Narcisse apologizes for lateness and asks about fee waivers

Good morning and thank you, Chair.

Thank you for being here.

Usually I'm not late, but I had to apologize for that because 1199 made history today with the city pop workers.

And as a nurse, I feel like it was imperative for me to be present for them.

So that's my apology.

So in civil service, we know we're very much interested around New York City.

That's kind of where you can move yourself from poverty to middle class.

So we're very much interested, and I'm sure Chair being actually on point with those questions because we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to...

Elevate yourself in New York City as much as we can.

How many exam fees?

Probably you probably ask if I have to repeat your question because

As I mentioned earlier, I apologize for that too.

How many exempt fee waivers were granted last year?

And is the waiver process simply enough that people actually use it?

Or are applicants paying fees they should not have to before?

So I can get back to you with the actual number of fee waivers that were issued last year, but it's roughly about 25 to 30 percent of the applicants who apply for a civil service exam request the waiver.

There are many different waivers that are offered.

Veterans, folks who receive Social Security insurance, public assistance.

If you're unemployed, you can take a free exam.

And most recently, in July of this year, we implemented two new fee waivers as a part of Local Law 57, which offers fee waivers for high school students and first-time test takers.

And so for those two that I just mentioned, the latter, we have seen an increase in use, but it's roughly about 30% of test takers.