BAINBRIDGE – Assemblyman Clifford W. Crouch (R-Bainbridge) announced that an agreement has been reached between Gov. Andrew Cuomo, legislative leaders and sponsors of the recently-vetoed veterans’ bill to expand the scope of veterans who can receive pension credits for military service.
Crouch said that this is good news, but will closely monitor the situation to make sure the governor follows through on his word to the nation’s service men and women.
“This is good news any way that you look at it. It’s certainly better news and a better situation from where we were, which was having no consideration at all for some of our veterans,” said Crouch, referring to the governor’s veto of the veterans’ buy back legislation. “This agreement is a good start but I remain cautious because we have been down this road before with the governor. The legislature now just has to make sure he follows through on his word. I think everyone would agree that we should be doing everything that we can to give back to our military men and women for serving our nation, regardless of when or how they served. In the coming weeks, I will closely monitor the new bill and budget negotiations to make sure our veterans are not forgotten.”
Currently, the New York State Military Service Credit Law only permits active public employees who served in the military during certain periods, in some selected countries, or who received selected medals to purchase up to three years of credit for their military service. Assembly Bill 8174-A would have extended the credit to all honorably-discharged veterans.
According to a press release by the governor’s office, legislative leaders have agreed to advance legislation during the next state budget to provide up to three years of additional public pension credit for an expanded pool of eligible state and local employees who served in the military.
Gov. Cuomo also signed legislation last week to provide additional benefits to veterans throughout the state.