Bill Text: NY A05733 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes alternative retirement benefits for peace officers in the department of motor vehicles; permits such officers to retire upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-30 - print number 5733a [A05733 Detail]
Download: New_York-2011-A05733-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 5733 2011-2012 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y February 28, 2011 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to retirement benefits for certain employees THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding 2 a new section 89-x to read as follows: 3 S 89-X. ALTERNATIVE RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR PEACE OFFICERS IN THE 4 DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES. A. DEFINITIONS. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS 5 SECTION: 6 1. "QUALIFYING MEMBER" SHALL MEAN ANY MEMBER WHO IS IN SERVICE AS AN 7 EMPLOYEE OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES WHO IS A 8 PEACE OFFICER AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE TWO OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW. 9 2. "QUALIFYING CREDITABLE SERVICE" SHALL MEAN CREDITABLE SERVICE 10 RENDERED WHILE A MEMBER IS A MEMBER OF A PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEM 11 EMPLOYED IN A POSITION WHICH IS DESIGNATED AS A POLICE OFFICER PURSUANT 12 TO ARTICLE ONE OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW OR AS A PEACE OFFICER 13 PURSUANT TO ARTICLE TWO OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW. 14 3. "PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEM" SHALL MEAN THE NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL 15 EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL POLICE AND 16 FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE NEW YORK STATE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM, 17 THE NEW YORK CITY EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE NEW YORK CITY TEACH- 18 ERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE PENSION FUND, THE NEW 19 YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION FUND AND THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF 20 EDUCATION RETIREMENT SYSTEM. 21 B. ELIGIBILITY. 1. ANY QUALIFYING MEMBER, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION A 22 OF THIS SECTION, SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO RETIRE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS 23 OF THIS SECTION. SUCH ELIGIBILITY SHALL BE AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE ELIGI- 24 BILITY PROVISIONS AVAILABLE UNDER ANY OTHER PLAN OF THIS ARTICLE TO 25 WHICH SUCH MEMBER IS SUBJECT. THE COMPTROLLER MAY REQUEST CERTIFICATIONS EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09084-01-1 A. 5733 2 1 FROM AGENCY OFFICIALS, AS APPROPRIATE, TO IDENTIFY SUCH ELIGIBLE 2 MEMBERS. 3 2. ANY SUCH QUALIFYING MEMBER SHALL BE ENTITLED TO RETIRE AFTER THE 4 COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF QUALIFYING CREDITABLE SERVICE BY 5 FILING AN APPLICATION THEREFOR IN A MANNER SIMILAR TO THAT PROVIDED IN 6 SECTION SEVENTY OF THIS ARTICLE; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, NO SUCH MEMBER SHALL 7 BE ELIGIBLE TO RETIRE UNTIL HE OR SHE HAS A MINIMUM OF TEN YEARS OF 8 QUALIFYING CREDITABLE SERVICE. 9 C. RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE. A MEMBER RETIRING UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF 10 THIS SECTION SHALL RECEIVE A RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE CONSISTING OF A 11 PENSION EQUAL TO ONE-FIFTIETH OF HIS OR HER FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR 12 EACH YEAR OF QUALIFYING CREDITABLE SERVICE. THIS RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE 13 SHALL NOT EXCEED FIFTY PERCENT OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY. 14 D. COMPUTATION OF SERVICE. IN COMPUTING THE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 15 COMPLETED SERVICE OF A QUALIFYING MEMBER FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, 16 FULL CREDIT SHALL BE GIVEN AND FULL ALLOWANCE SHALL BE MADE FOR SERVICE 17 OF SUCH MEMBER IN WAR AFTER WORLD WAR I, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION THIR- 18 TY OF SECTION TWO OF THIS CHAPTER, PROVIDED SUCH MEMBER AT THE TIME OF 19 HIS OR HER ENTRANCE INTO THE ARMED FORCES WAS IN STATE SERVICE. 20 E. NOTHING IN THIS SECTION SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO PREVENT A MEMBER, WHO 21 DOES NOT RETIRE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION, FROM UTILIZ- 22 ING SERVICE WHICH IS CREDITABLE SERVICE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF 23 THIS SECTION FOR THE SERVICE CREDIT PURSUANT TO ANY OTHER PLAN OF THIS 24 ARTICLE TO WHICH SUCH MEMBER IS SUBJECT. 25 F. THE INCREASED COSTS OF THE BENEFITS PROVIDED FOR IN THIS SECTION 26 SHALL BE PAID FROM ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE EMPLOYER. 27 G. THE PROVISIONS IN THIS SECTION SHALL BE CONTROLLING NOTWITHSTANDING 28 ANY OTHER PROVISION IN THIS ARTICLE TO THE CONTRARY. 29 S 2. Subdivision a of section 445 of the retirement and social securi- 30 ty law, as amended by chapter 295 of the laws of 2007, is amended to 31 read as follows: 32 a. No member of a retirement system who is subject to the provisions 33 of this article shall retire without regard to age, exclusive of retire- 34 ment for disability, unless he is a policeman, an investigator member of 35 the New York city employees' retirement system, fireman, correction 36 officer, a qualifying member as defined in section eighty-nine-t, as 37 added by chapter six hundred fifty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred 38 ninety-eight, of this chapter, A QUALIFYING MEMBER AS DEFINED IN SECTION 39 EIGHTY-NINE-X OF THIS CHAPTER, sanitation man, a special officer 40 (including persons employed by the city of New York in the title urban 41 park ranger or associate urban park ranger), school safety agent, campus 42 peace officer or a taxi and limousine commission inspector member of the 43 New York city employees' retirement system or the New York city board of 44 education retirement system, a dispatcher member of the New York city 45 employees' retirement system, a police communications member of the New 46 York city employees' retirement system, an EMT member of the New York 47 city employees' retirement system, a deputy sheriff member of the New 48 York city employees' retirement system, a correction officer of the 49 Westchester county correction department as defined in section eighty- 50 nine-e of this chapter or employed in Suffolk county as a peace officer, 51 as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five hundred 52 eighty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of this chap- 53 ter, employed in Suffolk county as a correction officer, as defined in 54 section eighty-nine-f of this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as a 55 correction officer, uniformed correction division personnel, sheriff, 56 undersheriff or deputy sheriff, as defined in section eighty-nine-g of A. 5733 3 1 this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as an ambulance medical tech- 2 nician, an ambulance medical technician/supervisor or a member who 3 performs ambulance medical technician related services, as defined in 4 section eighty-nine-s, as amended by chapter five hundred seventy-eight 5 of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, or 6 employed in Nassau county as a peace officer, as defined in section 7 eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five hundred ninety-five of the laws 8 of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of this chapter, or employed in Albany 9 county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, correction officer or 10 identification officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-h of this 11 chapter or is employed in St. Lawrence county as a sheriff, undersher- 12 iff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in section eight- 13 y-nine-i of this chapter or is employed in Orleans county as a sheriff, 14 undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in 15 section eighty-nine-l of this chapter or is employed in Jefferson county 16 as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as 17 defined in section eighty-nine-j of this chapter or is employed in Onon- 18 daga county as a deputy sheriff-jail division competitively appointed or 19 as a correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-k of this 20 chapter or is employed in a county which makes an election under subdi- 21 vision j of section eighty-nine-p of this chapter as a sheriff, under- 22 sheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer as defined in such section 23 eighty-nine-p or is employed in Broome County as a sheriff, undersher- 24 iff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in section eight- 25 y-nine-m of this chapter or is a Monroe county deputy sheriff-court 26 security, or deputy sheriff-jailor as defined in section eighty-nine-n, 27 as added by chapter five hundred ninety-seven of the laws of nineteen 28 hundred ninety-one, of this chapter or is employed in Greene county as a 29 sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined 30 in section eighty-nine-o of this chapter or is a traffic officer with 31 the town of Elmira as defined in section eighty-nine-q of this chapter 32 or is employed by Suffolk county as a park police officer, as defined in 33 section eighty-nine-r of this chapter or is a peace officer employed by 34 a county probation department as defined in section eighty-nine-t, as 35 added by chapter six hundred three of the laws of nineteen hundred nine- 36 ty-eight, of this chapter or is employed in Rockland county as a deputy 37 sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chapter as 38 added by chapter four hundred forty-one of the laws of two thousand one, 39 or is employed in Rockland county as a superior correction officer as 40 defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chapter as added by chapter 41 five hundred fifty-six of the laws of two thousand one or is a paramedic 42 employed by the police department in the town of Tonawanda and retires 43 under the provisions of section eighty-nine-v of this chapter, as added 44 by chapter four hundred seventy-two of the laws of two thousand one, or 45 is a county fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, fire marshal, 46 assistant fire marshal, assistant chief fire marshal or chief fire 47 marshal employed by the county of Nassau as defined in section eighty- 48 nine-w of this chapter and is in a plan which permits immediate retire- 49 ment upon completion of a specified period of service without regard to 50 age. Except as provided in subdivision c of section four hundred forty- 51 five-a of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty- 52 five-b of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty- 53 five-c of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred 54 forty-five-d of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred 55 forty-five-e of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred 56 forty-five-f of this article and subdivision c of section four hundred A. 5733 4 1 forty-five-h of this article, a member in such a plan and such an occu- 2 pation, other than a policeman or investigator member of the New York 3 city employees' retirement system or a fireman, shall not be permitted 4 to retire prior to the completion of twenty-five years of credited 5 service; provided, however, if such a member in such an occupation is in 6 a plan which permits retirement upon completion of twenty years of 7 service regardless of age, he may retire upon completion of twenty years 8 of credited service and prior to the completion of twenty-five years of 9 service, but in such event the benefit provided from funds other than 10 those based on such a member's own contributions shall not exceed two 11 per centum of final average salary per each year of credited service. 12 S 3. Section 603 of the retirement and social security law is amended 13 by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows: 14 U. THE SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT SPECIFIED IN SECTION SIX HUNDRED 15 FOUR OF THIS ARTICLE SHALL BE PAYABLE WITHOUT REGARD TO AGE TO QUALIFY- 16 ING MEMBERS, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-X OF 17 THIS CHAPTER, WITH TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF QUALIFYING SERVICE AS DEFINED IN 18 SUCH SECTION, IF SUCH MEMBERS HAVE MET THE MINIMUM SERVICE REQUIREMENTS 19 UPON RETIREMENT. ANY SUCH MEMBER SHALL BE ENTITLED TO RETIRE AFTER THE 20 COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF QUALIFYING CREDITABLE SERVICE BY 21 FILING AN APPLICATION THEREFOR IN A MANNER SIMILAR TO THAT PROVIDED IN 22 SECTION SEVENTY OF THIS CHAPTER. 23 S 4. Section 604 of the retirement and social security law is amended 24 by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows: 25 U. THE EARLY SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT FOR A MEMBER WHO IS A QUALIFY- 26 ING MEMBER AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-X OF THIS 27 CHAPTER SHALL BE A PENSION EQUAL TO ONE-FIFTIETH OF FINAL AVERAGE SALARY 28 TIMES YEARS OF QUALIFYING SERVICE, AS DEFINED IN SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-X 29 OF THIS CHAPTER, AT THE COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE, 30 BUT NOT EXCEEDING ONE-HALF OF HIS OR HER FINAL AVERAGE SALARY. 31 S 5. Implementation provisions. (a) Amortization of past service cost. 32 The comptroller shall prepare and file with the director of the budget 33 an estimate of the past service cost resulting from implementation of 34 this act, at the same time and in the same manner as the annual esti- 35 mates required under section 16 of the retirement and social security 36 law, on the first such annual date for which it is practicable to 37 provide such an estimate. Notwithstanding section 430 of the retirement 38 and social security law, the past service cost as so determined shall be 39 paid by the state, with interest as defined in section 16 of the retire- 40 ment and social security law, in ten equal annual installments. Such 41 payments shall be made at the same time and in the same manner as other 42 payments by the state pursuant to section 16 of the retirement and 43 social security law, beginning with the first payment date that is at 44 least 60 days after the preparation and filing of the estimate of past 45 service cost with the director of the budget. 46 (b) Increased employer contributions. All other contribution increases 47 resulting from implementation of this act (exclusive of those resulting 48 from past service cost) shall also be estimated by the comptroller and 49 paid by the state at the same time and in the same manner as contrib- 50 utions are estimated and paid under section 16 of the retirement and 51 social security law, notwithstanding provisions of section 430 of the 52 retirement and social security law to the contrary. 53 S 6. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would permit certain peace officers in the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to retire upon completion of twenty-five A. 5733 5 (25) years of creditable service. For all eligible officers, the benefit upon retirement would be an allowance of one-half final average salary. There would be no reduction due to early service retirement for these members. If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there would be an esti- mated increase in the annual contributions of the State of New York of approximately $70,500 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost to the State of New York of approximately $624,000, assuming a payment date of March 1, 2012. If this cost were amortized over a period of ten (10) years, the cost for the first year including interest would be approximately $84,600. These estimated costs are based on one hundred eleven (111) officers employed by the Department of Motor Vehicles with a total salary of approximately $6.7 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. This estimate, dated December 10, 2010, and intended for use only during the 2011 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2011-32, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System.