State lawmakers pass PEF bills By SHERRY HALBROOK
Lots of hard work by PEF members and staff paid off when several bills important to PEF members passed in the final days of the state’s 2015 legislative session in June.
The Veterans Equality Bill was one of the last bills to pass in the state Assembly. The Veterans Equality Bill, A8174A/S5937 (Paulin/Larkin), would extend the opportunity for all honorably discharged veterans of U.S. military service who are now public employees and who have at least five years of (non- military) service credit in the public retirement system to buy up to three years of additional military service credit toward their pensions. Currently this option is restricted to certain public employees based on when and where their military service took place. The state Senate, which passed this legislation first, will be in charge of working with the governor’s office to decide when to send it to him for his signature or veto. PEF and other interested unions will work with the AFL-CIO to build support for the governor’s approval. He vetoed similar legislation last year, after it had passed both houses.
Additionally, two other high priority bills for PEF were passed by the Legislature and will be sent to the governor before the end of 2015. The Assembly passed them prior to the Senate and will send them to the governor.
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DENISE DIBIASE MICHAEL S. DOYLE KATHRYN DURANS
MARIA L. GAVIOLA NORA M. GEISER VIRGINIA L. GREER
CATHLEEN A. HAMMILL EILEEN M. HANNON JAMES R. HASSETT ANTHONY INTELISANO KIM M. KAUGHER EDWARD J. LANE JOAN A. MAGGIO
ANGEL A. MANGUERA CAROLL MARAY
YVONNE V. MCKENZIE ELIZABETH MEDWIG VICTOR P. NAVARRA J. C. OBRIEN
CAROLYN ONEILL PATRICIA PFEIFER PATRICK J. POWERS
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DIOSDADO C. ESPINOSA 12 225 A EUGENE R. FELIZARDO LORI B. FINK
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TALKING WITH LEGISLATORS – PEF members and staff meet with state Sens. Adriano Espaillat (above) and Ruth Hassell-Thompson (right) to discuss PEF’s legislative and budgetary priorities for 2015. Meeting with Espaillat are John Crotty, Brian Purnell, Jennifer Faucher, Darryl Reeves, Christine Miller and PEF Trustee Maureen Kellman. Flanking Hassell-Thompson are Maria Schiavone, Michael Guzman, Christina Haggarty, Vanessa O’Gorman, Sonya Harris, Maryann Howard and Jennifer Faucher.
These bills are:
• A7332/S4994 (Lupardo/Libous) would amend the state Mental Hygiene Law to allow persons receiving services from the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to transition into state-operated community settings and to continue receiving care from state employees. If the services requested by the consumers are not available in their regions, the bill mandates that these consumers remain in state-operated facilities or residences until such services are available.
• A6045B/S4141B (Abbate/Golden) would provide the beneficiaries of state employees who die after they apply for retirement, but before their official retirement date, with the same pension benefit they would receive if the
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ELLEN M. SCHAEFER ROBIN M. SIEGMUND JOHN T. STAUDT SABINE STERLIN
ANTHONY J. TIRELLA COLLEEN VASAK
DOUGLAS C. WEISS CYNTHIA K. WIENCEK CHAD M. WILLIAMS
SU TECH ALFRED MARIA V. STACHOWSKI
TAX FINANCE WILFRED M. AMANFU MICHAEL AMO-ADU JR
MANMOHAN S. CHAHAL DEAN COIRIN
JEFFREY D. COZZY MICHELLE A. CUSANO
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WILLIAM G. BARTHELMAS 08 190 P LISA CADY
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EDWARD CZOSNYKOWSKI 08 190 P CONRAD DAVIS
ANTHONY DEL BROCCO 08 190 P MATTHEW R. DELAURA JESSE M. DOHENY
11 406 P 03 360 P
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employee died after his or her retirement date. In such a situation, the bill makes a clearly-marked U.S. Postal Service date (on the mailed retirement application received by the Office of the State Comptroller) the effective retirement date. The change is expected to affect only a few people annually. The projected cost is less than $100,000 per case, but it would be a great financial benefit to the affected families.
PEF Director of Legislation Pat Lavin thanked all of the union’s members and staff who worked for the passage of these bills.
Watch the PEF website and other communications to see when these bills are sent to the governor, so you can contact his office in support of the legislation.
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JOSEPH DONAHUE ADDAM R. EFFINGER IRA J. GANZ
SANDRA L. GRADY MICHELE HAMILTON SHARON HYDESCULLY MARY E. HOFFMAN JOANNE HOGAN ROSS IZZO
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CLARISSE E. KELLY TODD M. KERNER MAHFUZA KHANAM MARY L. KIERNAN JOSEPH KLEIN
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STEWART S. LEWIS-KING 04 333 P TERRENCE J. MALOY
HARRY MARC CHARLES 11 290 P GEORGE MARRETT
08 190 P 09 182 P
MICHAEL B. MCFERRAN MICHAEL A. MILLER LORI A. MONELL
STEVEN C. NAWROCKI JOHNNY NEAL
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08 190 P 08 190 P 08 190 P 01 224 P 08 190 P
JOSEPH A. NOONEY KIMBERLY NORWOOD DONNA J. PELLETIER PAMELA J. RAFFERTY LINDA A. REA
ELEANOR RYAN
CHRISTINE L. SICINA KEVIN W. TAMOL
JAKOB WESTMAN DENISE WHITE
W NY CH PSY CTR PATRICIA M. MORAN LAWRENCE H. SMITH
WKRS COMP BOARD JULIO M. GARCIA SCOTT T. HARMS LISA G. OBRIEN WILLIAM G. OSTA SHEILA M. POOLE
RUSSELL S. WHISPELL
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KATHLEEN H. SHERIDAN 08 190 P JAMES A. SHIELY
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STEPHEN C. THOMPSON 04 333 P YOCHEVED TRAVIS LINDA L. VERA
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The Communicator July/August 2015 — Page 19
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
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