The NY Senate Passes S4124 - Honor and Equity for All Veterans

The Senate unanimously passed S4124.

• May 27, 2015: referred to governmental employees
• May 27, 2015: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• May 27, 2015: PASSED SENATE
• May 27, 2015: ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.999
• May 19, 2015: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
• Mar 2, 2015: REFERRED TO FINANCE

Now it is up to the Assembly to pass the same funded bill and show New Yorkers they too stand for equity and honor for all NY's veterans. The legislative session ends June 17, 2015.

Call and email New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie  (718)-654-6539, Speaker@assembly.state.ny.us to bring S4124 to a vote in the Assembly.

Then  call to the Governor's office at (518) 474-8390. Call between M-F, 9:00 - 5:00 pm. Select button "3" to speak to a real person. Tell him to support S4124 by pushing the Assembly and then signing the bill into law.

June 5, 2015 Albany Times Union Article on the Senate Bill is here.


Talking Points:

This military service credit buyback bill amends current statutes and permits state employee  combat veterans of wars that are not currently covered (including Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan), wartime veterans of the only wartime time period not yet fully covered (Gulf War Era: AUG 2 1990 thru Present), and  the excluded post-1975 Cold War veterans to buy back up to three years of their active and honorable service.

Remind Governor Cuomo  of his spokesman's words “There is a difference between creating a new benefit and ensuring fairness for workers,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.".

Beyond the arbitrary and outdated nature of current law, current law also blatantly and shamefully discriminates against women. Because women were officially and legally banned from combat units, the combat zone, and actual combat  during most of our past conflicts, many women veterans are now ineligible for military service credit.

All military veterans working for the federal government are eligible to 'buy back' their honorable military years - regardless of specific date, location, conflicts, theater of war, etc. This bill properly aligns New York State with the commonsense federal practice.

Note: The Assembly's unfunded  A4313A (Veterans' Equality Act) is essentially identical in language to S4124. Since Governor Cuomo vetoed last year's bill for veterans' equity specifically because it was unfunded (or at least that is what his official statement stated), the Assembly to demonstrate real  support our veterans by voting  yes on S4124 and thus sending the Governor a funded bill for his signature.

June 8 Update: Several veterans (including me) who have written to Speaker Heastie received email and hard-copy mailings from his office urging the Senate to vote for the unfunded A4313A. In the first case, the Speaker's Assembly itself has not even voted on the unfunded A4313A. In the second case the unfunded A4313A is the exact opposite of what the Governor claimed he wanted: A funded bill for military service credit. Finally, this may be posturing prior to some sort of a compromise funded bill for something less than all veterans but more than our current situation (i.e. Afghanistan veterans or wartime veterans or veterans serving during all recognized conflicts).

Here is the e-version of the letter:

June 08, 2015

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Dear Friend, Thank you for contacting my office regarding your support for providing credit to members of public retirement systems of the state for military service rendered during certain periods. Assembly Bill 4313-A, which would provide up to three years of service credit to members of public retirement systems of the state for military service rendered during times of peace. Also, this bill removes the requirement that such military service occur during specified periods of hostilities, requires such members have at least five years of credited service, not including military service. This measure is being reviewed in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. The Senate has not yet introduced the bill this year. You may wish to contact your local Senate representative to make him/her aware of your support for this legislation for our volunteer military and Veterans, increasing their chances of becoming law. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for contacting me. As always, public participation remains vitally important to the Assembly. Your input is a valuable resource and helps me to better serve our state. Sincerely, Speaker Heastie

(Forgetting the nonsense sentence structure therein, why on earth does he lead with the nonsense  "Peacetime" descriptor if the vast majority of the excluded veterans are wartime veterans? Is he trying to kill his own bill by highlighting that? How long does his Assembly need to spend reviewing the very bill (4313- A) he is urging the Senate to introduce? It has been languishing in the Assembly's Ways and Means for almost a month now. Finally, since they have passed a funded version of 4313-A, namely S4124, why on earth would the Senate now take up 4313-A in any case.)

