On Dec. 19, during the end-of-the-year bill signing extravaganza, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed state Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.’s landmark bill that gives veterans with a 100% disability complete exemption on property taxes. Addabbo, a member of the Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee, introduced the bill at the start of last year in January and worked with members of the non-profit Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to advocate for the law’s benefits throughout the year to fellow senators and the governor.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), there are over 1 million veterans with 100% disability status living in the U.S., with a little over 1,000 of them residing in New York state. To receive 100% disability status from the VA, veterans will have suffered a traumatic injury during their service that makes it impossible for them to find “substantially gainful employment,” and can be as serious as lost limbs or even brain damage.
“Service-connected disabilities can leave veterans unable to engage in gainful employment and significantly impact their ability to support themselves and their families,” Addabbo said. “This new law will offer meaningful property tax relief to those who have sustained the most serious service-related injuries in defense of our nation, another substantive act acknowledging their personal service and sacrifices.”
The bipartisan bill, which passed unanimously, makes New York the 16th state in the U.S. to offer a full property tax exemption for veterans who qualify. The only asterisk on the law is the inclusion of the word “may” to the bill, at the behest of Hochul. Hochul requested that the legislation be downgraded from a pure mandate to ensure that smaller counties, cities, towns, villages or school districts that do not have the population to forego the source of revenue will not be adversely affected compared to larger areas. While Addabbo and advocates were disappointed with the change early in the process, the law still alleviates the financial burden from a majority of the veterans with 100% disability status.
“It’s a big win and a major first step,” said Ryan Graham, vice chair of the legislation committee at the VFW. “It’s not over yet, the ball is in [advocates’] court and you’ll need to organize and know who the veterans are in your own areas who would benefit… but this couldn’t have been done without Joe.”
Graham, an Air Force veteran himself, feels confident that all five boroughs of the City will follow suit with the exemption. For advocates and veterans in other municipalities, Graham said the work is not done and they’ll need to organize to see the law codified by “putting pressure” on their representatives, who should follow suit with the City. While Graham does see some problems with the language within the bill, he said they can be fixed through amendments and has been meeting with representatives from the City Council, Assembly and Senate to see that they follow through with the bill’s intent.
“I thank Sen. Addabbo for sponsoring this bill and Governor Kathy Hochul for signing it. This law gives our 100 percent service-disabled veterans real parity and real dignity, reducing the cost of remaining in their homes and giving them a meaningful reason to choose New York as the place to live and put down roots after service,” said Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, chairperson for the veterans committee. “New York must continue to be a state where veterans want to reside and raise their families, and where we don’t just thank them for their service, we demonstrate our appreciation through concrete action.”
On the same day, Hochul signed another veterans bill sponsored by Addabbo, known as the Bell Jar Bill. According to the NYS Gaming Commission, bell jar vending machines allow participants to purchase covered numbers, colors or symbols from a container, typically $.25-$2, to win prizes and are largely used by non-profits and charities. The Bell Jar Bill expands their usage to veterans organizations, as well as regulating the sale, purchase and placement of the machines by the Gaming Commission in order to “help increase charitable gaming profits across the state and attract more members to join such organizations.”
“This effort to further help our veterans with affordability has been a long time coming, and I am deeply grateful to my colleagues in the Legislature, and to the Governor, for their support in getting this important law enacted,” said Addabbo. “By making it more affordable for veterans with 100 percent service-connected disabilities to own a home, we are giving our disabled veterans a real opportunity to remain in New York State, in the communities they call home.”
