§ 440. Application. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, but
subject to the provisions of subdivisions c and d of this section, the
provisions and limitations of this article shall apply, as may be
appropriate, to all members who join or rejoin a public retirement
system of the state or of a municipality thereof, and to all employees
who would be eligible to join such a retirement system but in lieu
thereof elected an optional retirement program to which their employers
are thereby required to contribute, on or after July first, nineteen
hundred seventy-three, but prior to July first, nineteen hundred
seventy-six. In the event that there is a conflict between the
provisions of this article and the provisions of any other law or code,
the provisions of this article shall govern.

b. The provisions of this article shall not be construed to extend
coverage to an employee not otherwise eligible for membership in a
retirement system or to provide an increase in benefits to a member of a
retirement system other than as provided by section four hundred
forty-five-d, or section four hundred forty-five-f, or section four
hundred forty-five-h or section four hundred forty-eight of this
article.

c. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions and
limitations of this article shall apply, as may be appropriate, to all
police officers and firefighters who last joined a public retirement
system of the state or a municipality thereof, on or after July first,
nineteen hundred seventy-six, but prior to July first, two thousand
nine, and all employees subject to the provisions of article twenty-two
of this chapter; provided, however, that in the case of a conflict
between the provisions of this article and article twenty-two of this
chapter, the provisions of article twenty-two shall be controlling.

d. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision a of this section,
members who were employed by the New York city board of education and
assigned during the first fifteen days of the school term to a position
which is expected to be vacant for that term and who were employed in
one of the three school years immediately prior to July first, nineteen
hundred seventy-three in a position which did not entitle them to apply
for membership in a public retirement system and who first joined the
New York city teachers' retirement system subsequent to June thirtieth,
nineteen hundred seventy-three but prior to June thirtieth, nineteen
hundred seventy-six shall have all the rights, benefits and privileges
applicable to employees who were members of such system on June
thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-three provided they make written
application, duly executed and filed with the New York city teachers'
retirement board prior to July first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine.

d-1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision a of this section,
members who were employed by the New York city board of education as
regular substitute teachers when assigned as such and members who were
employed by the New York city board of education and assigned during the
school year to a position which was expected to be vacant for that
school year, such members having been employed for a period of not less
than twenty school days during such school year in a position which did
not entitle them to apply for membership in a public retirement system
and who first joined the New York city teachers' retirement system or
the New York state teachers' retirement system prior to June thirtieth,
nineteen hundred seventy-six shall have all the rights, benefits and
privileges to which they would have been entitled had their current
membership begun on the date their original service commenced, provided
they make written application, duly executed and filed with the
retirement system in which they are members on or before June thirtieth,
two thousand three.

e. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
provisions and limitations of this article shall apply, as may be
appropriate, to all investigator members of the New York city employees'
retirement system who last joined such retirement system on or after
July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six, and prior to the effective
date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand twelve which amended
this subdivision.