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History
- Referred to governmental employees
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 61–0
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.745
- 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.
Creates a minimum accidental disability benefit for all police officers
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Employees · Sponsor Peter Abbate
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to creating a state-wide, uniform, minimum accidental disability benefit of three-quarters of final average salary for all police officers
Purpose
To create a state-wide, uniform, minimum accidental disability benefit of three-quarters of final average salary for all police officers.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill would provide the Legislative finding and declaration for the bill, stating there is a substantial state interest in the fair and equitable treatment of police officers who are disabled as a result of an accident incurred in the line of duty by providing them with a minimum benefit of three-fourths of their final average salary.
Read the full memo (759 words)
Section two of this bill amends the General Municipal Law to create a new § 209-ff which would establish a minimum accidental disability retirement ("ADR") allowance of no less than three-fourths of the final average salary, as calculated under existing law, for police officers in cities, towns and villages who are members of a police pension or retirement system. The bill would provide that such benefit shall not be reduced by a police officer's receipt of, or eligibility for, social security benefits. The bill would authorize a cost of living adjustment for ADR benefits if one was already provided for prior to July 1, 2009. The bill would provide that police officers shall be subject to post-retirement medical examinations, and applicable modification of retirement allowances following such examinations, under the same conditions prescribed by law immediately prior to July 1, 2009.
Section three of this bill provides that this act shall take effect immediately.
Existing law
General Municipal Law Article 10 includes sections of law providing minimum benefits to policemen and firemen statewide, such as death benefits, retirement benefits, medical and hospital expenses, and disability benefits.
Justification
Police officers serve their communities, undertaking the difficult and dangerous task of protecting the public from crime, and assisting and educating citizenry to create a safer environment for they and their families. In this effort, police officers put their lives of the line, subjecting themselves to great peril including death and serious injury. When police officers put themselves in harm's way and are injured, they need to know the public they serve supports them as well. This bill would ensure that when police officers are injured to the extent they can no longer perform their law enforcement responsibilities and duties, they will receive a minimum level of benefits so they too can care for themselves and their families.
The bill would provide that all police officers will receive a minimum of three-fourths of their final average salary when they are determined to be eligible for accidental disability retirement benefits. ADR benefits apply to police officers who are "physically or mentally incapacitated for performance of duty as the natural and proximate result of an accident sustained in such active service and not caused by his/her own willful negligence." While many police officers already receive at least this minimum benefit, there is no statutory protection that it is and will be the minimum standard. This bill would address that lack of protection in the law.
The bill would also ensure that police officers who do not currently receive the three-fourths ADR benefit are afforded this modest minimum benefit. For instance, because of then-Governor David Paterson's veto of the so-called "Tier 2 extender" in 2009, more than 11,000 New York City police officers hired after July 1, 2009 have been placed in the Tier 3 or Tier 3R pension plans. The ADR benefit for New York City police officers under Tier 3/3R is fifty percent of their final average salary, while the Tier 2 benefit is three-fourths of their final average salary. Additionally, the Tier 3/3R ADR benefit, unlike the Tier 2 benefit, is reduced by fifty percent of any social security disability benefits received by the police officer. As a result, in the event that these later-hired officers are permanently disabled in the line of duty, they are subject to an accident disability retirement benefit that is dramatically inferior to the one provided to their pre-2009 peers in the New York Police Department as well as other police officers throughout New York State.
This bill would address this injustice by establishing a statewide minimum standard for police officers' ADR benefits at three-fourths of their final average salaries.
Legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
See fiscal note attached to the bill.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.