GENERAL INFORMATION BULLETIN No. 23-03

TO: Department and Agency Directors of Human Resources, Personnel and Affirmative Action Officers, Equal Opportunity Specialists, Diversity and Inclusion Specialists

FROM: Jessica Rowe, Director of Staffing Services

SUBJECT: Civil Service Exam Fee Waiver

DATE: June 29, 2023

In an effort to help remove a barrier for entering public service, Governor Hochul’s 2023-2024 Enacted Budget contained legislation to waive Civil Service examination fees, beginning in July 2023 and ending in December 2025, for individuals taking State Civil Service examinations during this time. 

As such, the Department of Civil Service (DCS) will not be collecting examination fees for open-competitive, transition, or promotion examinations held on or after July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025. 

Any candidates who owe past due fees for State examinations will have their fees forgiven.  Additionally, once their fee(s) are forgiven, any candidate eligible to be activated on a current active eligible list(s) will have their name made active on the list(s).

In the coming weeks, candidates will be notified if they are activated on a list due to fee forgiveness.  Once this action is taken, agencies will be notified, and candidates may check their list status by logging into ELMS Online at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/elmspublic/index.cfm.

As a result of the forgiveness of past due fees, agencies may find additional candidates on their lists when ordering new list certifications.  Agencies will not be required to close out current certifications and open new ones when the fee due list restrictions are lifted.

Questions regarding fee forgiveness may be directed to FeeUnitMail@cs.ny.gov, and those related to list status may be directed to EmploymentRecords@cs.ny.gov.