Bill Text: NY A05940 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to age and service eligibility requirements for ordinary retirement for members of the unified court system; restores 55/30 for all members and reduces the retirement age from 63 to 62.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2019-12-20 - tabled [A05940 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05940-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5940 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 20, 2019 ___________ 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 eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified court system The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social 2 security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended 3 to read as follows: 4 a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five 5 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other 6 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements 7 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a 8 general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court 9 system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without 10 reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least 11 fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of 12 service. For members who become members of the New York state and local 13 employees' retirement system on or after April first, two thousand 14 twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in section five 15 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other 16 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements 17 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-three; provided that, a 18 member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court system may 19 retire without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attain- 20 ment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or 21 more years of service. 22 § 2. Subdivisions a and a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and 23 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision a-1 as 24 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07907-02-9A. 5940 2 1 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred 2 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini- 3 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty- 4 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement 5 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article, 6 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision 7 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of 8 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six 9 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred 10 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of 11 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this 12 article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or 13 the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first 14 joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who 15 is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified 16 court system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local17employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve] 18 may retire without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon 19 attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty 20 or more years of service, provided, however, that a uniformed court 21 officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system who first 22 becomes a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement 23 system on or after January first, two thousand ten and retires without 24 reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least 25 fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of 26 service pursuant to this section shall be required to make the member 27 contributions required by subdivision f of section six hundred thirteen 28 of this article for all years of credited and creditable service, 29 provided further that the [the] preceding provisions of this subdivision 30 shall not apply to a New York city revised plan member. 31 a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement 32 system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except 33 for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified 34 court system, the service retirement benefit specified in section six 35 hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met 36 the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age 37 sixty-three. 38 § 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and 39 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as 40 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: 41 a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a 42 member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than 43 twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York 44 state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thou- 45 sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final 46 average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age 47 for members who first become members of a public retirement system of 48 the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age 49 sixty-three; except that the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two 50 for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer employed 51 by the unified court system. 52 b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the 53 service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years of 54 [credit] credited service who first become a member of a public retire- 55 ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at 56 age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for uniformed court officers orA. 5940 3 1 peace officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension 2 equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final 3 average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final 4 average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any 5 retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than 6 the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contrib- 7 utions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded 8 annually to the date of retirement. 9 § 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and 10 social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is 11 amended to read as follows: 12 3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the 13 minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit 14 authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of 15 section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal 16 retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in 17 which event, the amount of his or her retirement benefit computed with- 18 out optional modification shall be reduced by six and one-half per 19 centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age sixty-three; 20 provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed court officer or 21 peace officer employed by the unified court system, the retirement bene- 22 fit computed without optional modification shall be reduced in accord- 23 ance with paragraph one of this subdivision. 24 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 25 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 26 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 27 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend- 28 ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu- 29 rity law made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration 30 of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative law, Section 50: This bill will allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi- cer or peace officer employed by the unified court system to retire without early age reduction upon attaining 30 years of creditable service and age 55. It would also reduce the normal retirement age from 63 to 62, and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire prior to normal retirement age. If this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately 1.0% of the compensation of the affected members. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, this is estimated to be approximately $560,000. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and salary of the affected members change. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $2.02 million which will be borne by the state of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2020. The estimated costs above are based on 795 members employed by the unified court system as a uniformed court officer or peace officer with a total estimated annual salary of approximately $43 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018. Summary of relevant resources: The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018 actuarial valu- ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2018A. 5940 4 Report of the Actuary and the 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 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, 2018 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 February 7, 2019, and intended for use only during the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-41, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