Mayor de Blasio Fully and Publicly in Support for Pension Buyback Equity for Some Veterans

Background to The Mayor's May 21 2015 Announcement

Readers of this blog recall that Mayor de Blasio expressed strong support for expanding military service credit to all wartime veterans in his letter last year (here). This would update NY's laws by placing the current Wartime Era (Gulf War Era) on equal footing with all past Wartime Eras (WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War) in terms of military service credit buybacks. He nevertheless condemned the 2014 Veterans Equality Act specifically because it included 'peacetime veterans' also.

The Mayor has again gone on the record in support of military service credit for some veterans - in this case he has appeared to narrow (!) his support from wartime veterans  to Afghanistan veterans.

Pending Legislation for Military Service Credit Buyback

Right now the Veterans Equality Act (S4124, A4313A) is again working its way thru Albany. This will apply to all veterans (including all Wartime Era Veterans [Afghanistan veterans are a small subset of this wartime era]). At the same time a weak and inadequate  Afghanistan-only  military service credit bill (S4546, A6453) is also working its way thru Albany (see here for my take on the flim-flam Afghan-only bill).


This is what de Blasio actually said in his press conference today (21 May 2015):

"We are right now asking the state government in Albany to create more fairness in terms of pension opportunities for those who served in Afghanistan. Those who served in previous wars were given opportunities to attach their wartime service to their pensions to give them a better pension situation. That is not yet true for those who served in Afghanistan. We want to fix that, and we certainly don’t think it’s fair that, you know, individuals who were in one conflict are treated differently than those in another. So we want to fix that in Albany." (See here)


This was the 21 May 2015 response of NYC's Veterans' Alliance:

"We learned this morning that Mayor de Blasio will simply announce that he is no longer opposed to the Veterans Equality Act. As you remember, last fall the Veterans Equality Act passed both the NY State Assembly and Senate, and–had it not been vetoed–it would have updated eligibility for NY State and NYC employees to “buy back” up to three years credited toward their pension at a reduced rate based on their years of military service. The existing law grants eligibility only to veterans who served in designated combat areas long prior to 2001, which has resulted in Iraq veterans being eligible, but Afghanistan veterans not being eligible—to name but one disparity. Last fall Mayor de Blasio lobbied Governor Cuomo to veto this broadly-supported and long-overdue bill because he thought it would cost too much.

The Mayor was wrong last fall—and it is important that he make right on his deplorable action against veterans in civil service." (See here)

My Comments:

1. I have a sneaking suspicion that the veterans alliance might be misinterpreting his words...they may not even know there is a half-baked veterans' measure (AKA 'Afghanistan-Only') being brewed up there in Albany.

Call the Mayor (contact info is here) and educate him on the need for the Veterans' Equality Act. The information you need to explain it to him is here.

 2.It becoming clear that the Afghanistan veterans will be given the option of purchasing military service credit in a law this year. All 4 (both Senate and both Assembly) bills agree on that AND Mayor de Blasio would never go out on a limb unless he knew it was a done deal. You will note his talking points were available the night before so this was a very carefully planned announcement within the context of a very carefully planned Memorial Day announcement.

The only question is what other groups of veterans (if any) will be included in the bill. No veteran would ever begrudge the Afghanistan combat veterans' delayed journey from excluded to included in regards to military service credit.

One source that I consider reliable tells me the legislators are working to find a law that would be acceptable to both the Senate and House. This may or may not mean other groups will move from excluded veteran to included veteran status in the normal horse-trading and compromising that is Albany.

Decisions on this must be made up in Albany within the next two weeks.

3.An obvious compromise between the Republican - ruled Senate's "All Veterans/Veterans Equality Act " and the Democrat-ruled Assembly's "Afghanistan Only" bills is a "Gulf War Era Bill".
     This compromise bill would include all veterans who served (including Afghanistan veterans) during the most recent official wartime era (Gulf War; 1990-Present) and at the same time align current practice with New York's tradition  of permitting only wartime veterans to purchase military service credit. This is already the case with the WW II Wartime Era, the Korean Wartime Era, and the Vietnam Wartime Era.
     Since New York grants additional credit on its civil service exams to wartime veterans only, a "Gulf War Era Bill" aligns perfectly with that current New York practice.
     Beyond the attributes of  tradition and logical consistency, a compromise "Wartime Era Bill"  would be cheaper than an "All Veterans Bill" and slightly more expensive than an "Afghanistan Only' bill.

