New laws support firefighters, create equity in benefits

December 16, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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STATEWIDE — Three bills supporting firefighters that State Senator Andrew Gounardes sponsored are now law. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday signed a legislation package that expand disability benefits, strengthen insurance coverage and create pension parity. S9205 addresses the increase of thyroid cancer in firefighters in recent years. While thyroid cancer is covered under the World Trade Center 9/11 Cancer Bill, the new law ensures that all firefighters in the state receive the coverage. S8649 extends lifetime COBRA coverage to the surviving spouses of fire protection inspectors, thus closing a further gap in coverage by including fire protection inspectors in addition to other uniformed titles such as firefighter and EMT. It treats all FDNY uniformed members with the same level of dignity and respect by ensuring all surviving spouses are afforded equal levels of health care coverage. And S8950 “relates to allowing certain members of the New York city fire department pension fund to receive a membership date in such a fund attributable to service in the titles of police cadet program and police cadet program II in the New York city police department cadet program.” It corrects an issue in which first-responders serving in the same Cade Corps prior to 2012 were wrongfully denied the opportunity to join NYCERS and who, as a result, were placed in a later tier (Tier 3) with a reduced retirement benefit.

“Firefighters are first responders that play a literal life-and-death role in keeping New Yorkers safe,” said Gounardes. “These bills ensure we make the same commitment to firefighters that they make to all of us.”

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