Bill Text: NY S00691 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides for including uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces in the definition of "family member" in relation to regulations pertaining to rights of family members to succeed in certain cases to the rights of certain tenants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-06-03 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S00691 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S00691-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           691

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. HOYLMAN, SALAZAR -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when  printed  to  be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Housing,
          Construction and Community Development

        AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to the definition of
          "family member"

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

     1    Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 4 of section 14 of the  public
     2  housing  law, as added by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to
     3  read as follows:
     4    (c) that for the purposes of such  regulations:  (i)  "family  member"
     5  shall be defined as a husband, wife, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaught-
     6  er,  father,  mother,  stepfather,  stepmother,  brother, sister, uncle,
     7  aunt, nephew, niece, grandfather, grandmother, grandson,  granddaughter,
     8  daughter-in-law,  son-in-law,  mother-in-law  or  father-in-law  of  the
     9  tenant; or any other person residing with  the  tenant  in  the  housing
    10  accommodation  as a primary residence who can prove emotional and finan-
    11  cial commitment, and interdependence between such person and the tenant.
    12  Although no single factor shall be solely determinative, evidence  which
    13  is  to be considered in determining whether such emotional and financial
    14  commitment and interdependence existed, may include, without limitation,
    15  such factors as listed below.  In no event would evidence  of  a  sexual
    16  relationship between such persons be required or considered.
    17    (A) longevity of the relationship;
    18    (B)  sharing of or relying upon each other for payment of household or
    19  family expenses, or other common necessities of life;
    20    (C) intermingling of finances as evidenced  by,  among  other  things,
    21  joint  ownership  of  bank  accounts, personal and real property, credit
    22  cards, loan obligations, sharing a  household  budget  for  purposes  of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05693-01-1
        S. 691                              2

     1  receiving  government  benefits,  or such other factors as may be deter-
     2  mined by regulation;
     3    (D)  engaging  in  family-type  activities by jointly attending family
     4  functions, holidays and celebrations,  social  and  recreational  activ-
     5  ities, or such other factors as may be determined by regulation;
     6    (E) formalizing of legal obligations, intentions, and responsibilities
     7  to  each  other  by  such  means as executing wills naming each other as
     8  executor or beneficiary, conferring upon each other a power of  attorney
     9  or  authority to make health care decisions each for the other, entering
    10  into a personal relationship contract,  making  a  domestic  partnership
    11  declaration, or serving as a representative payee for purposes of public
    12  benefits, or such other factors as may be determined by regulation;
    13    (F)  holding themselves out as family members to other family members,
    14  friends, members of the community or religious institutions, or  society
    15  in general, through their words or actions;
    16    (G)  regularly  performing  family  functions, such as caring for each
    17  other or each other's extended family  members,  or  relying  upon  each
    18  other for daily family services;
    19    (H)  engaging  in  any  other pattern of behavior, agreement, or other
    20  action which evidences the intention of creating a long-term, emotional-
    21  ly-committed relationship.
    22    (ii) a "senior citizen" is defined as a person who is sixty-two  years
    23  of age or older;
    24    (iii) a "disabled person" is defined as a person who has an impairment
    25  which  results  from  anatomical,  physiological or psychological condi-
    26  tions, other than addiction to  alcohol,  gambling,  or  any  controlled
    27  substance,  which  are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and
    28  laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are expected to be permanent
    29  and which substantially limit one or more of such  person's  major  life
    30  activities.
    31    §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
    32  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.