Governor Kathy Hochul has signed six pieces of legislation in honor of Veterans Day. Hochul says the legislative package will expand access to benefits, reduce financial and administrative barriers and improve quality of life for veterans and active-duty service members. According to Hochul, the new laws will do the following:
- Help lower the cost of making homes safer and more accessible for veterans with disabilities by allowing local governments to waive or reduce fees for home improvements needed to accommodate a veteran's service-connected disability.
- Makes it easier for veterans with a 100 percent disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain license plates with the Universal Symbol of Access by allowing eligible veterans to use their existing federal disability rating to qualify.
- Make it easier for members of the armed forces to keep their vehicle registrations up to date while serving by allowing them to renew early if their registration is set to expire while they are deployed or performing other official military duties.
- Help ensure veterans who served during the Persian Gulf conflict can access the property tax benefits they have earned by clarifying the time period of the conflict used to determine eligibility.
- Make it easier for veterans who served in combat zones to qualify for additional property tax exemptions by expanding the types of military records they can use to prove their eligibility, including discharge records, military awards and records of hazardous duty pay.
- Make it easier for veterans with disabilities to access fitness and recreational opportunities at the State University of New York and City University of New York by providing for free or discounted memberships at campus gyms and swimming pools open to the general public.
