ALBANY– State Senator Michelle Hinchey is among the lawmakers leading the charge to include pension parity for 1,100 state police officers who are members of the PBA of New York State. These officers serve as members of the New York State University (SUNY) Police, the New York State Environmental Conservation Police, the New York State Park Police, and the New York State Forest Rangers and have different retirement requirements than other police officers in the state.
For three consecutive years, the state legislature has passed pension parity legislation for these officers with near-unanimous bipartisan support. Each year the Governor, first Cuomo, then Hochul, has vetoed the legislation citing the need to include it as part of the state budget. This year, the lawmakers and the PBA of NYS are calling on the legislature to include it in their one-house budget bills to initiate budget negotiations on this issue.
Governor Hochul’s 2023 budget proposal omitted pension parity for these officers, but supporters remain hopeful an agreement can be reached. These state law enforcement officers are working under a 25-year retirement plan, as compared to the 20-year retirement plan that applies to other state officers. Advocates indicate the change will help diversify the workforce and ultimately save the state money by reducing turnover, as significant resources are utilized to train new officers who often leave for similar positions that feature a 20-year retirement provision.
James McCartney, President of the PBA of NYS, said, “We’re losing highly qualified, experienced, and diverse officers with unique skill sets to agencies that offer a superior retirement plan for their officers. This is unsustainable, has cost the state millions of dollars, and leaves the public at risk. If we want to protect our state university campuses, state parks, state forests, and our precious natural resources we must ensure that we recruit and retain the highest quality community police officers in the nation.”
Senator Michelle Hinchey represents a district with a number of state forests, parks, and higher educational institutions. “I fully support including the 20-year retirement bill. I think we need to, and we will be fighting for that,” said Hinchey.
Both houses of the state legislature are currently preparing their one-house budget bills in anticipation of hammering out a final budget deal with Governor Hochul before the April 1st deadline.
