NYC Retired Disabled Paraprofessionals Have Pathway Forward To Legislation To Restore Their Moderate Pensions

Let me start by reframing the premise:

The procedure: There is no application process for a special session, and no one outside government can initiate one; not the UFT, not TRS, not the retiree groups. There are only two doors in:

1. The Legislature returns on its own. This is the common path, and it is simpler than most people assume. The Legislature never formally adjourns for the year; the session calendar ends in June, but both houses remain technically in session. Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins can call their members back to Albany any time they choose; no Governor’s proclamation required. This is how the December 2022 return happened. In this scenario, the Governor’s role comes at the end: a Message of Necessity to waive the constitutional three-day aging period so a newly introduced bill can pass the same day, and then her signature.

2. The Governor convenes an extraordinary session by proclamation under Article IV, Section 3 of the State Constitution, the route [we previously] described. She used it in 2022 after the Bruen decision. The catch: in an extraordinary session, lawmakers can only act on subjects the Governor puts before them, which is why leaders generally prefer door number one.

So the answer to “who initiates it” is: three people: Heastie, Stewart-Cousins, and Hochul. Everyone else operates in the influence lane. TRS cannot convene anything; it is executing a Law Department opinion. The UFT is the realistic engine, because it is the only player with a standing Albany legislative operation and the relationships to get a bill drafted, sponsored, and moved. The retiree groups and your reporting are the pressure that makes the three deciders care.

What the 183 retirees could do:

1. Demand a bill, not just a session. This is the gap. No session of any kind can act on a bill that does not exist, and as far as I can find, no bill amending RSSL 605 for the paraprofessionals has been introduced. Pension bills also require a fiscal note from the City’s Office of the Actuary before they can move. The ask to the UFT and to sponsors should be: where are the drafted bill and the fiscal note? For 183 people, the cost is modest, and that is their strongest argument.

2. Aim the letters and calls at the deciders, not only at rank-and-file members: the Speaker’s office, the Majority Leader’s office, and the Governor’s counsel and legislative affairs offices. Their own legislators, especially the Staten Island delegation, and Senator Jackson, who chairs Civil Service and Pensions, should be asked to request that leadership add this to any December agenda. Marianne Pizzitola’s organization is already the operational hub on the retiree side, the highest-value move now is pointing that machinery at the three deciders and at the demand for a drafted bill.

3. Lock in city non-opposition. A letter from the Comptroller, the Mayor’s office, and the TRS board stating they support the amendment removes the only institutional objection. The Mayor has said the city is watching; the ask is to convert watching into a support memo.

4. Keep the human stories coming. Your piece with Maria, Terri, Kathy and the others is the mechanism. A Governor’s office prioritizes 183 people in December because of faces and rent-regulated apartments, not because of statutory language.

Also, December 31 is urgent but not necessarily. The new session convenes in early January, and pension fixes are routinely written retroactively, a bill passed in January could restore the two-thirds calculation back to January 1 and unwind the cuts. The real cost of missing December is months of reduced checks for people who cannot absorb them, and the risk of losing momentum once budget season swallows Albany’s attention.

So the retired paras have some work ahead of them, in terms of making calls and making sure their leaders in government know they need help.  The louder the noise, the quicker the fix.  Protests might be helpful too, once these leaders have been alerted to the monumental nature of this issue.  These paras will be unable to pay their rent or other bills, and they face eviction and poverty if something isn’t done.  So far, it seems that Jackson’s office has a misunderstanding about the legal remedy that is not being actively pursued in this case but is in the case of the active paraprofessionals and the new bill just passed. Stay tuned for updates and stories of the paras to come as this process moves forward. Concerned members of the public can follow the same playbook and make these calls too, especially once the bill exists.  

Banner Image: Marianne at WBAI interview. Image Credit – NYC Retirees