4. Another suggested compromise  between the Republican - ruled Senate's "All Veterans/Veterans Equality Act " and the Democrat-ruled Assembly's "Afghanistan Only" bills is a bill for wartime ("Gulf War Era veterans and all who served honorably during  conflicts currently recognized in the Laws of 2000: Lebanon 6/1/83-12/1/87; Grenada10/23/83 -11-21-83; Panama12/20/89-1/31/90 (dates are already in current law). I wrote about this compromise here
 
5. Another suggested compromise  between the Republican - ruled Senate's "All Veterans/Veterans Equality Act " and the Democrat-ruled Assembly's "Afghanistan Only" bills has been to limit the VEA ('all vets) to all veterans age 50 or greater. Of course this will heavily impact law enforcement folks who may retire prior to this date. This would greatly reduce the cost while at the same time potentially being applicable to 'all vets' who work until age 50 (or more).
 
6. Of course, the Veterans' Equality Act is much preferable to any compromise but given the mayor, governor and Assembly's opposition a bill moving the greatest number of our veterans from the excluded to included ranks is far preferable to another veto for all.

'All Vets' Moving in Senate; "Afghan Only" moving in the Assembly

S4124  (37 co-sponsors) PURPOSE: To extend the Military Service Credit Law of 2000 to all veterans who honorably served in the military. Appropriates $31,500,000 therefore.

    03/02/2015 REFERRED TO FINANCE
    05/19/2015 REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO RULES


A4313A  (107 co-sponsors) identical text MINUS the funding appropriation.

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-04-22	Assembly	reported referred to ways and means
2015-03-09	Assembly	print number 4313a
2015-03-09	Assembly	amend and recommit to governmental employees
2015-01-30	Assembly	referred to governmental employees

My Comments:

If you are a veteran of Afghanistan, the Gulf War (Wartime) Era, or the Cold War Era this is the law you want. All previously and arbitrarily excluded veterans will be included under this law. Although the number of excluded veterans is very small, the bill is nonetheless important.
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A6453 (32 Co-Sponsors): Some Afghanistan Veterans Only

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-05-19	Assembly	reported referred to ways and means
2015-03-25	Assembly	referred to governmental employees

S4546 : Some Afghanistan Veterans Only (Companion Bill to A6453)

 2015-03-26 - REFERRED TO VETERANS, HOMELAND SECURITY AND MILITARY AFFAIRS

My Comment: If you were activated from the Guard or Reserves for service in Afghanistan while working as a New York State employee, this bill does NOT help you at all. Again, if you have three years of active service, go to work for NY, get mobilized to Afghanistan for one year, and return to NYS employment, ERS interpretation of the law forbids a purchase of any of your three active years and your year in Afghanistan is already credited.
This bill ONLY  covers the select few whose Afghanistan service came before they became New York State Employees. Since many of those folks spent time in Kuwait or Iraq also, they are already covered under current law.
This law expands current law to include  approximately 0 previously excluded Afghanistan veterans.
______________________________________________________________________________

Final Comment: An obvious compromise between the Republican - ruled Senate's "All Veterans" and the Democrat-ruled Assembly's "Afghanistan Only" bills is a "Wartime Era Bill".
     This compromise bill would include all veterans who served (including Afghanistan veterans) during the most recent wartime era (Gulf War; 1990-Present) and at the same time align current practice with New York's tradition  of permitting only wartime veterans to purchase military service credit. This is already the case with the WW II Wartime Era, the Korean Wartime Era, and the Vietnam Wartime Era.
     Since New York grants additional credit on its civil service exams to wartime veterans only, a "Wartime Era Bill" aligns perfectly with that current New York practice.
     Beyond the attributes of  tradition and logical consistency, a compromise "Wartime Era Bill"  would be cheaper than an "All Veterans Bill" and slightly more expensive than an "Afghanistan Only' bill.