On August 19, 2017, this site noted that we are waiting on Governor Cuomo to sign into law a bill passed by the State Senate and Assembly to raise the amount of disability payments from $400 to $600 for volunteer firefighters and ambulance corps members who are permanently injured while on the job.
We are still waiting. It isn’t clear why the Governor is withholding his signature on this seemingly non-controversial law.
Volunteer firefighters and ambulance corps members who are injured in the line of duty are eligible under State law to receive workers’ compensation for their injuries. The State raised the benefit level for volunteers with permanent total disabilities to $400 a week in 1998 regardless of their date of injury. However, because inflationary forces have made it increasingly difficult to live on a fixed income, the $200 cost-of-living adjustment for all disabled volunteers is very important.
As FASNY has pointed out in the written materials for its Legislative Outreach Program, “adequately compensating the men and women, who sacrifice their safety and their time to protect the safety of others, for their injuries incurred in the line of duty is the least we, as a State, can do to thank them for their selfless service.”
The bill as passed by both legislative branches is accessible here. FASNY has asked members to write to the Governor. My department, the Bedford Village Fire Department, at its meeting this Monday will consider approval of a letter to the Governor urging him to sign. Other departments, and individuals, should adapt that letter and send it to the Governor. A copy of a Draft Letter to Gov. Cuomo is attached.
