Bill Text: NY A06457 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Relates to establishing a twenty year retirement plan for members or officers of law enforcement; includes every non-seasonally appointed sworn member or officer of the division of law enforcement in the department of environmental conservation, a forest ranger in the service of the department of environmental conservation, a police officer in the department of environmental conservation, the regional state park police, and university police officers in such twenty year plan.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-3)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-06-10 - substituted by s4523 [A06457 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A06457-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6457

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 17, 2021
                                       ___________

        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
          establishing a twenty year retirement plan for members or officers  of
          law enforcement

          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 383-e to read as follows:
     3    § 383-e. Retirement of officers of state law enforcement; twenty  year
     4  retirement  plan.  a.  Membership.  Every non-seasonally appointed sworn
     5  member or officer of the division of law enforcement in  the  department
     6  of  environmental  conservation,  a  forest ranger in the service of the
     7  department of environmental conservation, which shall mean a person  who
     8  serves  on  a  full-time  basis  in the title of forest ranger I, forest
     9  ranger II, forest ranger III, assistant superintendent  of  forest  fire
    10  control,  superintendent  of forest fire control or any successor titles
    11  or new titles in the forest ranger title series  in  the  department  of
    12  environmental  conservation, a police officer in the department of envi-
    13  ronmental conservation, the regional state park police,  and  university
    14  police officers who enter or re-enter service in any such title shall be
    15  covered by the provisions of this section, and every member described in
    16  this  subdivision  in  such  service  on or before one year prior to the
    17  effective date of this section may elect to be covered by the provisions
    18  of this section by filing an election therefor with the comptroller.  To
    19  be  effective, such election must be duly executed and acknowledged on a
    20  form prepared by the comptroller for that purpose.
    21    b. Retirement allowance. A member, covered by the provisions  of  this
    22  section  at  the  time  of  retirement, shall be entitled to retire upon
    23  completion of twenty years of total creditable service in  such  titles,
    24  and  shall  retire  upon  the attainment of the mandatory retirement age

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04278-03-1

        A. 6457                             2

     1  prescribed by this section, by  filing  an  application  therefor  in  a
     2  manner similar to that provided in section three hundred seventy of this
     3  article.
     4    1.  Upon  completion  of twenty years of such service and upon retire-
     5  ment, each such member shall receive a pension which, together  with  an
     6  annuity  for such years of service as provided in paragraph four of this
     7  subdivision, shall be sufficient to provide him with a retirement allow-
     8  ance of one-half of his final average salary.
     9    2. Upon completion of more than twenty years of such service and  upon
    10  retirement,  each such member shall receive, for each year of service in
    11  excess of twenty, an additional pension which, together with an  annuity
    12  for  each  such  year as provided in paragraph four of this subdivision,
    13  shall be equal to one-sixtieth of his final  average  salary,  provided,
    14  however,  that  the  pension  payable pursuant to this section shall not
    15  exceed three-quarters of final average salary.
    16    3. Upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age without  completion
    17  of  twenty  years  of  such  service,  each  such member shall receive a
    18  pension which, together with an annuity for such  years  of  service  as
    19  provided  in  paragraph four of this subdivision, shall be equal to one-
    20  fortieth of his final average salary for each year of creditable service
    21  in such titles. Every such member shall also be  entitled  to  an  addi-
    22  tional  pension equal to the pension for any creditable service rendered
    23  while not an employee in such titles as provided under paragraphs  three
    24  and  four of subdivision a of section three hundred seventy-five of this
    25  article. This latter pension shall not increase the total  allowance  to
    26  more than one-half of his final average salary.
    27    4.  The  annuity  provided under paragraphs one, two and three of this
    28  subdivision shall be the actuarial equivalent, at the  time  of  retire-
    29  ment,  of  the member's accumulated contributions based upon the rate of
    30  contribution fixed under section  three  hundred  eighty-three  of  this
    31  title  and  upon the salaries earned while in such service. Such annuity
    32  shall be computed as it would be if it were not reduced by the actuarial
    33  equivalent of any  outstanding  loan  nor  by  reason  of  the  member's
    34  election  to  decrease  his  contributions toward retirement in order to
    35  apply the resulting amount toward payment of contributions for  old  age
    36  and survivor's insurance. Any accumulated contributions in excess of the
    37  amount  required  to provide the annuity computed pursuant to this para-
    38  graph shall be used to increase the member's retirement allowance.
    39    c. Credit for previous service. In computing the years of total  cred-
    40  itable  service  for  each member described herein, full credit shall be
    41  given and full allowance shall be made for service rendered as a  police
    42  officer or state university peace officer or member of a police force or
    43  department  of  a  state  park  authority  or commission or an organized
    44  police force or department of a  county,  city,  town,  village,  police
    45  district,  authority  or  other  participating employer or member of the
    46  capital police force in the office of general services while a member of
    47  the New York state and local police and fire retirement system,  of  the
    48  New York state and local employees' retirement system or of the New York
    49  city  police  pension fund and for all service for which full credit has
    50  been given and full allowance made pursuant to the provisions of section
    51  three hundred seventy-five-h of this  article  provided,  however,  that
    52  full  credit  pursuant to the provisions of such section shall mean only
    53  such service as would be creditable service pursuant to  the  provisions
    54  of  section  three  hundred  eighty-three, three hundred eighty-three-a,
    55  three hundred eighty-three-b, as added by chapter six  hundred  seventy-
    56  four  of  the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six, three hundred eighty-

