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1st Vice President... Jeffrey S. Gross FOUR MORE YEARS The membership has spoken; the entire Executive Board has been re-elected to represent the union for another term. The whole Board was re-elected without opposition, which speaks volumes for the trust the membership has in us. Believe me, it’s not taken lightly. This Board works very hard and takes few days off while we pursue a fair contract. Thank you for your trust in the Board, we will continue to fight for the benefits we deserve. The following is provided by the New York State Association of PBA’s; these are the Budget Highlights for 2019-2020. I am a proud member of the legislative committee and our President, John Wighaus was just appointed to as the Sergeant at Arms. Congratulations John! This is a big deal for our union. MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENTS Governor Cuomo proposed eliminating reimbursement for certain Medicare part B payments to all public employee retirees in the New York State Health Insurance Plan (NYSHIP) and provides a sliding scale of health insurance contributions for civilian employees of the state based on years employed with the state, causing certain members to have higher premiums. This would have negatively affected our state employee members, as well as set a bad precedent for all of us. The committee, along with other groups, was successful in getting these proposals removed from the budget! STRENGTHENING UNIONS The budget contained language that essentially prohibits an employer from releasing the personal information such as home addresses, private phone numbers, etc., of our members. Further, unions are now allowed access to all newly hired members during scheduled work hours for recruitment and to strengthen membership within our union ranks. BINDING ARBITRATION The statutory right to utilize binding arbitration during collective bargaining, which has often been our savior in protecting bargaining rights, has been extended for five years. The governor had proposed the five year extension, but there was a counter-proposal to extend this benefit for just three years. Our committee lobbied heavily and successfully in the final days to compel the legislature to agree to the Governor’s original budget proposal. BAIL REFORM By far the biggest issue we faced this session was the elimination of cash bail as we know it. The committee, in conjunction with the Police Conference of New York (PCNY), fought back hard in an attempt to mitigate the total elimination of cash bail. On January 29, 2019, we submitted Joint Testimony (which you can view on the NEWS section of our website) to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Public Protection General Government in support of our position opposing elimination of cash bail. After several more weeks of pushing back, we had some success, and, while we are not pleased with what was included in the final budget and which falls far short from what we believe it should be, a judge can still implement cash bail for all violent felony offenses as well as numerous “non-violent” felony offenses, or may impose ROR, non-monetary bail, or remand. However, “principals” facing misdemeanor and certain “non-violent” felony charges will only be released ROR, or with non-monetary bail conditions. Whether police officers will be issuing Appearance Tickets at the scene or in the station house is under review. We are in the process of obtaining legal opinions and will update the membership on this issue at a later date. While a total elimination of the cash bail system was “on the table”, the NYSAP Legislative Committee lobbied aggressively against that proposal. The new pretrial arraignment system only allows cash bail for violent felonies and certain non-violent felonies. They are now defined as qualifying offenses. Qualifying offenses for ROR, non-monetary bail, cash bail or remand are • PL 70.20 – violent felony offenses (other than burglary and robbery 2nd degrees) • PL 215.15 – crime of witness intimidation • PL 215.11,215.12, and 215.13 – crime of witness tampering • PL class A felony other than article 220 (Except pl 220.77 Major drug trafficking offense) • certain sex crimes/incest crimes • Pl105.15 – crime of conspiracy to commit a class A homicide felony • Pl 490 (except 490.20) – crime of terrorism • PL 470.24,470.23 – money laundering in support of terrorism. • Certain Criminal contempt crimes and criminal contempt crimes involving orders of protection • PL 263.30 – facilitating a sexual performance by a child with a controlled substance or alcohol • PL 263.05 – use of a child ion a sexual performance • PL120.70 – luring a child APPEARANCE TICKETS Another issue contained in the final budget which we strongly opposed is that police officers will be required to issue appearance tickets instead of arrest for all petty offenses, misdemeanors and most class E felonies, unless the following exceptions apply: 5
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