New York S 4970: Establishes the New York children's COVID-19 fund program

Bill Text

Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 Skip to main content 

 New York State Assembly

 Speaker Carl E. Heastie

 --> 
 --> 

 --> 

• 
 Assembly Members 

• 
 Legislative Info 

• 
 Public Hearings 

• 
 Speaker's Press 

• 
 Assembly Reports 

• 
 Committees & More 

• Bill Search Home
• Laws
• Legislative Calendar
• Public Hearing Schedule
• Assembly Calendars
• Assembly Committee Agenda 

 Javascript must be enabled to properly view this page. 

 Bill No.: 

• Summary 
• Actions 
• Committee&nbspVotes 
• Floor&nbspVotes 
• Memo 
• Text 
• LFIN 
• Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript 
S04970 Summary:

BILL NOS04970 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS A00134

&nbsp

SPONSORBAILEY

&nbsp

COSPNSRADDABBO, FERNANDEZ, JACKSON, PARKER, RAMOS, SKOUFIS

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Add Art 19-J §§535 - 535-b, Exec L; add §78-c, St Fin L

&nbsp

Establishes the New York COVID-19 children's fund program to provide assistance to children whose parent, custodian, legal guardian, or related adult household member died as a result of contracting COVID-19, regardless of immigration status of such children.

Go to top S04970 Actions:

BILL NOS04970 

&nbsp

02/14/2025REFERRED TO FINANCE

01/07/2026REFERRED TO FINANCE

Go to topS04970 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS04970 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topS04970 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 4970

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 February 14, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by Sens. BAILEY, ADDABBO, FERNANDEZ, JACKSON, PARKER, RAMOS,
 SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
 committed to the Committee on Finance

 AN ACT to amend the executive law and the state finance law, in relation
 to establishing the New York children's COVID-19 fund program

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new article 19-J
 2 to read as follows:
 3 ARTICLE 19-J
 4 NEW YORK COVID-19 CHILDREN'S FUND PROGRAM
 5 Section 535. Definitions.
 6 535-a. New York COVID-19 children's fund program board.
 7 535-b. New York COVID-19 children's fund program.
 8 § 535. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall
 9 have the following meanings:
 10 1. "Board" shall mean the New York COVID-19 children's fund program
 11 board established pursuant to section five hundred thirty-five-a of this
 12 article.
 13 2. "Program" shall mean the New York COVID-19 children's fund program
 14 established pursuant to section five hundred thirty-five-b of this arti-
 15 cle.
 16 3. "Fund" shall mean the New York COVID-19 children's fund established
 17 pursuant to section seventy-eight-c of the state finance law.
 18 4. "Eligible child" shall mean any child who is a minor resident of
 19 New York who is under eighteen years of age, has not emancipated from
 20 their parent, custodian, or legal guardian, and meets one of the follow-
 21 ing qualifications: (i) they reside in New York and their parent, custo-
 22 dian, legal guardian, or related adult household member, died during the
 23 federally declared COVID-19 public health emergency and the cause of
 24 death is listed as COVID-19 on their death certificate or they died as a

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD01219-01-5

 S. 4970 2

 1 consequence of having long-term COVID-19 and (ii) the eligible child's
 2 family household has an annual household income of less than five
 3 hundred percent of the federal poverty level.
 4 5. "Household income" shall mean the sum of the adjusted gross incomes
 5 of the eligible child's birth parents. Such gross income amounts shall
 6 be calculated based on information from the most recent taxable year
 7 available as provided and certified by the department of taxation and
 8 finance.
 9 6. "Qualified expenses" shall mean expenses for the education of the
 10 account holder, ownership of a home by the account holder, and costs
 11 associated with establishing or otherwise building a business.
 12 § 535-a. New York COVID-19 children's fund program board. 1. (a) There
 13 is hereby established the New York COVID-19 children's fund program
 14 board to administer the New York COVID-19 children's fund program estab-
 15 lished pursuant to section five hundred thirty-five-b of this article.
 16 Such board shall consist of nine members, as follows: (i) the comp-
 17 troller, or their designee, who shall serve as the chair, (ii) the
 18 commissioner of taxation and finance, or their designee, (iii) the
 19 inspector general, or their designee, (iv) an individual with expertise
 20 in poverty alleviation and the racial wealth gap appointed by the tempo-
 21 rary president of the senate, (v) an individual with inves