        A. 6457                             3

     1  three-b, as added by chapter six hundred seventy-seven of  the  laws  of
     2  nineteen  hundred  eighty-six,  three  hundred  eighty-three-c  or three
     3  hundred eighty-three-d of this title or pursuant to  the  provisions  of
     4  title  thirteen  of  the administrative code of the city of New York for
     5  any member contributing pursuant to this section who transferred to  the
     6  jurisdiction  of  the department of environmental conservation including
     7  but not  limited  to  environmental  conservation  officers  and  forest
     8  rangers,  regional  state  park  police  or state university of New York
     9  peace officers.
    10    d. Retirement for cause. Upon receipt of a certificate from  the  head
    11  of  the  entity  where such member is employed or his or her designee, a
    12  member as described in subdivision a of this section,  who  has  accrued
    13  twenty-five  or more years of service credit under this section shall be
    14  retired on the first day of the second month next  succeeding  the  date
    15  such certificate was filed with the comptroller.
    16    e.  Credit for military service. In computing the years of total cred-
    17  itable service full credit shall be given and full  allowance  shall  be
    18  made  for  service of such member in war after world war I as defined in
    19  section three hundred two of this article, provided such member  at  the
    20  time  of his or her entrance into the armed forces was in police service
    21  as defined in subdivision eleven of section three hundred  two  of  this
    22  article.
    23    f.  Transfer of membership to employees' retirement system. Any member
    24  currently enrolled pursuant to this section and  who  previously  trans-
    25  ferred  service  credit  from  the  New  York state and local employees'
    26  retirement system to the New  York  state  and  local  police  and  fire
    27  retirement  system,  may  elect  to transfer such previously transferred
    28  service credit back to the New York state and local  employees'  retire-
    29  ment  system,  and  such  member  shall have the option to retroactively
    30  transfer his or her membership into such employees' retirement system.
    31    g. The provisions of this section shall be controlling,  notwithstand-
    32  ing any provision of this article to the contrary.
    33    §   2.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing  the
    34  provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York  and  may
    35  be amortized over a period of ten years.
    36    §  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    37  have become a law.
          FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This bill would allow any non-seasonally  appointed  sworn  member  or
        officer  of the division of law enforcement, a police officer, or forest
        ranger in the department of environmental conservation; a regional state
        park police officer; or a university police officer to become covered by
        the provisions of a special 20-year retirement plan, which will  provide
        a  benefit  of  one-half of final average salary upon retirement, and an
        additional benefit of one-sixtieth of final average salary for each year
        of creditable service in excess of 20  years,  not  to  exceed  12  such
        years.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2021 legislative session, we antic-
        ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $4.7 million in
        the annual contributions of the State of New York for  the  fiscal  year
        ending March 31, 2022.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $48.2 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,  2022.
        If  the  State  of  New York elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year

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        period, the cost for the first year including interest  would  be  $6.36
        million.
          These estimated costs are based on 1,217 affected officers, with annu-
        al salary of approximately $101 million as of March 31, 2020.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          Membership  data as of March 31, 2020 was used in measuring the impact
        of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2020 actuari-
        al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
        2020  Report  of the Actuary and the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial
        Report.
          The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2020
        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, 2020
        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 January 27,  2021,  and  intended  for  use  only
        during  the  2021  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2021-53,
        prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement
        System.
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