Bill Text: NY A05824 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Authorizes the participation by free association libraries in the New York state and local employees' retirement system.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 4-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-10 - held for consideration in governmental employees [A05824 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A05824-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ S. 5179--A A. 5824--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions SENATE - ASSEMBLY February 25, 2021 ___________ IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. PALUMBO, JORDAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. THIELE, BRABENEC, ASHBY, DeSTEFA- NO, WALCZYK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to participation by free association libraries in 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. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding 2 a new section 31-g to read as follows: 3 § 31-g. Participation by free association libraries. A free associ- 4 ation library as defined in section two hundred fifty-three of the 5 education law and which meets the criteria set forth in this section, 6 may by resolution adopted as provided in section seven hundred eight of 7 the not-for-profit corporation law by its board of trustees and subject 8 to the approval of the comptroller, elect to participate in the retire- 9 ment system. Acceptance of its employees for membership in the retire- 10 ment system shall be mandatory with the comptroller, who shall determine 11 the amounts of contribution payable by such library and its employees, 12 shall resolve questions of credit for prior service, and shall in all 13 other respects assure that such employees share the same rights, obli- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05803-03-2S. 5179--A 2 A. 5824--A 1 gations and benefits as other members of the retirement system. A free 2 association library shall be eligible to join the retirement system 3 under the following conditions: 4 (a) such library shall be chartered by the state board of regents; 5 (b) such library shall serve the entire population of its chartered 6 service area; 7 (c) the board of trustees of such library shall be elected by the 8 voters of its chartered service area; 9 (d) such library's budget shall be approved by the voters of its char- 10 tered service area; 11 (e) at least fifty-one percent of such library's budget shall derive 12 from public sources; and 13 (f) such library shall file the annual report with the comptroller as 14 required of public libraries by section thirty of the general municipal 15 law. 16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would permit any free association public library which meets certain specific criteria to elect participation in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS). If this bill is enacted during the 2022 legislative session, and an eligible corporation elects participation, the future annual cost would depend on the retirement plan adopted and the billable salary of the electing corporation. As a percentage of payroll, we anticipate that the annual contrib- utions of the affected corporation for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, will be as follows: Tier Rate 1 8.5% to 17.3% 2 7.9% to 15.8% 3 12.9% 4 12.9% 5 11.0% 6 8.1% In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be a deficiency cost to the affected corporation which will be payable for a 25-year period. These costs will depend on the age, service, salary, tier status and plan of the affected employees. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plan qualification issues: permitting participation of non-governmental employees in the NYSLERS could jeop- ardize the Retirement System's governmental plan status and its exemption from ERISA. This development could result in the loss of qual- ified status, which would mean the loss of tax benefits. This result would substantially impair the System's value to our more than one million participants. Prior to the enactment of this legislation, we recommend that a favor- able ruling be obtained from the IRS stating that these provisions would not harm the qualification status of the System. It is estimated that the costs to obtain such a ruling would be $28,000 for the services of the IRS, and $800 per hour for legal consultants. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-S. 5179--A 3 A. 5824--A al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020 and 2021 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2021 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Information. I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali- fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein. This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney. This estimate, dated March 24, 2022, and intended for use only during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-104, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
