NY State Senate Bill 2025-S796

Senate Bill S796

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to information regarding the home energy assistance program for participants in the elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules 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 08, 2025	referred to rules

2025-S796 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1099
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Elder Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §245, Eld L (as proposed in S.8760-A & A.9369-A)

2025-S796 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the provision of information regarding the home energy assistance program for participants in the elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program.

2025-S796 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S796

SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the elder law, in relation to information regarding the
home energy assistance program for participants in the elderly pharma-
ceutical insurance coverage program

 
PURPOSE:

This chapter amendment clarifies the provisions of L.2024, c.633,
regarding the dissemination of information about the Home Energy Assist-
ance Program for participants in the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance
Coverage Program

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This legislation amends the underlying chapter regarding the dissem-
ination of information about the Home Energy Assistance Program for
participants in the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Program.

This legislation eliminates the automatic identification and enrollment
in the HEAP program for participants in the Elderly Pharmaceutical
Insurance Coverage Program. Instead, the chapter amendment emphasizes
enhanced interagency information sharing to more effectively enroll
eligible individuals in HEAP.

Subsection 2 amends the underlying chapter requiring the Department of
Health (DOH) to notify program participants and provide information on
HEAP eligibility and application procedures with each application
distributed, as well as annually to all program participants.

Subsection 3 amends the underlying legislation requiring the DOH to
consult with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA)
and the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) when developing a
process to notify EPIC program participants about HEAP eligibility and
application procedures.

Subsection 4 amends the underlying chapter by transferring the responsi-
bility of providing written notifications and information to households
that apply for and are enrolled in HEAP to the relevant local social
services districts. The notifications and information must comply with
OTDA regulations.

Subsection 5 amends the underlying chapter to allow OTDA and DOH to
collaborate in establishing any necessary rules and regulations for
implementing the provisions of this legislation.

 
EXISTING LAW:

None.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation is a negotiated change to the underlying chapter.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

Chapter amendment to Chapter 633 of the Laws of 2024. S.8760-A passed
the Senate in June 2024 and A.9369-A passed the Assembly in May 2024.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a
chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the Elder Law relating to the auto-
matic identification and enrollment of Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance
Coverage Program enrollees in the Home Energy Assistance Program, as
proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8760-A and A.  9369-A, takes
effect.

2025-S796 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    796
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to information regarding  the
   home energy assistance program for participants in the elderly pharma-
   ceutical insurance coverage program
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 245 of the elder law, as added by a chapter of  the
 laws  of 2024 amending the elder law relating to the automatic identifi-
 cation and  enrollment  of  elderly  pharmaceutical  insurance  coverage
 program  enrollees in the home energy assistance program, as proposed in
 legislative bills numbers S. 8760-A and A. 9369-A, is amended to read as
 follows:
   § 245. [Automated identification of] INFORMATION  REGARDING  THE  HOME
 ENERGY  ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR program participants. 1. For the purposes
 of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
   (a) ["Office"] "OTDA" shall mean the state  office  of  temporary  and
 disability assistance.
   (b)  "Home energy assistance program" OR "HEAP" shall mean the low-in-
 come home energy assistance  program  implemented  pursuant  to  section
 ninety-seven of the social services law.
   2.  The  department of health shall [update the elderly pharmaceutical
 insurance coverage program application to allow] NOTIFY program  partic-
 ipants  [to  consent,  in a manner that is separate and apart from other
 requests for consent contained in the application, to  the  exchange  of
 such  participant's  information  to verify such enrollee's] AND PROVIDE
 INFORMATION REGARDING eligibility AND HOW TO APPLY for the  home  energy
 assistance  program.    [Upon receipt of such consent, the department of
 taxation and finance shall confirm such participant's income at the time
 of enrollment] SUCH INFORMATION SHALL  BE  PROVIDED  WITH  EACH  ELDERLY
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD02732-01-5
 S. 796                              2
 
 PHARMACEUTICAL  INSURANCE COVERAGE PAPER APPLICATION THAT IS DISTRIBUTED
 AND ALSO ANNUALLY TO ALL PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS.
   3.  The  department of health shall [coordinate] CONSULT with OTDA AND
 the office [to facilitate the secure transmission  of  data  through  an
 interface  with  the  office's information technology infrastructure] ON
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOTIFICATION TO PROGRAM  PARTICIPANTS  REFERENCED
 IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION.
   4.  [No  less  than  once  per  month, the office, upon receipt of the
 required data elements from the department of health and the  department
 of  taxation  and  finance,  as  such  data  elements are defined by the
 office, shall conduct automated file matching to identify elderly  phar-
 maceutical insurance coverage program participants who are eligible for]
 IF  A  PARTICIPANT'S  HOUSEHOLD  APPLIES FOR AND IS ENROLLED IN the home
 energy assistance program[.  Within sixty days of receipt that an elder-
 ly pharmaceutical insurance coverage program  participant's  eligibility
 for  the  home  energy assistance program is confirmed, the office shall
 enroll such elderly pharmaceutical insurance  coverage  program  partic-
 ipant in the home energy assistance program.
   5.  Upon  automatic  enrollment in the home energy assistance program,
 the department of health], THE APPLICABLE LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT
 shall provide written notification AND INFORMATION to the [elderly phar-
 maceutical insurance coverage program participant of their enrollment in
 such program and shall provide information regarding the program's bene-
 fits] PARTICIPANT'S HOUSEHOLD IN ACCORDANCE WITH OTDA REGULATIONS.
   [6. The office, in consultation with] 5. OTDA AND  the  department  of
 health,  [is] IN CONSULTATION WITH EACH OTHER, ARE authorized to promul-
 gate any rules and regulations necessary to carry out the provisions  of
 this section.
   §  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect on the same date and in the same
 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the elder law  relating
 to the automatic identification and enrollment of elderly pharmaceutical
 insurance  coverage  program  enrollees  in  the  home energy assistance
 program, as proposed in legislative  bills  numbers  S.  8760-A  and  A.
 9369-A, takes effect.

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.