What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to civil service and pensions
- Referred to civil service and pensions
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Permits certain public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators and communication officers to retire upon completion of 25 years of creditable service
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Employees · Sponsor Kenneth Zebrowski
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to the retirement of state, county, municipal and affiliated employer 911 operators
Purpose
To provide an optional 25 year retirement plan for state, county, municipal, and affiliated employer 911 operators.
Summary of provisions
This bill provides certain public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators and communication officers employed by the state, county, municipal, City of New York or affiliated employer 911 departments to retire upon the completion of 25 years of creditable service if the employing state, county, municipality, and affiliated employer elects to provide this option.
Read the full memo (656 words)
Justification
Communication specialists and 911 operators deal first hand with crime scenes and medical emergencies and are charged with ensuring that appropriate authorities arrive on the scene in a timely and efficient manner. During the absence of emergency response personnel, 911 employees must guide individuals on the scene with first aid, CPR, and other types of emergency medical techniques in order to save lives. These employees must also deal first hand with victims of domestic abuse, violence, and other criminal matters. Communications professionals often must respond to several emergency situations at once and work with an extremely fast paced, stressful environment which merits a retirement package similar to that of other law enforcement and emergency response personnel. The fact that 911 operators can be held liable for their first response efforts greatly increases the need for this legislation, as these employees are personally on the line. These working conditions have created situations of high turnover, low morale, and instability within 911 operators. To help ensure the smooth continuation of service, quality of care, and the accurate, timely response of on-site emergency response teams, 911 communications personnel should be granted this benefit.
Legislative history
2007: A.8596-A - Referred to Governmental Employees. 2006: S.3741/A.5006 - Veto 365. 2005: S.3741 - Refereed to Civil Service & Pensions/A.5006 - Passed Assembly. 2004: S.3116 - Referred to Civil Service & Pensions/A.6313 - Reported to Ways & Means. 2003: S.3116 - Referred to Civil Service & Pensions/A.6313 - Reported to Ways & Means. 2002: S.6877 - Referred to Civil Service & Pensions/A.11531 - Reported to Rules. 2001: S.911/A.5014 - Veto 58.
Fiscal implications
This bill would permit certain public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators and communication officers employed by the state, or a county or municipal 911 department to retire upon completion of twenty-five (25) years of creditable service if such employer elects to provide this alternative. For all eligible Tier 3 officers who elect to forfeit their benefits under Article 14 and all eligible Tier I, 2 and 4 officers, the benefit upon retirement would be an allowance of one-half final average salary. There would be no reduction due to early service retirement for these members. If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there would be an estimated increase in the annual contributions of the electing employers of approximately 1.4% of the affected members' annual salaries for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 "In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost for those members who become covered under this alternative plan which would depend on the length of service, age and salary of the members, as well as on their current plan. This past service cost would be borne by the affected employer and could be amortized over a five (5) or ten (10) year period if so elected by such employer.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law; provided that the amendments to sections 603 and 604 of the retirement and social security law made by sections three and four of this act shall not affect and shall be subject to the expiration of such sections pursuant to section 615 of such law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.