Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official source posted by the New York State Senate, fetched 2026-08-11. Nothing is edited or removed. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official source appears here in brackets. The official bill page.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
1099
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. McDONALD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Aging
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
A. 1099 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.Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.