Senate Bill S4898

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4898          Revised 2/18/2025

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to including persons
holding positions by appointment or employment in the organized militia
of the state as public employees


 
PURPOSE:

Includes persons holding positions by appointment or employment in the
organized militia of the state as public employees

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 7 of section 201 of the
civil service law to eliminate organized militia of the state as exempt
from the definition of public employee, allowing them to organize and
join current organized labor organizations.

              

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The New York State government, like all governments, has an inherent
duty to protect the safety and well-being of its citizens from all
threats, foreign and domestic. This moral and civic obligation, owed by
elected leaders to their constituents, is fulfilled with the help of the
NYS Organized Militia, consisting of the NYS Army National Guard, the
NYS Air National Guard, the New York Naval Militia, and the New York
Guard. Besides their military duties, these men and women also serve our
state in natural disaster responses and other emergencies, standing
shoulder to shoulder with first responders and law enforcement in every
major crisis New York has faced.

The complicated balance between state and federal authority over New
York's Organized Militia, though necessary, at times leads to duplicated
bureaucracy, mismatch between state and federal priorities, and
confusion about benefits for service members. Despite their important
role in the state's emergency responses, including years-long deploy-
ments following the September 11th Terrorist Attacks and throughout the
COVID Pandemic, they are ineligible for many federal benefits, hampering
enlistment at a time when our forces are already critically undermanned.

One proposed solution is to designate these service members as state
employees during their time on state active duty, which would grant them
access to the same health and pension benefits that other state employ-
ees are eligible for. In addition to adding healthy, working-age employ-
ees into the health insurance pool, this change could bolster the state
pension system due to the influx of new contributions.

In recent years, members of the Texas and Connecticut National Guards
have pursued unionization efforts, although the legal and regulatory
frameworks governing military personnel significantly limit their abili-
ty to do so compared to civilian workers. Yet because of the current
state law members of New York State guard units and Naval Militia are
not even able to start negotiations for forming a union.
The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs ("the DMNA")
is a public employer according to the Taylor Law, and its' employees are
not excepted from Taylor Law protection simply as a result of their
status as employees of the DMNA. Lebrun v. McGuire, 196 Misc.2d 874,
875-876 (Sup. Ct., Albany County, 2003). Instead, as stated above, an
employee does not qualify as a "public employee" if he or she is
employed "in the organized militia of the state." Civil Service Law §
201 (7). The "organized militia" has been defined to include "the New
York army national guard; the New York air national guard; the inactive
national guard; the New York naval militia; the New York guard ... and
such additional forces as may be created by the governor." Military Law
§ 2(1 ).

If this change is passed CSEA could start representing the employees who
are also members of either Army National Guard or Air National Guard.
They currently represent others on bases who do exact same roles - Secu-
rity Forces and Firemen.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Legislation

 
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

N/A

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.