What's happening
This bill requires the state to establish up to 500 noncompetitive civil service positions for disabled veterans and veterans with disabilities.
Why it matters
Mandates creation (rather than permitting discretion) of up to 500 noncompetitive civil service positions. specifically for disabled veterans and veterans with disabilities, ensuring that these opportunities must be provided rather than left to agency choice.
Prioritizes veterans wounded in combat (Purple Heart recipients). when certifying and referring candidates for these positions, particularly if their combat wounds are the main or a significant reason for their disability.
Guarantees equal access to career advancement. by allowing those hired through this program to compete in promotional exams, ensuring these veterans can pursue upward mobility in state employment just like other civil service employees.
Could significantly expand state employment opportunities for disabled veterans. by changing the law from permissive (“may”) to mandatory (“shall”), likely leading to an increase in actual job placements for this population.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Hire Disabled Veterans
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 8
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to veterans, homeland security and military affairs
- Referred to veterans, homeland security and military affairs
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2830
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 29, 2019
Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to positions for disabled veterans and veterans with disabilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 55-c of the civil service law, as amended by chapter 603 of the laws of 1995, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 340 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
§ [55-c] 55-d. Employment of veterans with disabilities by the state. 1. The commission [may] shall determine [up to] five hundred positions with duties such as can be performed by disabled veterans and veterans with disabilities who are found otherwise qualified to perform satisfactorily the duties of any such position. Upon such determination, the said positions shall be classified in the noncompetitive class, and may be filled only by veterans of the armed forces of the United States who served therein during time of war, as defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section eighty-five of this chapter, and (a) who establish by appropriate documentary evidence that they are disabled veterans, as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section eighty-five of this chapter, or (b) by those veterans, as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section eighty-five of this chapter, who shall have been certified by the employee health service of the department as being disabled but capable of performing the duties of said positions. Priority in certification and referral of both such disabled veterans and certified disabled but capable veterans shall be given to those veterans who received a wound in combat, as documented by the awarding of the purple heart, as authorized by the United States department of defense, and that wound is the cause of, or a substantially contributing factor to, the degree of impairment, who otherwise meet the requirements of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05492-01-9
S. 2830 2
this section. The number of veterans appointed pursuant to this section shall not exceed five hundred.
2. Those employees hired under subdivision one of this section, shall be afforded the same opportunity to take promotional examinations as provided to employees in the competitive class.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to positions for disabled veterans and veterans with disabilities
Purpose
This bill provides that the civil service program, setting aside state employment opportunities for disabled veterans, shall be a mandatory program, not a discretionary program.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends section 55-C of the civil service law to provide that the 55-C program be renamed the 55-D program, and that it shall be a mandatory program.
Section 2 of the bill provides that this act shall take effect 90 days after becoming law.
Justification
In February 2016, the NYS Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Securi- ty and Military Affairs held a Round Table event to focus on Veteran Employment Opportunities. During the event, it was disclosed that the 55-C program, which allows state agencies to set aside certain state positions which are to be filled by disabled veterans, was not being fully utilized.
Current law allows up to 500 positions to be set aside, however, the agencies had only set aside 99 positions as of February 2015. This is completely unacceptable given the high number of New York State disabled veterans who have been unable to secure employment.
Prior legislative history
S7126 of 2015-16: Passed in the Senate S939 of 2017-18 passed in the Senate
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
Ninety days after becoming law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.