S 977: Allows withdrawals from family tuition accounts to pay for treatment of substance use disorder, including detoxification and rehabilitation for the designated beneficiary.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 977 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ROLISON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to family tuition account withdrawals for treatment of substance use disorder The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 695-e of the education law, as 2 amended by chapter 593 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 5. a. An account owner may withdraw all or part of the balance from an 5 account on sixty days notice or such shorter period as may be authorized 6 under rules governing the program. Such rules shall include provisions 7 that will generally enable the determination as to whether a withdrawal 8 is a nonqualified withdrawal or a qualified withdrawal. 9 b. For purposes of this subdivision, a qualified withdrawal shall 10 include a withdrawal in which the account owner withdraws all or part of 11 a balance from an account to fund treatment of substance use disorder, 12 including detoxification and rehabilitation, for the designated benefi- 13 ciary. Such treatment shall consist of at least fifteen hours and 14 include, but need not be limited to, classroom instruction in areas 15 deemed suitable by the commissioner. 16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01582-01-5