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Legislation Update - Albany
We
have, for all intents and purposes, completed this
year’s session of the NYS Legislature.
Although they still have some budget issues to
resolve the chance for passage of any more bills in our
Legislative agenda is close to nil.
Although it was a disappointing year, we managed
to scrape together a few victories.
We did not expect much, with a $9 Billion deficit
going into the session, and we got what we were
expecting. A
brief summary is as follows:
1)
S6785
– A9943 Provides
Health Insurance Coverage while out on 207c Benefits.
This was our biggest victory and what it does is
prevent a municipality from suspending your health
insurance while out on a line of duty injury.
Believe it or not some places, including a couple
of Nassau Village Departments, did this to their
members. This
bill will prevent this practice, as the original law was
not specific on this matter.
2)
S7450
– A10239 Port
Authority PD Detectives Bill.
Provides similar language to the current law that
states members performing Detective duties must receive
a gold shield within 18 months, the present law did not
cover them.
3)
S5631A
– A10154
Guarantees Pension for NYPD after 20 years
service. Big
win for our NYPD brothers and sisters.
Prevents the city from taking away your pension
if you are terminated after 20 years, which can happen
even on administrative charges.
Will greatly increase the
NYPD retention rate.
4)
S4647B
– A5292B Move
Over Act. Mandates
that drivers move from the adjoining traffic lane, if
possible, when encountering a stopped emergency vehicle
with lights flashing.
Now,
of course, the Governor has to sign them.
What he will do with the above bills is
anybody’s guess, as we have not received any feedback
from his office on any of the aforementioned.
I will keep you informed.
On
the negative side the worst legislation to come out of
this session was a bill to alter the “Stop &
Frisk” law. The
bill in its present form only covers NYC.
Our lobbying efforts must have had some effect as
we were removed from the original legislation, but at
the insistence of NYC legislators it came to the floor
in this amended form.
The bill will prevent the NYPD from
electronically recording names of people they encounter
during stop & frisk situations.
What I found amusing, if I can use that word, is
that many of the legislators who voted for the flawed
(in my opinion) “pistol microstamping” bill, because
they wanted to put another “tool” in our tool belt
for solving crimes, voted to take a valuable “tool”
that we already have out of our tool belt.
I gave up a long time ago on trying to figure out
how some people think.
As I write this article I have just been notified
that the Governor has signed the “Stop & Frisk”
bill into law.
By the way, the Assembly sponsor, Assemblyman
Hakeem Jeffries, has already stated that this bill is
only the “beginning”, of his attempts to correct the
many injustices in the law.
Be forewarned.
Legislative
Update - Washington D.C.
Just
a quick note on the federal legislation for clarifying
the yearly qualification requirement in H.R.218 (Right
to Carry Law) for retired police officers.
The “Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act
Improvement Bill” S.1132 has just passed the Senate.
The House bill (H.R.3752) is still pending.
I have been in contact with our department as to
the possibility of our range running a qualification
course for our retirees along the lines of the course
run by Suffolk PD. I
will let you know of any progress.
New
Uniforms and New Service Weapons
I
served on both the Uniform Committee and the Duty Weapon
Committee and I am happy to report that I believe most
of the issues have been settled regarding these two
topics. The
uniforms have been selected; the only issue remaining
was whether Lieutenants would be issued the “Cargo
Pocket” style uniform for the times they are on
patrol. It
was my recommendation that they should be given that
option and we are waiting to hear what the
Department’s decision will be.
As far as the Duty weapon, the .40 cal. Sig
Sauer, in two different models has been selected and
training should start before the end of the summer.
Some members have requested that they be allowed
to purchase their present 9mm weapons instead of turning
them in, I thought that issue was settled and you would
be able to do so, however at a recent meeting the
Department’s thinking seems to be changing.
I would hope that they adhere to their original
commitment to us. I will keep you informed.
Retiree
Health Insurance
I
had reported to you some time ago about several bills
proposed by the Retired Police Association that would
guarantee heath benefits for retirees by linking retiree
health benefits to active members heath benefits.
At that time we did not actively support these
bills because, as I explained, we felt that they were
unnecessary and the bills all had a sunset clause, which
would require legislative renewal every two years. We
also took into account the fact that, if there were ever
a change in the active members health benefits, it could
affect the retiree benefits.
However, the main reason for our opposition
centered on four previous court decisions in New York
State in which municipalities had attempted to end their
practice of providing fully paid health insurance to
retirees even though they were guaranteed this benefit
by contract. In each one of these cases the courts held
that, if the benefit was provided by contract, it
couldn’t be arbitrarily taken away. The Governor, in
order to compromise on this issue, appointed a task
force to study this matter.
The results of this report were just released
last month. The
report stated exactly what our Albany Legislative
Committee had previously reported, that once a
municipality negotiates this benefit and places it in a
Collective Bargaining Agreement that, due to case law,
it is protected by law.
This is good news for our retirees as it
officially recognizes our position and will hopefully
stop this practice, which seemed to be pervasive
upstate, of challenging this benefit. The SOA contract
does provide all of our members, in writing, of the
benefit of fully paid health insurance after retirement.
At age 65 Medicare becomes your primary insurance
and you retain Empire as your secondary.
Retirement
Incentive
With the passing of the deadline for the retirement
incentive we are now faced with the reality of the loss
of 45 union members.
While I hope we will see all these spots refilled
as soon as possible I assume that there might be some
gap while the department reorganizes. I anticipate that,
with a 3 month lead-time, we should be able to fill most
of these openings quickly.
We are losing a lot of talent and some good
friends, I wish everyone leaving good luck and success
in the future.
As always, any questions on any
of the above items please call me at the office or email
me at nassoa@aol.com
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