Bill Text: NY A04879 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows Tier II, III, IV and V members of the New York state and local employees' retirement system to retire without a benefit reduction upon completion of 35 years of service without regard to age.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-08 - referred to governmental employees [A04879 Detail]

Download: New_York-2013-A04879-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         4879
                              2013-2014 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                   February 13, 2013
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by M. of A. ABBATE, STEVENSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
         A. COLTON, COOK, HOOPER -- read once and referred to the Committee  on
         Governmental Employees
       AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
         eligibility for retirement of members of the New York state and  local
         employees' retirement system
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Section 442 of the retirement and social  security  law  is
    2  amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
    3    C.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER  PROVISION OF LAW, A MEMBER OF THE NEW
    4  YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  MAY  RETIRE  WITHOUT
    5  REDUCTION  OF  HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENEFIT UPON COMPLETION OF AT LEAST
    6  THIRTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE REGARDLESS OF AGE.
    7    S 2. Section 503 of the retirement and social security law is  amended
    8  by adding a new subdivision e to read as follows:
    9    E.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER  PROVISION OF LAW, A MEMBER OF THE NEW
   10  YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  MAY  RETIRE  WITHOUT
   11  REDUCTION  OF  HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENEFIT UPON COMPLETION OF AT LEAST
   12  THIRTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE REGARDLESS OF AGE.
   13    S 3. Section 603 of the retirement and social security law is  amended
   14  by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows:
   15    U.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER  PROVISION OF LAW, A MEMBER OF THE NEW
   16  YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  MAY  RETIRE  WITHOUT
   17  REDUCTION  OF  HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENEFIT UPON COMPLETION OF AT LEAST
   18  THIRTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE REGARDLESS OF AGE.
   19    S 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to  be
   20  in full force and effect on and after June 30, 2013.
         FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
         This  bill  would allow Tiers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 members of the New York
       State and Local Employees' Retirement System to retire without a benefit
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD08295-01-3
       A. 4879                             2
       reduction due to early retirement upon the completion of at least  thir-
       ty-five (35) years of service, without regard to age.
         If  this  bill is enacted, we anticipate that there would be estimated
       one time cost of approximately $87.1 million.  Pursuant to Section 25 of
       the Retirement and Social Security Law, this cost would be borne by  the
       State  of  New  York  and would require an itemized appropriation by the
       State of New York sufficient to pay the cost of the provision.  If  this
       cost  is  amortized  over  a 5 year period, the cost for the first year,
       including interest, would be approximately $20.0 million.
         In addition to the one  time  cost  above,  there  would  also  be  an
       increase  in  the annual contributions of approximately 0.3% and 0.4% of
       the annual salaries of the general  plan  members  in  Tiers  5  and  6,
       respectively,  for  the  fiscal year ending March 31, 2014.  Pursuant to
       Section 25, these additional annual costs would also  be  borne  by  the
       state of New York.
         Summary of relevant resources:
         Data:  March  31,  2012  Actuarial Year End File with distributions of
       membership and other statistics displayed in  the  2012  Report  of  the
       Actuary and 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
         Assumptions  and  Methods:  2010,  2011  and 2012 Annual Report to the
       Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules and Regulations of the
       State of New York: Audit and Control.
         Market Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2012 New York State  and
       Local  Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary informa-
       tion.
         Valuations of Benefit Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized  in
       the 2012 Actuarial Valuations report.
         I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
       fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
         This  estimate,  dated  December  17,  2012, and intended for use only
       during the  2013  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2013-20,
       prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Employees'
       Retirement System.