New York · statute · N.Y. Social Services Law · 810 active provisions
CHAPTER 55 OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS SOCIAL SERVICES LAW AN ACT relating to social services, constituting chapter fifty-five of the consolidated laws. Became a law April 18, 1940, with approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do…
ARTICLE 1 SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS Section 1. Short title. 2. Definitions.
§ 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the social services law.
§ 2. Definitions. When used in this chapter unless otherwise expressly stated or unless the context or subject matter requires a different interpretation. 1. Department means the state department of social services, provided however that for purposes of titles eleven, eleven-A and eleven-B of article five of this chapt…
ARTICLE 2 DEPARTMENT AND STATE BOARD OF SOCIAL WELFARE Section 5. Department of social welfare. 11. Commissioner of social services. 12. Deputy commissioners. 13. Organization of the department. 14. Employees; compensation. 16. Offices of the Department. 17. Powers and duties of the commissioner. 20. Powers and duties…
§ 5. Department of social welfare. The state department of social welfare, provided for in the constitution, is hereby continued.
§ 11. Commissioner of social services. The chief executive and administrative officer of the department shall be the commissioner of social services, who shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate.
§ 12. Deputy commissioners. The Commissioner shall appoint and remove at pleasure a first deputy commissioner, and such other deputy commissioners as he shall deem necessary for the proper organization and general classification of the work of the department, each of whom shall be in the exempt class of the civil servi…
§ 13. Organization of the department. The commissioner shall determine the structure of departmental organization.
§ 14. Employees; compensation. In addition to his deputies, the commissioner may appoint and remove from time to time, in accordance with law and any applicable rules of the state civil service commission, such employees as he may deem necessary for the efficient administration of the department. The compensation of em…
§ 16. Offices of the Department. The department shall be provided with suitably furnished rooms for its offices. The principal office of the department shall be in the county of Albany.
§ 17. Powers and duties of the commissioner. The commissioner shall (a) determine the policies and principles upon which public assistance, services and care shall be provided within the state both by the state itself and by the local governmental units within the limits hereinafter prescribed in this chapter; (b) make…
§ 20. Powers and duties of the department. 2. The department shall, as provided in this chapter: (a) administer all the forms of public welfare work for which the state is responsible; (b) supervise all social services work, as the same may be administered by any local unit of government and the social services officia…
§ 20-a. Local personnel; limitations on department's power. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this chapter, the board, the commissioner or the department, acting singly or in unison, shall not have the power, directly or indirectly to prescribe the number of persons to be employed in any social services dis…
§ 20-b. Plan for in-home care of senior citizens. On or before the first day of April, nineteen hundred eighty-two the New York state council for home care services, in consultation with the commissioner of social services and the office for the aging, shall prepare a plan designed to ease the burden of families provid…
§ 20-c. Privatization. 1. (a) Except as otherwise specified in the appropriation for system support and information services program in the office of temporary disability assistance within the department of family assistance, or as authorized by subdivision two-a of section twenty-two of this article, the department sh…
§ 20-d. Training of direct care workers in adverse childhood experiences. 1. As used in this section: (a) "Direct-care employees" means the employees of domestic violence shelters, safe dwellings, and domestic violence programs identified by the certifying organization to receive training, which shall include, but not…
§ 21. Welfare management system. 1. The department shall design and implement a welfare management system which shall be capable of receiving, maintaining and processing information relating to persons who have applied for or been determined eligible for benefits under any program for which the department has superviso…
§ 21-a. Electronic benefit transfer system. Any electronic benefit transfer system shall be implemented by the department on a statewide basis and shall be administered pursuant to the provisions of this section. For purposes of such electronic benefit transfer system, the term "electronic benefit transfer" includes th…
§ 22. Appeals and fair hearings; judicial review. 1. Any person described in subdivision three of this section, or any individual authorized to act on behalf of any such person, may appeal to the department from decisions of social services officials or failures to make decisions upon grounds specified in subdivision f…
§ 23. Wage reporting system. 1. The department is authorized to provide information obtained from the wage reporting system as operated by the state department of taxation and finance: (a) to social services districts: (i) with respect to applicants for and recipients of public assistance and care or other benefits pur…
§ 28. Gifts and bequests. The department may receive and retain any money or other personal property given or bequeathed to the department or a division or bureau thereof and shall expend the same in accordance with the general powers and duties of the department for the purposes for which it is given or, if unaccompan…
§ 29. Federal agency. The department, with the approval of the governor, may accept a designation from, and act as, the agent of the federal security agency or other duly authorized federal agency in the administration of relief and related activities, activities affecting the welfare of individuals and communities, an…
§ 30. Continuation of salaries of local and state welfare employees receiving training for the better performance of their duties. Subject to the approval of the department, the board of supervisors of a county and the appropriating body of a city or town may include in its appropriations moneys for the continuation of…
§ 31. Fellowships and scholarships for local and state public welfare employees. The department, under regulations which it shall prescribe, and from moneys received or appropriated for such purpose, is authorized to grant fellowships and scholarships to local and state public welfare employees to enable them to receiv…