NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1449

Senate Bill S1449

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Eliminates the maximum age for taking the civil service examination for appointment as a police officer or as an environmental conservation officer

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions 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

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 10, 2025	referred to civil service and pensions

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2025-S1449 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Civil Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §58, Civ Serv L; amd §215, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S4617
2023-2024: S1115

2025-S1449 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Eliminates the maximum age for taking the civil service examination for appointment as a police officer or as an environmental conservation officer.

2025-S1449 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1449

SPONSOR: BORRELLO
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law and the executive law, in relation
to eliminating the maximum age limitation for appointment as a police
officer or as an environmental conservation officer

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill eliminates the maximum age for taking the civil service exam-
ination for appointment as a police officer.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Sections 1-4. This bill amends section 58 of the civil service law and
section 215 of the executive law to provide that municipalities or state
authorities may not restrict the age of police officers, regional state
park police or any police force or police department of any county,
city, town, village, housing authority, transit authority or police
district, including detectives and investigators, as they pertain to

appointment and eligibility requirements.

Section 5. This act shall take effect immediately. JUSTIFICATION:  The
maximum age requirement for police officers to take the civil service
exam was set during a time when the average age life expectancy for
males was forty-eight years of age and for females was fifty-one years
of age. This statistic is now outdated and therefore the law needs to be
changed.  Currently, life expectancy in New York is seventy-seven years
of age.  Due to restrictions in current law, it is an unfortunate fact
that military veterans retiring from the military are excluded from
civil service positions as police officers if they are over the age
limit.  Many are excellent candidates for a law enforcement agency to
hire and could be filling positions and using their expertise and expe-
rience of military service to protect civilians in our state.  Instead,
many returning veterans have trouble finding jobs that use the skills
and training they gained during service. Also, many part time officers
with years of experience in a police department are excluded from being
promoted to a full-time position or a position of supervision simply
because they are not on the "eligible list" of those who were able to
take the civil service exam. These part-time employees often do an exem-
plary job in their positions and have the judgment that only comes from
time served on the job. Yet, they are precluded from filling full-time
positions due to the state's civil service law age restrictions.

Currently New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West
Virginia, Georgia State police Departments and Florida Highway Patrol
have no maximum age limits for civil service exams. this bill dbes not
change the minimum age at which exams may be taken which is twenty-five
years of age. However, it does remove the cap of the age of thirty-five
years.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024: S1115/A2422 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2023: S1115/A2422 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2022: S4617 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2020: A5824 Held for Consideration in Governmental Employees

2019: A5824 Referred to Governmental Employees

2018/2017: 5526 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2016: S3062-A Recommitted to Civil Service and Pensions

2015: 53062 Reported and Committed to Finance

2014: A6016-A Held for Consideration in Governmental Employees

2013: A6016 Referred to Governmental Employees

2012/11: 5838 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S1449 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1449
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  BORRELLO,  HELMING,  OBERACKER  -- read twice and
   ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
   Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil service law and the executive law, in relation
   to  eliminating the maximum age limitation for appointment as a police
   officer or as an environmental conservation officer
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 58 of the civil
 service law, as amended by chapter 244 of the laws of 2013,  is  amended
 to read as follows:
   (a) [he or she] SUCH PERSON is not less than twenty years of age as of
 the  date  of  appointment [nor more than thirty-five years of age as of
 the date when the applicant takes the written examination, provided that
 the maximum age requirement of thirty-five years of age as set forth  in
 this  paragraph  shall not apply to eligible lists finalized pursuant to
 an examination administered prior to May thirty-first, nineteen  hundred
 ninety-nine  or  a  police  officer  in  the department of environmental
 conservation, provided, however, that:
   (i) time spent on military duty or on terminal leave, not exceeding  a
 total  of  six  years, shall be subtracted from the age of any applicant
 who has passed his or her thirty-fifth birthday as provided in  subdivi-
 sion ten-a of section two hundred forty-three of the military law;
   (ii) such maximum age requirement of thirty-five years shall not apply
 to  any  police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of section
 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, who was continuously employed by the
 Buffalo municipal housing authority between January first, two  thousand
 five  and June thirtieth, two thousand five and who takes the next writ-
 ten exam offered after the effective date of this  subparagraph  by  the
 city  of  Buffalo  civil  service  commission for employment as a police

