Establishes a credit for military spouses and surviving spouses of veterans for competitive examinations whether for original appointment or promotion.
Summary
This bill amends New York’s civil service law to expand exam score credits in competitive civil service examinations to two additional groups: military spouses and surviving spouses of certain service members. Under the bill, a “military spouse” is the spouse of a veteran or non-disabled veteran, and a “surviving spouse” is the spouse of a member of the U.S. armed forces who died from a cause attributed to military service.
The bill would give military spouses three additional points on competitive examinations for original appointment and one and one-half points for promotion exams. It would give surviving spouses six additional points for both original appointment and promotion exams. These credits would be added to the existing veterans’ preference system, which already provides additional points to disabled and non-disabled veterans on eligible lists for civil service jobs.
Impact
The bill would amend section 85 of the civil service law, changing how final earned ratings are calculated on eligible lists for competitive civil service examinations. It expands the state’s veterans’ preference framework beyond veterans themselves to include spouses, affecting hiring and promotion outcomes in public employment where competitive exams are used. The practical effect would be to improve the ranking of eligible military and surviving spouses on civil service lists, potentially increasing their access to state and local government jobs and promotions.
Sentiment
The available context suggests a generally supportive and pro-veteran-family sentiment around the bill, as reflected by its purpose of extending employment preference benefits to military spouses and surviving spouses. There are no recorded committee transcripts or votes in the provided material, so no formal opposition or recorded debate is available. The bill’s framing indicates a policy goal of recognizing service-related sacrifice and supporting military families in public employment.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided record because there are no committee transcripts or vote tallies. Potential areas of debate, based on the bill’s structure, could include whether extending points to spouses is consistent with existing civil service merit principles, how to define eligible spouses, and whether the added preferences should differ between original appointment and promotion. However, those issues are not expressly raised in the supplied materials.
Same As
Establishes a credit for military spouses and surviving spouses of veterans for competitive examinations whether for original appointment or promotion.
Establishes a credit for military spouses and surviving spouses of veterans for competitive examinations whether for original appointment or promotion.
Provides for a preference for activated members of the New York army national guard or the New York air national guard serving during declared state disaster emergencies for competitive examinations for original appointment or promotion.
Provides for a preference for activated members of the New York army national guard or the New York air national guard serving during declared state disaster emergencies for competitive examinations for original appointment or promotion.