Establishes a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emergency service

Latest action Jan 7, 2026

Establishes a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emergency service.

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Where it stands

Out of committee and scheduled for a vote by the full chamber.

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

New York State Senate

Amends the Retirement and Social Security Law.

Committee

Civil Service And Pensions · New York State Senate

Purpose, from the sponsor's memo

Section 1 of this bill would allow a member, upon application to a public retirement system, to achieve one year of service credit for every five years of volunteer fire or emergency service in the State, not to exceed three years of total service credit; available to such member anytime before retirement. Section 2 of this bill provides that the effective date shall take effect immediately.

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

Recorded votes

Vote: Committee vote · Civil Service And Pensions
Senate Civil Service And PensionsMay 20, 2025Result: passed
(7) (0) (0) (0)

Cosponsors

Alexis Weik, Anthony H. Palumbo and 20 more on Agora

Republican16
Democratic6

See the full list on nysenate.gov

The sponsor's argument

Why Christopher Ryan says this is needed

There are thousands of members in the State's public retirement systems that actively provide volunteer fire or emergency services to their community, sacrificing their free time to save lives. These brave indi- viduals respond to fires, natural disasters, and other catastrophes, often incurring lifelong health conditions and other ills. Such volun- teers do not garner any compensation despite the value of their essen- tial services. Therefore, they should be recognized by the State for their service. Members would be required to make a payment of three percent of their most recent compensation per year of additional service credit granted by this bill. Service credit would be creditable on regular age-based and special service-based plans. This means that volunteers would be able to receive a well-deserved reward, in the form of retirement service credits, for their essential services. This bill would allow public retirement system members to achieve one year of retirement

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

Jan 7, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS
NY Senate
May 20, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
NY Senate
Mar 28, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS
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 Nov 3, 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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