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04483-01-5
 S. 1449                             2

 officer in the city of Buffalo police department, or June thirtieth, two
 thousand six, whichever is later; and
   (iii)  such  maximum  age  requirement  of thirty-five years shall not
 apply to any police officer of any county, town, city or village  police
 force  not  otherwise  provided for in this section if the eligible list
 has been exhausted and there are no other eligible candidates; provided,
 however, the police officer themselves are on the eligible list of  such
 county,  town,  city or village and meet all other requirements of merit
 and fitness set forth by this chapter and do not exceed the maximum  age
 of thirty-nine];
   §  2. Subdivision 2 of section 58 of the civil service law, as amended
 by chapter 244 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   2. The provisions of this section shall not prevent any county,  city,
 town,  village, housing authority, transit authority, police district or
 the department of environmental conservation from setting more  restric-
 tive  requirements  of  eligibility for its police officers[, except the
 maximum age to be a police officer  as  provided  in  paragraph  (a)  of
 subdivision one of this section].
   §  3.  Subdivision  4 of section 58 of the civil service law, as sepa-
 rately amended by chapters 375 and 397 of the laws of  1990,  paragraphs
 (a) and (b) as amended by chapter 561 of the laws of 2015, paragraph (c)
 as amended by chapter 190 of the laws of 2008 and subparagraphs (ii) and
 (iv) of paragraph (c) as amended by section 58 of subpart B of part C of
 chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  (a) [Any person who has received provisional or permanent appoint-
 ment in the competitive class of the civil service as a  police  officer
 of  the  regional  state  park  police, the state university of New York
 police, the department of environmental conservation or any police force
 or police department of any county, city, town, village, housing author-
 ity, transit authority or police district shall be  eligible  to  resign
 from  any  police  force  or police department, and to be appointed as a
 police officer in the same or any other police force or  police  depart-
 ment  without satisfying the age requirements set forth in paragraph (a)
 of subdivision one of this section at the time of such second or  subse-
 quent appointment, provided such second or subsequent appointment occurs
 within thirty days of the date of resignation.
   (b)  Any  person who has received permanent appointment in the compet-
 itive class of the civil service as a police  officer  of  the  regional
 state  park police, the state university of New York police, the depart-
 ment of environmental conservation or any police force or police depart-
 ment of any county, city,  town,  village,  housing  authority,  transit
 authority or police district shall be eligible to resign from any police
 force  or  police department and, subject to such civil service rules as
 may be applicable, shall be  eligible  for  reinstatement  in  the  same
 police force or police department or in any other police force or police
 department  to which he or she was eligible for transfer, without satis-
 fying the age requirements set forth in paragraph (a) of subdivision one
 of this section at the time of such reinstatement, provided  such  rein-
 statement occurs within one year of the date of resignation.
   (c)  (i)] Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby
 finds and declares that it  is  frequently  impracticable  to  ascertain
 fitness  for  the positions of detective and investigator within various
 police or sheriffs departments around the state by means  of  a  compet-
 itive  examination  due  to the unique nature of the duties assigned and
 the intangible personal qualities needed to  perform  such  duties.  The
 legislature  further  finds  that competitive examination has never been
 S. 1449                             3

