Petition may change Governor’s mind

Assemblyman Brian Curran is working to override Governor Andrew Cuomo’s veto of a veterans benefit bill that would provide military veterans who are enrolled in the public retirement system the option to buy pension credits for previous service.

There are different sections of the law that allow veterans to use prior military service to add to a state pension.

This military service credit buyback bill amends current statutes and permits state employees who were combat veterans of wars that are not currently covered (including Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan), wartime veterans of the only wartime time period not yet fully covered (Gulf War: Aug. 2, 1990 thru the present), and the excluded post-1975 Cold War veterans to buy back up to three years of their active and honorable service. All military veterans working for the federal government are eligible to ‘buy back’ their honorable military years, regardless of specific date, location, conflicts, theater of war, etc. This bill properly aligns New York State with the federal practice.

Curran attributed the sudden about-face by the governor’s office to the over 2,100 people who have thus far signed his petition calling for an override of the veto. A link to the petition is here: http://bit.ly/OverrideGov-SupportOurVets.

Gov. Cuomo vetoed the assembly democrats’ previous versions of this legislation before Veterans Day last year because they lacked a way to pay for the program. This year’s bill included a payment mechanism but was still vetoed.

Curran, the ranking member on the Assembly Veterans’ Affairs Committee said, “There is no question that this is still a very urgent matter for me and many of our servicemen and women and veterans. Our petition, however, is still very active, and we still need as many signatures as possible.”