The Daily News noted this discrepancy here on February 8, 2016.
Assemblyman Kieren Michael Lalor has skewered the Governor in his February 16 letter here.
NYS Assemblyman Brian Curran rallied for the cause Friday, February 19, 2016, see video here
- His February 10th announcement for the rally/press conference is here
This Governor's promise, of course, came after his two consecutive vetoes (2014 and 2015) of bipartisan and widely-supported bills enacting military service credit reform.
Best case scenario would have been an allocation in Gov Cuomo's budget proposal for an expansion of the program to cover certain of the excluded veterans (January 13) ...then an allocation in Senate and House budgets (released around March 15) to cover all excluded veterans ...then a compromise negotiation or trade-off between the two in the NYS final budget on April 1, 2016.
Since the best case scenario has not unfolded it may be that a compromise negotiation or trade-off between zero expansion (contents of the Gov Cuomo budget proposal) and Veterans' Equality Act (VEA) is now the best case scenario. To ensure this occurs, call your reps and the legislative leadership to get a funded VEA in the house budgets...success in our efforts will be revealed March 15 (or thereabouts).
Negotiations between the Governor's office and legislative staffers is ongoing.
The current law on military service credit, its most glaring defects, and the proposed cure presented by the two previously vetoed bills (A04313 and S04124) are presented below:
The latest from today's Capital Confidential (http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/249253/veterans-have-success-in-property-tax-exemptions-still-looking-for-pension-buyback/):
ReplyDelete"While military veterans who now work in the public sector are still hoping for a buy-back provision that would broaden the ranks of those who can buy pension credits, there is a decided bright spot in the way New York’s approximately 900,000 veterans are treated — when it comes to school tax exemptions."
And
"With that in mind, Becker and other veterans advocates are hoping that this year, after two vetoes by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, that a buy-back bill is signed into law. The bill would extend the three-year buy-back option available to all veterans who work in the public sector. That option is available to most veterans but some, depending on their dates of service, are excluded.
The Senate has already passed such a bill again and a similar measure is expected to pass in the Assembly. Proponents are hoping that a potential change opening the buy-back only to those who have 20 years before using a buy-back would make it more acceptable to the governor who has previously said he fears it would be too costly to sign.
“We don’t want a third veto,” said Hannan."
For starters, it is nice to see the false and deceptive word 'peacetime' is no longer being flung around reference this bill AND the word 'buyback' (not pension sweetener) is used repeatedly. And, it is clear from the reading this is a reform to a current program (not a new program).
For seconds, this is an interesting idea someone is floating in Capitol Confidential. A couple of thoughts jump out regarding the merits of such an idea (if the Governor would agree to it as a compromise) for included and currently excluded veterans of various retirement systems here in NYS.
Thoughts?