---
type: "Bill"
title: "Establishes voluntary opportunities for veterans"
description: "Requires the department of veterans' services to provide information on the department's website on volunteer opportunities available to veterans and to post relevant application forms that a qualified veteran can use to apply for volunteer opportunities."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ny"
legislature: "New York Legislature"
session: "2025-2026"
identifier: "A 8485"
citation: "New York A 8485 (2025-2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Steve Stern"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-05-16"
last_action: "2025-12-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9a68aecb-fa1e-4ef8-85d7-ecf0362a1c6b"
source_url: "http://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A8485"
source_hash: "c8ca4b8639886ead503cacb5d7bfca5229dad348931ec44381429d5ea2eb5d28"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ny"]
---

# New York A 8485 (2025-2026) — Establishes voluntary opportunities for veterans

Requires the department of veterans' services to provide information on the department's website on volunteer opportunities available to veterans and to post relevant application forms that a qualified veteran can use to apply for volunteer opportunities.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **A8485** (committee substitute) — [source](http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?sh=printbill&bn=A8485&term=2025&Text=Y)

## Votes

- Floor Vote — **59–0** (pass) · upper
- Assembly Vote — **144–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Steve Stern — primary (person)
- Angelo Santabarbara — cosponsor (person)
- Billy Jones — cosponsor (person)
- Judy Griffin — cosponsor (person)
- Marianne Buttenschon — cosponsor (person)
- Michael Durso — cosponsor (person)
- Paula Kay — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-05-16** REFERRED TO VETERANS' AFFAIRS `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-19** REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-09** REPORTED
- **2025-06-09** RULES REPORT CAL.534
- **2025-06-09** ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.534
- **2025-06-09** PASSED ASSEMBLY `passage`
- **2025-06-09** DELIVERED TO SENATE
- **2025-06-09** REFERRED TO RULES `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-12** SUBSTITUTED FOR S274B
- **2025-06-12** 3RD READING CAL.738
- **2025-06-12** PASSED SENATE `passage`
- **2025-06-12** RETURNED TO ASSEMBLY
- **2025-12-08** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR `executive-receipt`
- **2025-12-19** SIGNED CHAP.666 `executive-signature`
- **2025-12-19** APPROVAL MEMO.47

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9a68aecb-fa1e-4ef8-85d7-ecf0362a1c6b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New York legislature records).