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Home/Bills/A 1623New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Assembly BillIntroduced

A 1623: Relates to certain veterans; entitles them to 10 additional competitive civil service exam points if they are disabled; entitles them to 5 additional competitive civil service exam points if they are non-disabled and if they received certain medals or ribbons.

New York · Assembly · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified January 8, 2026

What A 1623 does, verified January 8, 2026

The bill aims to amend the civil service law to provide additional points to veterans in competitive examinations for original appointment and promotion. Disabled veterans are entitled to receive ten points additional credit in competitive examinations for original appointment and five points additional credit in competitive examinations for promotion. The definition of a disabled veteran is expanded to include veterans with disabilities rated at ten percent or more, regardless of when they were examined by a medical officer. The bill also clarifies the definition of a non-disabled veteran and a veteran with a qualifying condition. The amendments to the civil service law take effect immediately.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to veterans' affairs (2026-01-07)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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Coauthors
Jeffrey DinowitzChantel JacksonAngelo Santabarbara
Recent actions2 total · showing 2
Jan. 07, 2026referred to veterans' affairs
Jan. 10, 2025referred to veterans' affairs
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 10, 2025 · 904 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1623 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS, DINOWITZ, JACKSON, SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to veterans and competitive civil service exam points The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 85 of the civil 2 service law, as separately amended by section 37 of part PP of chapter 3 56 and chapter 669 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows: 4 (a) The terms "veteran" and "non-disabled veteran" mean: (1) a member 5 of the armed forces of the United States who was honorably discharged or 6 released under honorable circumstances from such service including (i) 7 having a qualifying condition as defined in section one of the veterans' 8 services law, and receiving a discharge other than bad conduct or 9 dishonorable from such service, or (ii) being a discharged LGBT veteran, 10 as defined in section one of the veterans' services law, and receiving a 11 discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such service, who 12 is a citizen of the United States or a noncitizen lawfully admitted for 13 permanent residence in the United States and who is a resident of the 14 state of New York at the time of application for appointment or 15 promotion or at the time of retention, as the case may be; or 16 (2) a member of the armed forces of the United States who was honor- 17 ably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from such 18 service, who is a citizen of the United States or a noncitizen lawfully 19 admitted for permanent residence in the United States, who is a resident 20 of the state of New York at the time of application for appointment or 21 promotion or at the time of retention, as the case may be, and who was 22 awarded either a: (i) Combat Action Ribbon, (ii) Combat Infantryman 23 Badge, (iii) Combat Medical Badge, (iv) Combat Action Badge, (v) Combat 24 Recognition Ribbon, or (vi) Air Force Combat Action medal. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02440-01-5 

 A. 1623 2 1 § 2. Subparagraph 1 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 85 2 of the civil service law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, 3 is amended to read as follows: 4 (1) Disabled veterans shall be entitled to receive ten points addi- 5 tional credit in a competitive examination for original appointment and 6 five points additional credit in a competitive examination for 7 promotion, and 8 § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 85 of the civil service 9 law, as amended by chapter 608 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read 10 as follows: 11 (b) The term "disabled veteran" means a veteran who is certified by 12 the United States veterans' administration or a military department as 13 entitled to receive disability payments upon the certification of such 14 veterans' administration or a military department for a disability 15 incurred by [him or her] such veteran in the course of [his or her] such 16 veteran's service and in existence at the time of application for 17 appointment or promotion or at the time of retention, as the case may be 18 and who was awarded either a: (i) Combat Action Ribbon, (ii) Combat 19 Infantryman Badge, (iii) Combat Medical Badge, (iv) Combat Action Badge, 20 (v) Combat Recognition Ribbon, or (vi) Air Force Combat Action medal. 21 Such disability shall be deemed to be in existence at the time of appli- 22 cation for appointment or promotion or at the time of retention, as the 23 case may be, if the certificate of such veterans' administration shall 24 state affirmatively that such veteran has been examined by a medical 25 officer of such veterans' administration on a date within one year of 26 either the date of filing application for competitive examination for 27 original appointment or promotion or the date of the establishment of 28 the resulting eligible list or within one year of the time of retention, 29 as the case may be; that at the time of such examination the disability 30 described in such certificate was found to exist; and that such disabil- 31 ity is rated at ten per centum or more. Such disability shall also be 32 deemed to be in existence at such time if the certificate of such veter- 33 ans' administration shall state affirmatively that a permanent stabi- 34 lized condition of disability exists to an extent of ten per centum or 35 more, notwithstanding the fact that such veteran has not been examined 36 by a medical officer of such veterans' administration within one year of 37 either the time of application for appointment or promotion or the date 38 of filing application for competitive examination for original appoint- 39 ment or promotion, or within one year of the time of retention, as the 40 case may be. 41 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Text of A 1623 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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