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.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10833
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
disability benefits for certain individuals employed by the Nassau coun-
ty police department
PURPOSE:
This bill creates a rebuttable presumption that any heart diseases which
cause health issues for certain individuals employed by the Nassau Coun-
ty Police Department were incurred during the course and discharge of
their duties.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 creates a new Section 63-j of the Retirement and Social Secu-
rity Law to provide that any condition of impairment of health caused by
diseases of the heart, resulting in the disability or death to a member
who serves as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance medical coordi-
nator, 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 emer-
gency 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, presently employed and who shall
have sustained such disability while so employed, who successfully
passed a physical examination on entry into service as a member covered
by this section, which examination failed to disclose evidence of any
disease or other impairment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence
that it was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless
the contrary can be proved by competent evidence.
Section 2 creates a new Section 63-m of the Retirement and Social Secu-
rity Law to provide that any condition of impairment of health caused by
diseases of the heart, resulting in the disability or death to a member
who serves as an ambulance medical technician, ambulance medical coordi-
nator, 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 emer-
gency 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, presently employed and who shall
have sustained such disability while so employed, who successfully
passed a physical examination on entry into service as a member covered
by this section, which examination failed to disclose evidence of any
disease or other impairment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence
that it was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless
the contrary can be proved by competent evidence.
Section 3 provides that none of the provisions of this act shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of section 25 of the retirement
and social security law.
Section 4 provides that all costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by Nassau County.
Section 5 provides that the act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
Nassau County Police Medics serve their community countywide, providing
the highest possible quality in pre-hospital advanced life support emer-
gency medical service care. Though rare, it does happen that Nassau
County Police Medics are rendered seriously and permanently disabled due
to injuries sustained in the line of duty. While such instances occur
infrequently, they are nonetheless devastating to the Medic involved,
their spouses, and their children.
Police Medics respond to and perform work in varying types of situ-
ations, from the scenes of basic medical assistance calls to truly life-
threatening emergencies. They respond to calls in all types of places
via ambulance. They perform their duties on active highways, at fire
scenes, at the scenes of collapsed buildings, railroad incidents, and
active crime scenes. They also operate as Tactical Medics with the
Nassau County Police Department Bureau of Special Operations. Further,
they sometimes operate as Hazardous Materials Decontamination Techni-
cians.
Though the Medics are well trained, they sometimes encounter the danger-
ous environments described above, as well as dangerous, violent individ-
uals. They are not armed on the job. Their duties as Hazardous Materials
Decontamination Technicians and Tactical Medics are by their nature very
dangerous and can result in serious injury. It should be noted that
Emergency Medical Technicians in the adjacent City of New York have a
75% disability benefit. This bill will provide appropriate protection
for Nassau County Police Medics and their families in the event of a
serious on-the-job disablement. It will also rectify the imbalance in
protection that currently exists between the Medics and other, similar
first responders.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2025: S3488/A4915 - Vetoed by the Governor (Veto: 141)
2024: S8854-A/A9645-A - Senate Civil Service & Pensions/Assembly Govern-
mental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10833
IN ASSEMBLY
April 1, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
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
A. 10833 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
A. 10833 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.
