Category: COVID-19

  • It has been 6+ weeks since the new legislation authorizing LOSAP sponsors to award points during the COVID-19 pandemic was enacted. We thought it would be helpful to answer a few “frequently asked questions” we have received about the legislation. As with any interpretation of statute, we suggest reviewing everything with your attorney before taking…

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  • The bill we have been tracking since the end of April was signed into law today as Chapter 113 of the Laws of 2020. ​This bill will allow municipal sponsors to award up to five (5) points for each complete month during which fire department activities were cancelled or special response protocols were in place…

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  • The legislation that would allow a municipal sponsor of a LOSAP to award up to 5 points per month during the current COVID-19 pandemic has been passed by the Assembly and Senate. We now await for the Governor to sign it into law. You can read more about it at our previous blog post here:covid-19-losap-bill-amended-progressing.html

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  • *5/28/2020 UPDATE – The bill was passed by both houses – we now just need the Governor’s signature for it to become law* The bill that would amend the General Municipal Law to address LOSAP points during the COVID-19 pandemic has been amended and appears poised to make progress through the legislature. The amended bill,…

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  • Recently, a bill was introduced to address LOSAP points during the COVID-19 pandemic legislatively. You can read more about it HERE. Despite this new proposed legislation, we thought we’d share an approach that we believe fits into the parameters of the current statute and may offer the relief some departments are looking for.  This approach centers…

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  • *EDIT*  – This blog post was based on the original version of the bill. You can read about the most current version by clicking here: covid-19-losap-bill-amended-progressing.html Bill S8251 was introduced in the Senate on April 27, 2020. It was then amended May 6, 2020 to include ​an amendment to the sections of the General Municipal Law that…

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  • As was mentioned in a previous post, a bill was introduced in the Senate to try and address the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic will  have on the ability of volunteers to earn LOSAP points in 2020. Since that post, the bill was amended to include changes to Articles 11-AA and 11-AAA, which are…

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  • A bill was introduced in the Senate this week to address how the current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted how firefighters can earn LOSAP points. At this point, we are providing the text of the bill with no comments. It can be found at the bottom of this article. In general, we maintain that we cannot…

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  • If you are reading this post, you likely know that NYS Law requires that the list of firefighters that earned 50 points during the prior calendar year must be posted for 30 days for review by the membership. Anyone whose name does not appear on the list as having earned 50 points can appeal within…

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  • Since LOSAP started here in NY effective 1/1/1990, technology has improved and increased in usage. Manual sign-in sheets have been replaced with key-fobs and fingerprint readers. Pagers have been replaced with apps such as IamResponding. Online training classes are becoming the norm rather than the exception. With any system or process, it is important to…

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