Today, August 20, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed bill S1091a / A2239a into law. Chapter 400 of the Laws of 2021 extend the maximum years of service credit that can be earned in a volunteer firefighter LOSAP from 40 years to 50 years. The bill amends both Section 218 (defined contribution plans) and Section 219 (defined benefit…

Read More

Yesterday, Monday August 9th, bill A2239a was delivered to the Governor. This bill would extend the maximum years of service credit that can be earned in a volunteer firefighter service award program from 40 to 50 years. Therefore, this also extends the number of years in which a participating firefighter can accrue benefits by another…

Read More

On June 24, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 210, which stated in part: WHEREAS, it has been determined that Executive Orders 202 through 202.111 and Executive Orders 205 through 205.3 are no longer necessary.NOW, THEREFORE, I, ANDREW M. CUOMO, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the…

Read More

The New York State Legislature passed another bill on June 3, 2021 that would amend Article 11-A of the New York State General Municipal Law, provided the bill is signed into law by Governor Cuomo. This bill is S1210 / A6401 and was first introduced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. A second bill was…

Read More

We were asked if a person on a leave of absence from the fire department can earn points for attending online meetings and trainings. First, we cannot give legal advice, and this post is not intended to be legal advice. If you have a similar question and this blog post is helpful, we suggest sharing…

Read More

In researching an issue this week, we stumbled across an article titled, The Anatomy of a Lump-Sum Conversion, written by Corey Swarner, CPC, MBA of Milliman.  In various posts, we’ve attempted to provide readers with an understanding of actuarial math including the time-value of money, and actuarial concepts such as life expectancy. But we think Corey…

Read More

Bill S 101-A / A 2339-A was passed by the Assembly on May 24, 2021. This bill has now been passed by both the Senate and the Assembly, and now awaits the Governor’s signature. If the Governor signs this bill into law, the maximum years of service credit that can be earned in a volunteer…

Read More

At the end of March, we alerted readers to a bill that would amend Sections 218 and 219 of the New York State General Municipal Law to increase the maximum years of service credit that can be earned by a participant from 40 to 50 years. You can read that post HERE. The bill is S1091A…

Read More

**EDIT** This post was originally made April of 2021. Please note that the information regarding COVID-19 legislation may no longer be relevant due to updates or recissions. A few days after this post Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.99, which extended the State Disaster Emergency through April 25, 2021. This is important for LOSAP only if your…

Read More

There are two bills that have been introduced in the current session regarding LOSAP. One appears to be on track to be passed by both houses in 2021. They both would impact only volunteer firefighter LOSAPs adopted pursuant to Article 11-A, not volunteer ambulance squad plans governed by Articles 11-AA and 11-AAA. The purpose of…

Read More