Relates to the real property tax exemption for surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers killed in the line of duty

Latest action Dec 5, 2025

Amends the real property tax exemption for surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers killed in the line of duty to permit continuation of such exemption for volunteer members with service between two and five years.

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Where it stands

Signed into law.

Introduced
In committee
Up for a vote
Passed one chamber
Passed
Enacted

New York State Senate

Same as A5619, the matching bill in the Assembly.

Amends the Real Property Tax Law.

Committee

Local Government · New York State Senate

Also referred to Real Property Taxation · New York State Assembly, Ways and Means · New York State Assembly.

Purpose, from the sponsor's memo

This bill would permit municipalities to adopt a local law or ordinance to allow surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambu- lance workers with between two and five years of service, who are killed in the line of duty, to continue receiving pre-existing property tax exemptions. The bill also permits municipalities to adopt a local law or ordinance to increase the exemption for surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers killed in the line of duty.

Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)

Recorded votes

Vote: Floor vote
NY SenateApr 1, 2025Result: passed
(63) (0) (0) (0)
Vote: Committee vote · Local Government
Senate Local GovernmentFeb 25, 2025Result: passed
(7) (0) (0) (0)

Cosponsors

Angelo Santabarbara, Anil Beephan Jr. and 22 more on Agora

Republican13
Democratic11

See the full list on nysenate.gov

The sponsor's argument

Why Monica Martinez says this is needed

In 2022, the Legislature passed Chapter 670, which gave local govern- ments the option to permanently extend a 10% property tax exemption to volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers with a minimum of between two and five years of service. Prior to passage of this law, these volunteers had to have at least five years of service to apply for this exemption and the Legislature needed to pass stand-alone bills for each locality that wanted to opt in. Under the old law, if a member that had at least five years of service was killed in the line of duty, the member's spouse was able to apply to continue receiving the exemption. Unfortunately, there was an inconsistency in Chapter 670 of 2022. Although the new law allows localities to establish minimum service requirements of as low as two years to be eligible for the 10% property tax exemption, it still requires members killed in the line of duty to have had at least five years of service to allow their surviving spouses to continue receiving the exemption. Accordingly, this bill would correct that inconsistency by permitting municipalities to adopt a local law or ordinance to allow surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers with between two and five years of service, who are killed in the line of duty, to continue receiving the pre-exist- ing property tax exemption; this bill would also allow municipalities to adopt a local law or ordinance to increase the property tax exemption for surviving spouses.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.

Full history

Dec 5, 2025
Signed
SIGNED CHAP.592
NY Senate
Dec 1, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
NY Senate
Jun 11, 2025
Ordered to Third Reading Rules CAL.616
ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.616
NY Assembly
Jun 11, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED ASSEMBLY
NY Assembly
Jun 11, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED
NY Assembly

Show full history (13 earlier events)

Jun 11, 2025
Substituted
SUBSTITUTED FOR A5619A
NY Assembly
Jun 10, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
NY Assembly
Apr 1, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
NY Senate
Apr 1, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED SENATE
NY Senate
Apr 1, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
Mar 21, 2025
Amend (t) and Recommit to Ways and Means
AMEND (T) AND RECOMMIT TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
Mar 18, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
Mar 10, 2025
Amended
AMENDED ON THIRD READING (T) 688A
NY Senate
Mar 3, 2025
Advanced to Third Reading
ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
NY Senate
Feb 26, 2025
2ND Report CAL.
2ND REPORT CAL.
NY Senate
Feb 25, 2025
1ST Report CAL.373
1ST REPORT CAL.373
NY Senate
Feb 18, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO REAL PROPERTY TAXATION
NY Assembly
Jan 8, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
NY Senate

About this record

Summary: The summary comes from NY Open Legislation, the New York State Senate's public record. For more, see How we handle summaries.
Cosponsors: The list shows the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.
Party colors: Parties are shown in the same neutral colors.
Source: From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 21, 2026. About our data

Read the record

Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab) The official record on nysenate.gov.

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