A 3397: Revises the New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry such that it is easier to navigate; relates to the updating and availability of the registry.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3397 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. RAGA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs AN ACT to amend the veterans' services law, in relation to revising the New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 29-a of the veterans' services law, as added by 2 chapter 14 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 29-a. [Veterans] New York state veteran's memorial and monument 4 registry. 1. The New York state veteran's memorial and monument registry 5 is hereby established and shall be developed and maintained by the 6 department [is directed to develop a veterans memorial registry in 7 consultation] in collaboration with the director of the New York state 8 military museum and veterans resource center, the commissioner of the 9 office of parks, recreation and historic preservation, the commissioner 10 of the office of general services [and], the state historian, and 11 respective agencies and veteran organizations within New York towns, 12 villages, counties and cities. The registry shall be made available on 13 the department's website. 14 2. The registry shall consist of a searchable and filterable database 15 of those [veterans] veteran's memorials located within the state submit- 16 ted pursuant to subdivision three of this section. The registry shall 17 include, but not be limited to, [information regarding] a comprehensive 18 list of all dedicated veteran monuments and memorials, the location, 19 history, significance, and images of [a memorial and] such dedicated 20 veteran monuments and memorials, who or what veteran or battle such 21 memorial is honoring[. Additional information may include historical] 22 and information such as who authorized the erection of such memorial and 23 the year of the dedication. Such registry shall be searchable and 24 filterable by location, veteran [or], conflict era, battle or any other 25 criteria the state commissioner deems relevant. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02553-01-5 
 A. 3397 2 1 3. The state commissioner shall issue, on behalf of the department, a 2 public request for information for any county, city, town, or village 3 desiring to have any memorial located within their municipality listed 4 within the registry. Each county, city, town[, or] and village [may] 5 shall submit responses to the department's request for information [at 6 any time] within one hundred twenty days after the request for informa- 7 tion has been issued; provided, however, every county, city, town and 8 village with a population of one million or more shall submit responses 9 to the department's request for information within one year after the 10 request for information has been issued. Individuals and organizations, 11 including but not limited to, local veterans' service agencies staff and 12 members of congressionally chartered veterans' service organizations may 13 provide recommendations to a municipality for inclusion in the registry. 14 In responding to the department's public request for information, a 15 municipality shall identify [the memorial or] any memorials and monu- 16 ments it desires to have included in the registry and submit any infor- 17 mation required pursuant to subdivision two of this section to the 18 department. The registry shall be updated within sixty days of the 19 department receiving information on any veteran's memorials and monu- 20 ments with such information. 21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.