Sen. Jake Ashby

Establishes certain offenses based on homicide due to criminal sale of a controlled substance; establishes the offense of criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child in the first degree; expands the definition of controlled substances with respect to certain offenses; increases the felony classification of certain controlled substance offenses; includes electronic prescriptions and blank prescription forms in the definition of certain controlled substance offenses.

Expands eligibility for the New York state excelsior scholarship award to certain applicants enrolled on a part-time basis or in a BOCES or other approved vocational program; provides criteria for eligibility, and limits on amounts and durations for any such awards.

Requires nursing homes, residential health care facilities, and adult care facilities to ask patients if they have a service-connected disability rating from the federal department of veterans affairs; requires such information to be delivered to the department of veterans' services and transmitted to city and county veterans' services agencies and officers.

Establishes the Capital Region preceptor stipend program to be administered by the office of the professions, under which qualified preceptor clinicians shall receive a $5,000 stipend; provides for such funds to be distributed from the office of the professions account.

Expands the privileges of farm breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries to allow for the sales of "farm brewed" alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption.

Maddy summarySenate Bill S 7954 amends the requirements for organizations providing fiscal intermediary services in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. It expands the definition of "fiscal intermediary" to include more entities, such as certain service centers for independent living, granting them equal status to the statewide fiscal intermediary. These newly defined fiscal intermediaries can contract directly with managed care plans and must provide culturally and linguistically competent services. The bill also removes the specific procurement process for a single statewide fiscal intermediary, aiming to offer consumers more choice in these services.

Excludes the five state-run veterans homes from assessments on their gross receipts received from all patient care services and other operating income; directs the Commissioner of Health to apply to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for any necessary waivers pursuant to federal law and regulation.

Maddy summaryThis bill exempts veteran first-time homebuyers in New York from paying the mortgage recording tax on new home purchases. It adds a new provision to tax law stating that mortgages executed by veterans (as defined in the Veterans' Services Law) who are first-time homebuyers are not subject to the mortgage recording tax. The exemption applies directly to qualifying veterans purchasing their first home, removing a financial cost associated with closing the mortgage. This is a concrete tax policy change affecting eligible veteran homebuyers, not a broader housing or veteran benefit program.

Permits the designation of low volume roads and minimum maintenance roads by town boards; enacts provisions relating to the maintenance, improvement and repair of such roads; removes the limitation that such provisions only apply to a designated town.

Allows school resource officers to be hired with salary aidable to the school district; raises retirement salaries for such officers to fifty thousand dollars.