The Mandate: In 2007, state legislation was enacted requiring municipalities (outside NYC) to provide their paid and volunteer firefighters, who engage in structural firefighting, with a very specific type of safety rope, along with training in its proper use (Chapter 433 of the Laws of 2007).

The Mandate: Pursuant to the provisions of Civil Service Law § 58 (1-c), a city or village with a police department serving a population of 150,000 or less and having more than four  full-time police officers, must maintain the office of chief of police. While NYCOM recognizes the important role that police chiefs play in ensuring the protection of their residents in many communities, this mandate undermines the judgment of elected local officials as to how a municipal police department should be structured.  Furthermore, it fails to recognize that municipalities adopt a variety of different approaches to police management depending upon the size and needs of the community, as well as the availability of municipal resources to fund such needs.

The Mandate: Paid municipal firefighters and police officers are potentially eligible for generous municipal disability benefits if an injury or illness is incurred in the performance of duty under General Municipal Law § 207-a or § 207-c, respectively, and the injured individual is unable to report for work.  In these instances, such individual is entitled to all necessary medical treatment and receipt of a municipal disability benefit equal to the full amount of regular salary or wages. These payments are required to be made until the individual recovers, is granted a disability retirement or reaches the mandatory retirement age.