Provides a performance of duty presumption for diseases of the heart for members who serve as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance medical coordinator, ambulance medical technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance medical technician related services, or a police medic, police medic coordinator, police medic supervisor, bureau director police emergency ambulance services - county, assistant bureau director police emergency ambulance services - county, or a member who performs police medic or police emergency ambulance related services and is employed in the Nassau county police department.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4915
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
disability benefits for certain individuals employed by the Nassau coun-
ty police department
PURPOSE:
This bill creates a rebuttable presumption that any heart diseases which
cause health issues for certain individuals employed by the Nassau Coun-
ty Police Department were incurred during the course and discharge of
their duties.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 creates a new Section 63-j of the Retirement and Social
Security Law to provide that any condition of impairment of health
caused by diseases of the heart, resulting in the disability or death to
a member who serves as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance
medical coordinator, ambulance medical technician/supervisor or a member
who performs ambulance medical technician related services, or a police
medic, police medic coordinator, police medic supervisor, bureau direc-
tor police emergency ambulance services - county, assistant bureau
director police emergency ambulance services - county, or a member who
performs police medic or police emergency ambulance related services and
is employed in the Nassau county police department, presently employed
and who shall have sustained such disability while so employed, who
successfully passed a physical examination on entry into service as a
member covered by this section, which examination failed to disclose
evidence of any disease or other impairment of the heart, shall be
presumptive evidence that it was incurred in the performance and
discharge of duty, unless the contrary can be proved by competent
evidence.
Section 2 creates a new Section 63-m of the Retirement and Social
Security Law to provide that any condition of impairment of health
caused by diseases of the heart, resulting in the disability or death to
a member who serves as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance
medical coordinator, ambulance medical technician/supervisor or a member
who performs ambulance medical technician related services, or a police
medic, police medic coordinator, police medic supervisor, bureau direc-
tor police emergency ambulance services - county, assistant bureau
director police emergency ambulance services - county, or a member who
performs police medic or police emergency ambulance related services and
is employed in the Nassau county police department, presently employed
and who shall have sustained such disability while so employed, who
successfully passed a physical examination on entry into service as a
member covered by this section, which examination failed to disclose
evidence of any disease or other impairment of the heart, shall be
presumptive evidence that it was incurred in the performance and
discharge of duty, unless the contrary can be proved by competent
evidence.
Section 3 provides that none of the provisions of this act shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of section 25 of the retirement
and social security law.
Section 4 provides that all costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by Nassau County. Section 5
provides that the act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
Nassau County Police Medics serve their community countywide, providing
the highest possible quality in pre-hospital advanced life support emer-
gency medical service care. Though rare, it does happen that Nassau
County Police Medics are rendered seriously and permanently disabled due
to injuries sustained in the line of duty. While such instances occur
infrequently, they are nonetheless devastating to the Medic involved,
their spouses, and their children.
Police Medics respond to and perform work in varying types of situ-
ations, from the scenes of basic medical assistance calls to truly life-
threatening emergencies. They respond to calls in all types of places
via ambulance. They perform their duties on active highways, at fire
scenes, at the scenes of collapsed buildings, railroad incidents, and
active crime scenes. They also operate as Tactical Medics with the
Nassau County Police Department Bureau of Special Operations. Further,
they sometimes operate as Hazardous Materials Decontamination Techni-
cians.
Though the Medics are well trained, they sometimes encounter the danger-
ous environments described above, as well as dangerous, violent individ-
uals. They are not armed on the job. Their duties as Hazardous Materials
Decontamination Technicians and Tactical Medics are by their nature very
dangerous and can result in serious injury. It should be noted that
Emergency Medical Technicians in the adjacent City of New York have a
75% disability benefit. This bill will provide appropriate protection
for Nassau County Police Medics and their families in the event of a
serious on-the-job disablement. It will also rectify the imbalance in
protection that currently exists between the Medics and other, similar
first responders.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A9645-A -Assembly Governmental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4915
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
disability benefits for certain individuals employed by the Nassau
county police department
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
2 a new section 63-j to read as follows:
3 § 63-j. Certain impairment of health; presumption. Notwithstanding any
4 provision of this chapter or any general or special law to the contrary,
5 any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of the heart,
6 resulting in the disability or death to a member who serves as an ambu-
7 lance medical technician, ambulance medical coordinator, ambulance
8 medical technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance medical
9 technician related services, or a police medic, police medic coordina-
10 tor, police medic supervisor, bureau director police emergency ambulance
11 services - county, assistant bureau director police emergency ambulance
12 services - county, or a member who performs police medic or police emer-
13 gency ambulance related services and is employed in the Nassau county
14 police department, presently employed and who shall have sustained such
15 disability while so employed, who successfully passed a physical exam-
16 ination on entry into service as a member covered by this section, which
17 examination failed to disclose evidence of any disease or other impair-
18 ment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence that it was incurred in
19 the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary can be proved
20 by competent evidence.
21 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
22 section 607-m to read as follows:
23 § 607-m. Certain impairment of health; presumption. Notwithstanding
24 any provision of this chapter or any general or special law to the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01272-02-5
A. 4915 2
1 contrary, any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of
2 the heart, resulting in the disability or death to a member who serves
3 as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance medical coordinator, ambu-
4 lance medical technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance
5 medical technician related services, or a police medic, police medic
6 coordinator, police medic supervisor, bureau director police emergency
7 ambulance services - county, assistant bureau director police emergency
8 ambulance services - county, or a member who performs police medic or
9 police emergency ambulance related services and is employed in the
10 Nassau county police department, presently employed and who shall have
11 sustained such disability while so employed, who successfully passed a
12 physical examination on entry into service as a member covered by this
13 section, which examination failed to disclose evidence of any disease or
14 other impairment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence that it was
15 incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
16 can be proved by competent evidence.
17 § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
18 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
19 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
20 § 4. All costs associated with implementing the provisions of this act
21 shall be borne by Nassau county.
22 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow certain members who are employed in the Nassau
County police department who perform police medic or police emergency
ambulance related services to receive a performance of duty (POD) disa-
bility benefit if the member is impaired due to a condition of the
heart, which shall be presumed to have been incurred in the performance
of their duties, unless the contrary be proven by competent evidence.
Such presumption will benefit members with a POD provided under Section
607-j of the Retirement and Social Security Law.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it would
likely lead to an increased number of POD disability benefits for future
retirees.
We anticipate that there will be an increase of approximately $30,000
in the annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to
average 0.2% of salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $51,400 which will be
borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2026.
Further, there would likely be some administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
These estimated costs are based on 118 affected members employed by
Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $16 million as of
March 31, 2024.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the
Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and
Control. The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March
A. 4915 3
31, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
and Supplementary Information.
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for
the professional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated January 24, 2025, and intended for use only
during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-10. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I,
Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with
applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of
Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing
Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of
which I am a member.
