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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9566
IN SENATE
March 25, 2026
___________
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 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
25 contrary, any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of
26 the heart, resulting in the disability or death to a member who serves
27 as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance medical coordinator, ambu-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01272-04-6
S. 9566 2
1 lance medical technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance
2 medical technician related services, or a police medic, police medic
3 coordinator, police medic supervisor, bureau director police emergency
4 ambulance services - county, assistant bureau director police emergency
5 ambulance services - county, or a member who performs police medic or
6 police emergency ambulance related services and is employed in the
7 Nassau county police department, presently employed and who shall have
8 sustained such disability while so employed, who successfully passed a
9 physical examination on entry into service as a member covered by this
10 section, which examination failed to disclose evidence of any disease or
11 other impairment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence that it was
12 incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
13 can be proved by competent evidence.
14 § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
15 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
16 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
17 § 4. All costs associated with implementing the provisions of this act
18 shall be borne by Nassau county.
19 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would provide a performance of duty (POD) disability
presumption to certain members employed by the Nassau county police
department who perform police medic or police emergency ambulance
related services, are impaired due to a condition of the heart, and
could receive POD disability provided under Section 607-j of the retire-
ment and social security law.
This proposal would likely lead to an increased number of POD disabil-
ity benefits for future retirees.
We estimate that the annual contributions of Nassau county will not
materially increase because of this proposal.
There will be an immediate past service cost of $211,000 which will be
borne by Nassau county as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2027.
Further, there would likely be some administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
These estimated costs are based on 126 affected members employed by
Nassau county, with annual salary of approximately $21 million as of
March 31, 2025.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated March 24, 2026, and intended for use only during
the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-50. As Chief
S. 9566 3
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), 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. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not believe it
impairs my objectivity.
