Hochul signs legislation expanding Civil Service access

Press Release, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office 

Governor Kathy Hochul today signed two pieces of legislation to expand access to opportunities in civil service.

Legislation (S. 5486/A. 6855) requires the Department of Civil Service and municipal civil service commissions to make civil service examination announcements to the local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), school districts, public colleges, public universities, local social services districts, and, to the extent practicable, job training programs.

Legislation (A. 7155/S. 5494) requires that any time spent as a provisional employee be counted towards an employees’ probationary term upon receiving for a permanent appointment in the same title.

The Governor signed the legislation in Albany at a stop on the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees’ and the Civil Service Employee Association’s “Staff the Front Lines” Bus Tour, joined by AFSCME President Lee Saunders and CSEA President Mary Sullivan.

“This legislation will help to strengthen the pipeline to civil service, allowing even more New Yorkers to heed the call to join our public workforce,” Governor Hochul said. “New York’s civil servants are the engines that keep our state moving, and from our historic plan to increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to our initiative offering 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave to more than 150,000 state workers, my administration is committed to honoring their contributions and building a modern workforce ready to meet the needs of our state. I thank the bill sponsors for their partnership in helping attract the best and brightest workers to New York, and I will continue working with groups like AFSCME and CSEA to ensure that our hardworking civil servants have the access, benefits, and protections they deserve.”