 employed in many police, correction or sheriffs departments,  to  ascer-
 tain fitness for the positions of detective and investigator within such
 police, correction or sheriffs departments; such fitness has always been
 determined  by  evaluation of the capabilities of an individual (who has
 in any case received permanent appointment to  the  position  of  police
 officer, correction officer of any rank or deputy sheriff) by superviso-
 ry  personnel.  The  legislature  further  finds  that an individual who
 performs in an investigatory position in a manner sufficiently satisfac-
 tory to the appropriate supervisors to hold such  an  assignment  for  a
 period  of eighteen months, has demonstrated fitness for the position of
 detective or investigator within such  police,  correction  or  sheriffs
 department  at least as sufficiently as could be ascertained by means of
 a competitive examination.
   [(ii)] (B) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in  any  juris-
 diction,  other  than a city with a population of one million or more or
 the state department of corrections  and  community  supervision,  which
 does  not administer examinations for designation to detective or inves-
 tigator, any person who has received permanent appointment to the  posi-
 tion of police officer, correction officer of any rank or deputy sheriff
 and is temporarily assigned to perform the duties of detective or inves-
 tigator  shall, whenever such assignment to the duties of a detective or
 investigator exceeds eighteen months, be  permanently  designated  as  a
 detective  or  investigator and receive the compensation ordinarily paid
 to persons in such designation.
   [(iii)] (C) Nothing contained in [subparagraph (ii)] PARAGRAPH (B)  of
 this  [paragraph] SUBDIVISION  shall be construed to limit any jurisdic-
 tion's ability to administer examinations for appointment to  the  posi-
 tions  of  detective  and investigator, provided however that any person
 temporarily assigned to perform the duties of detective or  investigator
 within  the  period  commencing September twenty-third, nineteen hundred
 ninety-three through and including the date upon  which  this  paragraph
 shall  have  become a law and who has not been designated as a detective
 or investigator and who has not been subject to an examination for which
 there is a certified eligible list, shall be permanently designated as a
 detective or investigator whenever such  assignment  to  the  duties  of
 detective or investigator exceeds eighteen months.
   [(iv)]  (D)  Detectives  and  investigators designated since September
 twenty-third, nineteen hundred ninety  and  prior  to  February  twenty-
 fourth, nineteen hundred ninety-five by any state, county, town, village
 or  city  (other than a city with a population of one million or more or
 the state department of corrections and community  supervision)  police,
 correction  or  sheriffs  department, pursuant to the provisions of this
 paragraph in effect during such period, who continue to  serve  in  such
 positions,  shall  retain their detective or investigator status without
 any right to retroactive financial entitlement.
   § 4. Subdivision 3 of section 215 of the executive law, as amended  by
 chapter 478 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  The  sworn members of the New York state police shall be appointed
 by the superintendent and permanent appointees may  be  removed  by  the
 superintendent only after a hearing. No person shall be appointed to the
 New  York  state  police force as a sworn member unless [he or she] SUCH
 PERSON shall be a citizen of the United States, [between  the  ages  of]
 AND AT LEAST twenty-one [and twenty-nine years except that in the super-
 intendent's  discretion,  the maximum age may be extended to thirty-five
 years. Notwithstanding any other provision of  law  or  any  general  or
 special law to the contrary the time spent on military duty, not exceed-
 S. 1449                             4

 ing a total of six years, shall be subtracted from the age of any appli-
 cant  who  has  passed  his or her twenty-ninth birthday, solely for the
 purpose of permitting qualification as to age and for no other  purpose.
 Such  limitations as to age however shall not apply to persons appointed
 to the positions of counsel, first assistant counsel, assistant counsel,
 and assistant deputy superintendent for employee relations  nor  to  any
 person  appointed  to  the  bureau of criminal investigation pursuant to
 section two hundred sixteen of this article nor] YEARS OF AGE. NOR shall
 any person be appointed unless [he or she] SUCH PERSON has  fitness  and
 good  moral  character and shall have passed a physical and mental exam-
 ination based upon standards provided by the rules  and  regulations  of
 the superintendent. Appointments shall be made for a probationary period
 which, in the case of appointees required to attend and complete a basic
 training  program  at  the state police academy, shall include such time
 spent attending the basic school and terminate one year after successful
 completion thereof. All other sworn members shall be subject to a proba-
 tionary period of one year  from  the  date  of  appointment.  Following
 satisfactory completion of the probationary period the member shall be a
 permanent  appointee.  Voluntary  resignation or withdrawal from the New
 York state police during such appointment  shall  be  submitted  to  the
 superintendent  for  approval.    Reasonable  time  shall be required to
 account for all equipment issued or for  debts  or  obligations  to  the
 state  to  be  satisfied.  Resignation  or  withdrawal from the division
 during a time of emergency, so declared by the governor,  shall  not  be
 approved  if  contrary  to the best interest of the state and shall be a
 misdemeanor. No sworn member removed from  the  New  York  state  police
 shall be eligible for reappointment. The superintendent shall make rules
 and  regulations  subject to approval by the governor for the discipline
 and control of the New York state police and  for  the  examination  and
 qualifications of applicants for appointment as members thereto and such
 examinations  shall  be held and conducted by the superintendent subject
 to such rules and  regulations.  The  superintendent  is  authorized  to
 charge  a  fee  of  twenty  dollars as an application fee for any person
 applying to take a competitive examination for the position of  trooper,
 and a fee of five dollars for any competitive examination for a civilian
 position. The superintendent shall promulgate regulations subject to the
 approval  of  the director of the budget, to provide for a waiver of the
 application fee when the fee would cause an unreasonable hardship on the
 applicant and to establish a fee schedule and charge fees for the use of
 state police facilities.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S1449

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Sponsored By

George M. Borrello