N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.08

§ 33.08 Personal needs allowance for residents of state psychiatric\n centers and state operated alcoholism facilities.\n (a) For the purposes of this section:\n 1. "countable resources" shall mean cash or other liquid assets or any\nreal or personal property that an individual or couple owns and could\nconvert to cash to be used for his or their support and maintenance,\nwhich is not excluded under federal law or regulations to determine the\nneed of an individual for supplemental security income benefits.\n 2. "countable income" shall mean all of a person's income, in cash or\nin kind, both earned and unearned, which is not excluded by federal law\nor regulations in determining the need of an individual for supplemental\nsecurity income benefits, including the income of the individual's\neligible spouse, and, if the individual is a child, certain income of\nsuch individual's parent or parents, provided however, such provisions\nof federal law or regulations which provide a twenty dollar income\nexclusion in each month shall not apply to this paragraph.\n 3. "earned income" shall mean wages and earnings from employment of\nthe person, including wages or earnings from participation in a\nsheltered workshop program.\n 4. "unearned income" shall mean all income of a person other than\nearned income.\n (b) Any inpatient of a hospital operated by the office of mental\nhealth or a state operated alcoholism facility shall be entitled to\nreceive a monthly state payment for personal needs for each full\ncalendar month commencing on or after the effective date of this\nsection, in which the patient is in such hospital or alcoholism\nfacility, if such patient also:\n 1. does not receive supplemental security income benefits pursuant to\ntitle sixteen of the federal social security act;\n 2. does not have countable resources in an amount equal to or greater\nthan the amount of resources an individual may have and remain eligible\nfor supplemental security income benefits pursuant to title sixteen of\nthe federal social security act;\n 3. has countable income in a month of less than thirty-five dollars;\nand\n 4. has applied for or agrees to apply for any federal, state, and\nlocal benefits for which such patient may be entitled, provided that\nsomeone other than the patient may apply or agree to apply for such\nbenefits on behalf of the patient.\n (c) The amount of such monthly state payment for personal needs shall\nbe equal to the maximum amount of countable income allowed under\nparagraph three of subdivision (b) of this section reduced by such\npatient's actual countable income.\n (d) The director of a hospital shall have the power to take and retain\nany state payment for personal needs provided pursuant to this section\nin accordance with the provisions of section 33.07 of this article.\n (e) The commissioner of mental health is authorized to obtain\nreimbursement for a personal needs allowance payment made pursuant to\nthis section for any month for which a patient subsequently receives a\nretroactive payment or benefit, from any source. Such reimbursement\nshall not exceed the amount of the personal needs allowance payment made\nto the patient for such month.\n (f) The commissioner of mental health is authorized, on behalf of the\nstate, to enter into an agreement with the secretary of the federal\ndepartment of health and human services for the purpose of obtaining\nreimbursement for personal needs allowance payments made pursuant to\nthis section for any month in which a patient is subsequently determined\nto be eligible to receive supplemental security income payments for such\nmonth.\n (g) For the purposes of this section, a person who has been admitted\nto central New York psychiatric center from a state correctional\nfacility or county jail pursuant to section four hundred two of the\ncorrection law shall not be considered a patient in a hospital operated\nby the office of mental health. Notwithstanding any other provision of\nthis section, a person who has been admitted to central New York\npsychiatric center from a county jail pursuant to section four hundred\ntwo of the correction law shall be entitled to receive a monthly state\npayment for personal needs in an amount equal to, and calculated in the\nsame manner as, an incentive allowance which is provided to an\nincarcerated individual of a state correctional institution pursuant to\nsection two hundred of the correction law.\n (h) Any patient who is qualified to receive a monthly state payment\nfor personal needs pursuant to this section shall be required to provide\nthe commissioner of mental health with information relating to the\namount of income and assets of such patient. If the commissioner\ndiscovers that assets or income of the patient were not disclosed\nbecause of fraud or negligence, he may collect the difference between\nthe amount of such payments and the amount to which the patient would\notherwise have been eligible.\n (i) The commissioner is authorized to promulgate regulations to\nprovide for the time and manner of such payments for personal needs of\nsuch patients.\n