House Bill No. 5289, reported by the Committee on Veterans' and Military Affairs, proposes an appropriation of funds to the Department of Veterans Affairs specifically for arts therapy programming. The bill, if enacted, would allocate $50,000 from the General Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. This funding is intended to expand fine and performing arts therapy programming at the Veterans Residential Services facility and the Healthcare Center. The effective date of this act would be July 1, 2024, and it would create a new section in the law as indicated by the insertion "Section 1 July 1, 2024 New section."
The fiscal impact statement accompanying the bill clarifies that the Department of Veterans Affairs would incur a cost of $50,000 from the General Fund for the fiscal year 2025 as a result of this legislation. There is no municipal impact noted. The bill analysis provided by the Office of Legislative Research does not analyze Special Acts, but the Committee on Veterans' and Military Affairs has given a joint favorable recommendation with a unanimous vote of 20 to 0 in favor of the bill on March 14, 2024.