Senate Social Services Committee advances nine bills to finance, rules and first reading

The New York State Senate Committee on Social Services on Jan. 22 advanced nine bills from its agenda, sending several measures to the Senate Finance Committee, one to Rules and others to first reading.

What the committee did. Committee staff read bill titles; committee members moved and seconded each item and the committee recorded referrals by voice vote. The chair said the committee’s 2024 legislative report will be published online and distributed to members.

Bills referred to Finance (selected items). The committee reported the following measures to Finance: - Senate Bill 113 (sponsor: Senator Cleary): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to the standards of monthly need for persons in receipt of public assistance." Referred to Finance; fiscal impact listed in meeting materials as "undetermined." (See separate article on SB 113.) - Senate Bill 180 (sponsor: Senator Bridal): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to increasing the amount certain individuals are eligible for when receiving enhanced residential care." Referred to Finance. - Senate Bill 182 (sponsor: Senator Prasad): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to increasing the federal poverty level requirement for recipients of social services ... one-time disregard of income following job entry for up to six consecutive months." Referred to Finance. - Senate Bill 246 (sponsor: Senator Persaud): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to resource exemptions for applicants for public assistance programs;" referral to Finance carried though one member said she would vote against it on principle. - Senate Bill 442 (sponsor: Senator Violin Siegel): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to assisting persons with medically diagnosed HIV infection and repealing certain provisions of such law relating to [unspecified]." Referred to Finance. - Senate Bill 1127 (sponsor: not specified in transcript): "An act to amend the social services law in relation to increasing the standards of monthly need and a home energy grant amounts for persons in receipt of public assistance." Referred to Finance.

Bills sent to Rules or first reading. The committee also advanced: - Senate Bill 1966 (sponsor: Senator Chris Ryan): Referred to Senate Rules; described as requiring social services districts to automatically re-enroll eligible persons or households for a home energy assistance program. - Senate Bill 1994 (sponsor: Senator Ramos): Sent to first reading; described as prohibiting requiring parents or caretakers to earn a minimum wage to be eligible for childcare assistance. - Senate Bill 2022 (sponsor: Senator Cooney): Sent to first reading; described as exempting certain income for the purpose of determining benefits under public assistance programs.

Votes and dissent. Most measures were advanced by voice vote. The transcript records at least one explicit dissent: a senator identified in the record as Senator Marietta said she would vote against SB 246, calling the change "a little bit too much." Several members, at points during multiple referrals, are recorded in the transcript as "without rec" (noted for example for Senator Murray and Senator White); the meeting transcript does not contain a full roll-call tally for each referral.

Why this matters. The bills touch eligibility and benefit calculations for public-assistance recipients, resource exemptions, home-energy assistance, and services for people with medically diagnosed HIV. Referrals to Finance and Rules begin the fiscal and procedural steps needed before any measure can reach the Senate floor.

Next steps. Referred measures will be considered by the referenced committees (Finance or Rules) or proceed through first-reading procedures; the committee chair asked members to review the committee’s 2024 report, to be posted online.