§ 11. Use of personal confidential information obtained from veterans or family members of veterans receiving services from the state and political subdivisions thereof. 1. Departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions and agencies of the state and political subdivisions thereof, which provide assistance, treatment, counseling, care, supervision or custody in service areas involving health, mental health, family services, criminal justice or employment shall be required to solicit information on whether their customer or client is a veteran as defined in § 85 of the civil service law or family member of a veteran. Any new forms created after the effective date of this section shall contain the following questions: "Have you served in the United States military?" "Has someone in your family served in the United States military?"

Terms Used In N.Y. Veterans' Services Law 11

  • department: means the department of veterans' services. See N.Y. Veterans' Services Law 1
  • veteran: means a person who served on active duty in the uniformed services of the United States, or in the army national guard, air national guard, or service as a commissioned officer in the public health service, commissioned officer of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration or environmental sciences services administration, cadet at a United States armed forces service academy, and who has been released from such service under other than dishonorable conditions. See N.Y. Veterans' Services Law 1

2. Individuals identifying themselves as having served in the military or a family member shall be advised that the department of veterans' services and local veterans service agencies established pursuant to section seventeen of this article provide assistance to veterans regarding benefits under federal and state law. Information regarding veterans and military status provided by assisted persons solely to implement this section shall be protected as personal confidential material, and used only to assist in the diagnosis, treatment, assessment and handling of the veteran's or family member's problems within the agency requesting such information and in referring the veteran or family member to the department of veterans' services for the information and assistance with regard to benefits and entitlements under federal and state law.

  Previous section
Next section  
 Article 1 Contents