibil-
    20  ity to the office of temporary and disability assistance.
    21    §  2.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision  1 of section 209 of the social
    22  services law, as added by chapter 1080 of the laws of 1974,  is  amended
    23  to read as follows:
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04689-01-5
        A. 1817                             2
 
     1    (b)  A  person  who is properly receiving supplemental security income
     2  benefits, or who has been awarded benefits for a closed period of eligi-
     3  bility, shall be deemed to have met the eligibility  criteria  contained
     4  in  subparagraphs  (i), (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
     5  sion.
     6    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

A01817 LFIN:

 
NO LFIN

A01817 Chamber Video/Transcript: