Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. For the purpose of paragraph (h) of subdivision (1) of section 4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, every veteran who had been employed by the department of health and hospitals in the city of Boston who was a member in service of the State-Boston retirement system on June 30, 1996 with not less than ten years of creditable service under said chapter 32, who thereafter became an employee of Boston Medical Center, shall be deemed to be a member in service as of the effective date of chapter 71 of the acts of 1996, if veterans eligible for creditable service under said paragraph (h) of said subdivision (1) of said section 4 of said chapter 32 hereunder make application for such creditable service within 180 days after the effective date of this act. Terms used in this act shall have the meaning given them in section 1 of chapter 32 of the General Laws.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.