Bill Text: NY S00899 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Changes the volunteer ambulance service award program to require a mandatory referendum for certain changes and authorizes a lowering of the entitlement to age 55.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-11-29 - APPROVAL MEMO.24 [S00899 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S00899-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           899
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     January 5, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  CROCI  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
        AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to service  award
          programs
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 8  of  section  219-d  of  the
     2  general municipal law, as amended by chapter 514 of the laws of 1998, is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    (b)  The  entitlement  age,  the  number of years of ambulance service
     5  required to obtain a nonforfeitable right to a service  award,  and  the
     6  activities  for which points shall be granted toward a year of ambulance
     7  service may be changed by resolution adopted by the affirmative vote  of
     8  at  least  sixty  percent  of the governing board of the sponsor without
     9  referendum; provided, that, consistent with the provisions  of  subdivi-
    10  sion  three  of  section  two hundred nineteen-m of this chapter, if the
    11  effect of the amendment is to increase the number of points granted  for
    12  the  performance  of  the  activity,  decrease the amount of an activity
    13  required to earn the points granted for the performance of the activity,
    14  or both, such amendment shall be subject to a mandatory referendum.  Any
    15  amendment  to  a  service award program shall only take effect as of the
    16  first of January next succeeding completion of the proceedings  required
    17  for adoption of the amendment and shall only apply prospectively.
    18    §  2.  Subdivision 3 of section 219-k of the general municipal law, as
    19  added by chapter 558 of the laws of 1998, is amended to read as follows:
    20    3. ["Entitlement age" means age sixty-five and, except in the case  of
    21  disability  or  death,  shall be the earliest age at which a participant
    22  who has a nonforfeitable right to a service award is entitled  to  apply
    23  for  and  begin  receiving a service award.] "Entitlement age" means the
    24  age designated by the sponsor at which a program participant is entitled
    25  to begin receiving an unreduced service award. In  no  event  shall  the
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00977-01-7
        S. 899                              2
     1  entitlement age under a program be earlier than age fifty-five nor later
     2  than  the  age at which the participant can receive an unreduced benefit
     3  under Title II of the Social Security Act (Public Law 74-271 U.S.C.  306
     4  et  seq.). No service award program may provide for the payment of bene-
     5  fits (except in the case of death or disability) before age fifty-five.
     6    § 3. Paragraph (h) of subdivision 5 of section 219-l  of  the  general
     7  municipal  law,  as added by chapter 558 of the laws of 1998, is amended
     8  and a new paragraph (i) is added to read as follows:
     9    (h) the date on which the proposition authorizing the adoption of  the
    10  program shall be submitted to referendum[.]; and
    11    (i) entitlement age- the age at which volunteers are eligible to begin
    12  receiving service awards.
    13    §  4.  Paragraph  (b) of subdivision 9 of section 219-l of the general
    14  municipal law, as added by chapter 558 of the laws of 1998,  is  amended
    15  to read as follows:
    16    (b)  The activities for which points shall be granted toward a year of
    17  ambulance service may be changed by resolution adopted by  the  affirma-
    18  tive  vote of at least sixty percent of the governing board of the spon-
    19  sor without referendum; provided, that, consistent with  the  provisions
    20  of  subdivision three of section two hundred nineteen-m of this article,
    21  if the effect of the amendment is  to  increase  the  number  of  points
    22  granted  for  the performance of the activity, decrease the amount of an
    23  activity required to earn the points granted for the performance of  the
    24  activity, or both, such amendment shall be subject to a mandatory refer-
    25  endum.  Any  amendment to a service award program shall only take effect
    26  as of the first of January next succeeding completion of the proceedings
    27  required for adoption of the amendment and shall only apply prospective-
    28  ly.
    29    § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
    30  ing  the  date  on  which it shall have become a law; provided, however,
    31  that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
    32  rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act  on  its
    33  effective  date  are authorized and directed to be made and completed by
    34  the state comptroller on or before such date.