Relates to the establishment of a twenty-two and one-half year retirement program for emergency medical technicians

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Robert Jackson says this is needed

EMTs and Paramedics perform some of the most important jobs in New York City. They work in dangerous conditions and save New Yorkers' lives. This bill would afford these uniformed personnel the opportunity to retire with a full pension after 22 and one-half years of service. Those who participate in the new pension program would be required to make additional member contributions of their earnings. The additional member contributions are set at a level which will offset the additional cost to the pension fund occasioned by permitting retirement after 22 and one-half years of service regardless of age, particularly in light of the fact that the bill also eliminates the retiree cost-of-living increase guaranteed other retirees pursuant to law. A number of other classes of employees currently enjoy similar benefits. For example, sanitation workers, who are members of the New York City employee retirement system, are granted the option of participating in a program that allows them to retire after twenty years of service regard- less of age. See N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 13-159, 13-160; Ret. & Soc. Sec.L. § 445-b. Similarly, investigators, dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, special officers, parking control specialists, school safe- ty agents, campus peace officers, and New York city taxi and limousine inspectors are granted the option of participating in a program that allows them to retire after twenty-five years of service. See N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 13-157.1, § 13-157.2, § 13157.2, and § 13157.3. Corrections officers and housing police have similar benefits, as do others. See, e.g., N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 13-155, 13-156, 13-157. Those opting to join these programs are also required to make additional contributions which are designed to offset the cost of the benefits thereof. However, for all of them, the retiree cola provision in RSL 76-a is retained. In contrast, those opting into the program covered by this bill will not only pay additional member contributions but will also forgo that retiree cola. To the extent that "uniformed service" employees have been granted some- what better retirement opportunities than other city employees, it is because of the content of their jobs: uniformed service employees perform work of an emergent nature or work that addresses potentially hazardous conditions faced by the residents of the city. The work perfoillied by EMTs and Paramedics falls within this category: it is hazardous work of an emergent nature which is of special need to the residents of New York City.

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.