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Beyond the arbitrary and outdated nature of current law, current law also blatantly and shamefully discriminates against women.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.)