Provides additional credits allowed the children of police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics killed in the line of duty

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends Civil Service Law section 85-a to provide that additional points on a civil service exam shall also be available to the siblings of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty for a position that is located in the same municipality where his or her deceased sibling served. This section also provides that the children or siblings of emergency medical technicians ("EMTs") and paramedics who are killed in the line of duty shall also be eligible for additional points on a civil service exam for a position that is located in the same municipality where his or her deceased parent or sibling served.

Section 2 amends Civil Service Law section 85-b to allow children of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or rescue operations following the attack to receive additional points on a civil service exam for a position that is located in the same municipality where the child's deceased parent served.

Section 3 amends Civil Service Law section 85-c to provide the children of EMTs who died in the line of duty as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or rescue operations following the attack to receive additional points on a civil service exam for a position that is located in the same municipality where the child's deceased parent served.

Section 4 provides that that this bill shall take effect immediately.

Current law

Civil Service Law section 85-a provides that the children of firefighters and police officers who were killed in the line of duty are allowed to receive additional points on a civil service exam for a position in the same municipality as the deceased child's parent.

Section 85-a does not specifically define the term "killed in the line of duty." By contrast, Civil Service Law sections 85-b and 85-c, which provide additional points to siblings, define the term "killed in the line of duty" to be deaths that are the natural and proximate result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or the rescue missions following the attack.

Justification

This bill equalizes the treatment of children and siblings of police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians ("EMTs") who have been killed in the line of duty by providing them with additional points on any civil service exam for a position in the same municipality that the decedent's parent or sibling served. Current law does not afford siblings of fallen police officers, firefighters, and EMTs additional points unless their sibling's death was the natural and proximate cause of September 11th World Trade Center attack or the rescue missions following the attack.

Additionally, this bill remedies an unintended consequence of the lack of a definition of the term "killed in the line of duty" in Civil Service Law section 85-a. This unintended consequence is the denial of additional civil service exam points to some children of firefighters and police officers who died as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack to be denied additional civil service exam points.

Many of our police officers, firefighters, and EMTs gave their lives to help us recover from the devastating events of September 11, 2001. By allowing their children and siblings additional points on a civil service exam so that he or she can follow in his or her parent or sibling's shoes allows us to honor the sacrifice that the applicant's parent or sibling made for us.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.