NY State Senate Bill 2021-S2245

Senate Bill S2245

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Provides tax credit to certain volunteer firefighters, volunteer ambulance workers and volunteer emergency medical personnel

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Investigations And Government Operations Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to investigations and government operations
Jan 20, 2021	referred to investigations and government operations

co-Sponsors

2021-S2245 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Investigations And Government Operations
Law Section:: Tax Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §606, Tax L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S7182
2017-2018: S2907
2019-2020: S1222

2021-S2245 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides tax credit to certain volunteer firefighters, volunteer ambulance workers and volunteer emergency medical service personnel of up to one thousand one hundred dollars for qualifying service; defines "qualifying service".

2021-S2245 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S2245

SPONSOR: RITCHIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the tax law, in relation to providing tax credits to
volunteer firefighters, volunteer ambulance workers and volunteer emer-
gency medical personnel under certain circumstances

 
PURPOSE:

To provide a graduated tax credit to certain volunteer firefighters,
volunteer ambulance workers, volunteer hazardous material workers and
volunteer emergency medical personnel where the qualifying service level
is met

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends § 606 of the tax law by adding a new subsection provid-
ing the volunteer firefighters' volunteer ambulance workers', volunteer
hazardous materials workers' and volunteer emergency medical service

personnel credit. The credit is based on years of qualifying service,
which is also defined in this section.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Section 606 of the Tax Law, provides state credits against the personal
income tax.  Subdivision (e-1) provides the volunteer firefighters' and
ambulance workers' credit equal to $200. Eligibility for the credit
requires active service for the entire taxable year for which the credit
is sought.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

One of the greatest difficulties confronting volunteer services today is
recruitment and retention. Recruitment and retention is made particular-
ly difficult due to the cost of living around the state. In an effort to
mitigate the chilling effect cost of living has on the recruitment and
retention of volunteer services this legislation establishes a graduated
credit on New York State income tax for all active volunteer firefight-
ers, volunteer ambulance workers, volunteer hazardous materials workers
and volunteer emergency medical service personnel.

In order to receive the credit, the volunteer responder must be
"active," which is defined by the bill as attendance at more than 10% of
the company's activities per year. This is a graduated program that
increases the credit annually based on years of consecutive service, but
is only granted if the volunteer is "active" in each year. Thus, if
volunteer misses a year, the credit would return to the original amount,
provided the volunteer does not have a medical excuse for missing a
year. The program is not retroactive. The credit begins at $200 for one
year of qualifying service, and increases by $100 annually until maxi-
mizing at $1,000 for ten or more years of consecutive qualifying
service.

This credit program is practical and incentivizes volunteer responder
service. The bill also extends the credit's eligibility to volunteer
emergency medical personnel, in addition to volunteer firefighters and
volunteer ambulance workers. It is especially critical for rural commu-
nities and may make the difference in keeping companies volunteer rather
than going to salary.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-2020: S.1222

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2021-S2245 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2245
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
   ment Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to  providing  tax  credits  to
   volunteer  firefighters,  volunteer  ambulance  workers  and volunteer
   emergency medical personnel under certain circumstances
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  606  of  the  tax law is amended by adding a new
 subsection (h-1) to read as follows:
   (H-1) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS', VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE WORKERS' AND VOLUN-
 TEER EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE PERSONNEL  CREDIT.    FOR  TAXABLE  YEARS
 BEGINNING ON AND AFTER JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-TWO, A CREDIT,
 IN THE AMOUNTS OF:
   (1) TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR ONE YEAR OF QUALIFYING SERVICE;
   (2)  THREE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  FOR  TWO YEARS OF CONSECUTIVE QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (3) FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THREE  YEARS  OF  CONSECUTIVE  QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (4)  FIVE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  FOR  FOUR YEARS OF CONSECUTIVE QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (5) SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS  FOR  FIVE  YEARS  OF  CONSECUTIVE  QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (6)  SEVEN  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  FOR  SIX YEARS OF CONSECUTIVE QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (7) EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR SEVEN YEARS  OF  CONSECUTIVE  QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (8)  NINE  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  FOR EIGHT YEARS OF CONSECUTIVE QUALIFYING
 SERVICE;
   (9) ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR  NINE  YEARS  OF  CONSECUTIVE  QUALIFYING
 SERVICE; OR
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD05515-01-1

 S. 2245                             2
 
   (10) ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR TEN OR MORE YEARS OF CONSEC-
 UTIVE QUALIFYING SERVICE;
 SHALL  BE  ALLOWED AGAINST THE TAX IMPOSED BY SECTION SIX HUNDRED ONE OF
 THIS PART, TO EACH RESIDENT OF THE STATE WHO SERVES AS A VOLUNTEER FIRE-
 FIGHTER AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION THREE OF THE  VOLUNTEER
 FIREFIGHTERS'  BENEFIT LAW OR A VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE WORKER AS DEFINED IN
 SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION THREE OF  THE  VOLUNTEER  AMBULANCE  WORKERS'
 BENEFIT  LAW  OR  AS  A MEMBER OF A VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
 PERSONNEL SQUAD. IF A VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT MEMBER HAS A YEAR  WHERE  THE
 QUALIFYING  SERVICE  LEVEL  IS NOT MET, THEN HE OR SHE SHALL RECEIVE THE
 CREDIT PROVIDED FOR IN PARAGRAPH ONE OF THIS SUBSECTION  THE  NEXT  TIME
 THEY HAVE A QUALIFYING SERVICE YEAR.
   FOR  THE  PURPOSES  OF THIS SUBSECTION "QUALIFYING SERVICE" SHALL MEAN
 SERVICE WHERE SUCH PERSON HAS BEEN A MEMBER  IN  GOOD  STANDING  WITH  A
 VOLUNTEER  DEPARTMENT  FOR  A  MINIMUM  OF  ONE  YEAR, HAS COMPLETED ALL
 REQUIRED TRAINING COURSES AS REQUIRED BY THE STATE OF NEW  YORK  AND  IS
 CERTIFIED  BY THE CHIEF EMERGENCY SERVICE COORDINATOR OF THE COUNTY THAT
 THE VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT SERVES TO HAVE ATTENDED AT LEAST FORTY  PERCENT
 OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT THAT HE OR SHE IS A MEMBER
 OF.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S2245

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Patty Ritchie