Dear COBA Members,

I am writing this email to share some exciting news with you all.

Over the last few months, myself, 1st VP Dennis Maurus and our Lobbyist Sean Riordan have been diligently working in Albany on legislation that will directly affect EVERY NYS Retirement Tier for COBA members. As we all know, under our NYS Retirement Special Plan 89g, every COBA member will receive 50% of their Final Average Salary (FAS) pension after completing 25 years of service regardless of their age and Tier status (Tiers 4, 5 and 6).

Currently, Tier 4 members have an added incentive of receiving 60% FAS pension after completing 30 years of service and being at least 55 years of age. This is commonly referred to as the “30 and 55”.

Tier 5 members must reach 62 years of age (along with the applicable years of service) in order to receive any added percentage beyond the 50% FAS after 25 years.

Tier 6 members must reach 63 years of age (along with the applicable years of service) in order to receive any added percentage beyond the 50% FAS after 25 years.

To put it in plain language, Tier 5 and Tier 6 COBA members would need to complete 30 years of service and be at least 62 and 63 respectfully to see ANY percentage increase above the 50% FAS pension.

An example would be a Tier 6 member who starts this job at 23 years old would need to complete 40 years of service to bring them to their 63rd birthday, in order to receive anything higher than 50% FAS pension.

In 2025, COBA presented a bill to NYS Legislature and Nassau County that would amend Special Plan 89g and allow ALL COBA members the ability to receive a 60% Final Average Salary Pension after completing 30 years of service REGARDLESS of their age or Tier status.

To put the process in perspective for everyone. Presenting a Bill in New York State is a long and multi-step process:

1. Submit the proposed bill to the NYS Assembly and Senate for a Bill Number(s), from there, the Sponsor (elected member of NYS Assembly and Senate) of the Bill will submit a cost analysis(Fiscal Note) to the NYS Retirement System.

2. Receive the approval from the County Executive and County Legislature to incur the past service cost and added financial cost going forward. (Home Rule)

3. Pass the NYS Assembly and Senate before close of session on June 12, 2025.

4. Finally, the bill is sent to Governor Hochul to sign and enter in as law by December 31, 2025

Upon submitting this bill to NYS, a cost evaluation was computed. Then COBA had to present the bill and cost to County Executive Blakeman for his approval and ultimately voted on by the County Legislature for a “Home Rule”. Meaning the County Executive and County Legislature both agree to incur the added financial cost of the bill.

The cost to Nassau County for COBA’s 30 year, 60% FAS with no age requirement would be an upfront cost to Nassau County of $5.5 MILLION dollars and an annual INCREASE of around a half a million dollars going forward each year in additional costs to the County.

I met with County Executive Bruce Blakeman and proposed this Bill along with the added final cost and explained the reasoning behind it. He approved our request and forwarded the Bill to the Nassau County Legislature, who UNANIMOUSLY voted to approve this “Home Rule” for ALL Nassau County Correction Officers.

The Bill was then sent up to both the NYS Senate and Assembly, both overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats to be voted on. Over the last month or so, Dennis and I have making frequent trips to Albany and have been sitting down and speaking with Democratic leadership in both the Assembly and Senate, explaining the importance of this bill to Nassau County Correction Officers.

I am happy to report, on June 6, 2025 our bill was passed by the NYS Assembly with a vote of 140-0 and on June 11, 2025 at 4:35pm the NYS Senate approved our bill 59-0 and now has been sent to Governor Hochul for her approval.

Now it is a waiting game, as per NYS law, the Governor has until midnight on December 31, 2025 to sign this bill into effect.

If you have any questions regarding this Bill or the process, please feel free to reach out to either myself or VP Maurus.