BILL NUMBER: S10151A
SPONSOR: SCARCELLA-SPANTON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to establishing
a hazardous substance exposure registry
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establishing a health registry for those who lived, worked, or served
at a military base in New York where hazardous exposures are known or
likely to have occurred.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: adds a new section 29-e to the veterans' services law to:
1. require the commissioner of veterans' services in consultation with
the commissioners of health and environmental conservation and the adju-
tant general to identify all current or former military installations
within the state where service members, veterans and their families are
known or more likely than not to have been at risk of exposure to
hazardous substance including military installations registered as an
inactive hazardous waste disposal site or brownfield cleanup site or
registered under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act and to identify hazardous substances at
such military installations and any medical conditions that may be asso-
ciated with them;
2. require the commissioner of veterans' services to establish a regis-
try of self-identifying service members, veterans, and their family
members who served, worked, or lived at a military installation identi-
fied by the commissioner as an installation with a risk of exposure to
hazardous substances, to report any medical conditions or deaths that
may be associated with such exposures;
3. require the commissioner of veterans' services to establish a public
information program for the purpose of informing service members, veter-
ans and their families regarding the registry as well as other health
registries maintained by the United States department of veterans'
affairs and information regarding healthcare and benefits related to
toxic exposure available through the federal government;
4. require the commissioner to make the aggregate data publicly avail-
able and, upon determination there is sufficient data, conduct a study
of such data;
5. require the commissioner to use the information collected through the
registry and regarding exposure to hazardous substances at New York
military installations, to notify affected individuals and when neces-
sary, advocate on their behalf at the federal level for services and
benefits to which they may be entitled as a result of suffering hazard-
ous exposure; and
6. provides that information provided to the registry shall be protected
as personal confidential information.
Section 2: sets the effective date.
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:
Makes technical corrections in section 1, subdivision 4.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The problem of pollution and environmental contamination at domestic
military bases has become so widespread that according to a 2008 report
by the National Cancer Institute nearly 900 Superfund sites listed by
the Environmental Protection Agency are military affiliated. All too
often the hazardous substances at these facilities have terrible conse-
quences for the health and wellbeing of service members, veterans and
their family members who have lived, worked and served there. A number
of military bases in New York have also been designated federal or state
superfund sites including Griffiss Air Force Base Air Force Base,
Plattsburg Air Force Base, Seneca Army Depot and Stewart Air National
Guard Base. While there is currently no federal statutory or regulatory
presumption of exposure or service-connected disability for serving at a
superfund site, historically health registries for Agent Orange and Burn
Pits have helped veterans affected by those exposures access care and
benefits. This bill seeks to make an important first step in addressing
the issue of toxic exposure at domestic military bases by establishing a
health registry for those who lived, worked, or served at a military
base in New York where hazardous exposures are known or likely to have
occurred.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2025-2026: S10151 - referred to veterans, homeland security and military
affairs
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.