So far this year, the PBA’s lobbying efforts in Albany have produced six laws of special interest and benefit to New York City police officers and have helped get 12 more bills passed by both houses of the State Legislature with excellent to fair chances of being signed into law by Governor Spitzer.

The most significant of those enacted is a bill, sponsored by Marty Golden in the Assembly and Sheldon Silver in the Senate, that provides a 9/11-related accidental death benefit. This law improves and clarifies an earlier version in “entitling an accidental death benefit to beneficiaries” of police officers and other uniformed personnel and first-responders at the World Trade Center “who, in the performance and discharge of duty, were exposed to toxic substances in the aftermath of the terrorist attack...”

Another law, sponsored by Frank Padavan in the Senate and Margaret Markey in the Assembly, increases certain special accidental death benefits for surviving spouses and children of certain police and fire personnel.

Also enacted were laws that keep previous lobbying successes in place — one that extends the effectiveness of provisions of the civil service law relating to injunctive relief in improper practice cases; another that extends the effectiveness of provisions establishing dispute resolution during collective-bargaining negotiations; another that extends the right of public employee organizations to agency-shop-fee salary deductions; and yet another that extends certain temporary benefits and supplementation programs.

Other bills, which passed both houses and await the governor’s signature:

• Relate to the treatment of members’ contributions for the purchase of credit for previous service or military service.

• Establish it shall be an improper public employer practice to fail to provide representation by a representative of the employee organization.

• Provide that certain accidental death benefits may be paid to dependent parents of deceased members of police and fire retirement system.

• Clarify presumptions pertaining to heart-related disabilities or deaths suffered by members of certain retirement systems.

• Provide that military service credit granted to members of retirement systems may increase retirement benefits beyond a benefit limitation.

• Allow retired members of the New York City police pension fund to collect their pensions while providing teaching service.

• Require use of an independent hearing officer for disciplinary hearings.

• Permit the children of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty to gain credits in the geographical area where their parent perished.

• Provide disability benefits to persons who repaired, cleaned or rehabilitated vehicles or equipment owned by New York City contaminated by 9/11 terrorist attack.

• Relate to the negotiability of discipline in a collective bargaining agreement.

• Relate to the presumptive eligibility of certain employees for an accidental disability for injury or illness directly related to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

• Require the testing of certain criminal defendants for human immunodeficiency virus.