Allows New York state employees to use accrued vacation time toward student loan payments; defines terms; requires the president of the civil service commission to promulgate necessary rules and regulations.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6405
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to use of accrued
vacation time
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The civil service law is amended by adding a new section
2 159-e to read as follows:
3 § 159-e. Use of accrued vacation time towards student loan payments.
4 1. Every public officer, employee of this state, county, community
5 college, public authority, public benefit corporation, board of cooper-
6 ative educational services (BOCES), vocational education and extension
7 board, school district enumerated in section one of chapter five hundred
8 sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-seven, municipality,
9 school district or participating employer in the New York state and
10 local employees' retirement system or a participating employer in the
11 New York state teachers' retirement system shall be entitled to use
12 accrued vacation time toward the payment of student loans.
13 2. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any employees
14 subject to a collective bargaining agreement as of the effective date of
15 this section. An employee organization may, pursuant to collective
16 bargaining, opt in to the provisions of this section on behalf of those
17 public employees it is either certified or recognized to represent,
18 within the meaning of article fourteen of this chapter, or may alterna-
19 tively bargain for benefits greater or less than those provided for by
20 this section. An employee organization that has opted in to the
21 provisions of this section may, pursuant to collective bargaining, opt
22 out of it as is mutually agreed upon between the employee organization
23 and any public employer.
24 3. Nothing set forth in this section shall be construed to impede,
25 infringe or diminish the rights and benefits that accrue to employees
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07565-01-5
S. 6405 2
1 and employers through collective bargaining agreements, or otherwise
2 diminish the integrity of the collective bargaining relationship.
3 4. For the purposes of this section:
4 a. "Student loan" shall mean any loan to a borrower to finance postse-
5 condary education or expenses related to postsecondary education.
6 b. "Federal student loan" means (i) any student loan issued pursuant
7 to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program; (ii) any student
8 loan issued pursuant to the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which
9 was purchased by the government of the United States pursuant to the
10 federal Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act and is presently
11 owned by the government of the United States; and (iii) any other
12 student loan issued pursuant to a federal program that is identified by
13 the superintendent as a "federal student loan" in a regulation.
14 5. The president shall promulgate any rules and regulations necessary
15 for the implementation of this section.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
17 it shall have become a law.
