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BILL NUMBER:S3913

TITLE  OF BILL:   An act to legalize, validate, ratify and confirm the Penn Yan fire department length of service award program

PURPOSE:  This bill would allow volunteer firefighters to  participate in  various  activities  of the fire department during the course of a year in order to earn sufficient points to be credited with a year  of service toward qualifying benefits.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section  1  The  Penn  Yan fire department in 1999 pursuant to article 11-A of the general municipal law, including the adoption of  a  point system  whereby  volunteer  firefighters  may  participate  during the course of a year in various activities and earn points to qualify  for benefits is hereby legalized, validated, ratified and confirmed.

Section 2 The Penn Yan fire department length of service award program will  have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 1999, and volunteer firefighters who have participated in this service award program during  the  period  beginning  January  1,  1999  and  ending December  31, 2011 will be credited with points in accordance with the point system adopted by the village of Penn Yan.

Section 3 This act shall take effect immediately.

JUSTIFICATION:  The Village of Penn Yan created a LOSAP for  the  Penn Yan  Fire  Department  in  1999  by adopting a resolution creating the LOSAP and holding a referendum which  ratified  the  creation  of  the LOSAP.    Although a point system was devised by the fire companies of the Penn Yan Fire Department the point system was  never  approved  by the  Board  of  Trustees  until  December 20, 2011, which approval was required by GML Article 11-A.  The  volunteer  firefighters  performed their  firefighting  service  with  a good faith expectation that they would qualify for each annual "year of service" in which,  based  upon their  participation  in sufficient activities of the Fire Department, they earned  the  requisite  number  of  points  that  year  for  such qualifications. It would be an injustice for benefits to be denied any volunteer  firefighter who, with a good faith expectation of receiving LOSAP benefits, participated in activities of the Fire Department at a level to earn years of service, thereby qualifying for LOSAP benefits.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2012 - S. 6998, passed Senate, A. 9912, held  in local government

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to State

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________

3913

2013-2014 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

February 26, 2013
___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  O'MARA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government

AN ACT to legalize, validate, ratify  and  confirm  the  Penn  Yan  fire
  department length of service award program

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all proceedings
and actions taken by the village  of  Penn  Yan,  county  of  Yates,  in
relation  to the creating a length of service award program for the Penn
Yan fire department in 1999 pursuant to  article  11-A  of  the  general
municipal  law,  including the adoption of a point system whereby volun-
teer firefighters may participate in  various  activities  of  the  fire
department  during  the  course  of  a  year in order to earn sufficient
points to be credited with a year of service toward qualifying benefits,
are hereby legalized, validated, ratified and confirmed.
  S 2. The Penn Yan fire department  length  of  service  award  program
described  in  section  one  of this act shall be deemed to have been in
full force and effect on and after January 1, 1999, and volunteer  fire-
fighters  participating  in such service award program during the period
beginning January 1, 1999 and ending December 31, 2011 shall be credited
with points for participation in activities of such fire  department  in
accordance with the point system adopted by the village of Penn Yan.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD01272-01-3