Bill Text: NY A06508 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Provides additional benefits for certain county correction officers in Suffolk county; provides benefits to retirement system members with credited service of thirty years.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-07 - substituted by s6141b [A06508 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06508-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6508--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     April 12, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- 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 committee

        AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
          providing  additional  benefits  for certain retirement system members
          with credited service in excess of twenty-five years

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Subdivisions c and g of section 89-f of the retirement and
     2  social security law, as added by chapter 591 of the laws of  1988,  such
     3  section  as  renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, and subdivi-
     4  sion g as relettered by chapter 543 of the laws of 1992, are amended  to
     5  read as follows:
     6    c.  Upon  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of such service and upon
     7  retirement, each such member shall receive  a  pension  which,  together
     8  with  an  annuity  which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such
     9  member's accumulated contributions at the time of  [his]  such  member's
    10  retirement  and  an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
    11  of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which  [he]  such  member
    12  may  then  be  entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member
    13  with a retirement allowance equal to one-half  of  [his]  such  member's
    14  final  average  salary,  provided  however  that  a member with credited
    15  service in excess of  twenty-five  years  shall  receive  an  additional
    16  retirement  allowance equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final aver-
    17  age salary for each year of creditable service in excess of  twenty-five
    18  years but not in excess of thirty years.
    19    g.  A  member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
    20  retirement, [shall] may retire after the completion of twenty-five years
    21  of total creditable service. Application therefor  may  be  filed  in  a

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10296-03-4
        A. 6508--A                          2

     1  manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon
     2  completion  of  at  least  twenty-five  years  of  such service and upon
     3  retirement, each such member shall receive  a  pension  which,  together
     4  with  an  annuity  which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such
     5  member's accumulated contributions at the time of  [his]  such  member's
     6  retirement  and  an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
     7  of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member may
     8  then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member with a
     9  retirement allowance equal to one-half  of  [his]  such  member's  final
    10  average salary plus an additional retirement allowance equal to one-six-
    11  tieth  of such member's final average salary for each year of creditable
    12  service in excess of twenty-five years  but  not  in  excess  of  thirty
    13  years.
    14    § 2. Subdivision d of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
    15  ty  law,  as  amended  by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
    16  read as follows:
    17    d. The early service retirement  for  a  member  who  is  employed  in
    18  Suffolk  county  as  a  correction officer as defined in section eighty-
    19  nine-f of this chapter, shall be a  pension  equal  to  one-fiftieth  of
    20  final  average  salary times years of credited service at the completion
    21  of twenty-five years of service as such  correction  officer[,  but  not
    22  exceeding  one-half  of his or her] plus an additional retirement allow-
    23  ance equal to one-sixtieth of such member's  final  average  salary  for
    24  each  year of credited service in excess of twenty-five years but not in
    25  excess of thirty years.
    26    §  3.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing   the
    27  provisions  of  this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk and may
    28  be amortized over a period of ten years.
    29    § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,  none
    30  of  the  provisions  of  this  act shall be subject to the appropriation
    31  requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
    32    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and  shall  apply  to  all
    33  members that retire on or after such date.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This  bill  would modify the service retirement benefit for members of
        the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement  System  employed  by
        Suffolk  County  as correction officers. The modified service retirement
        benefit will be one-half of final average salary (FAS)  upon  completion
        of twenty-five years of creditable service with additional sixtieths for
        each  year  of creditable service in excess of twenty-five years but not
        in excess of thirty years.  The current service  retirement  benefit  is
        one-half  of  FAS  upon  completion  of  twenty-five years of creditable
        service.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
        ipate that there will be an increase of approximately  $1.0  million  in
        the  annual  contributions  of Suffolk County for the fiscal year ending
        March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is  expected  to
        average 0.8% of affected salary annually.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $12.8 million which will
        be borne by Suffolk County as a one-time payment.  This estimate assumes
        that  payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Suffolk County elects
        to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
        including interest would be $1.64 million.
        A. 6508--A                          3

          These estimated costs are based on 843 affected  members  employed  by
        Suffolk  County,  with annual salary of approximately $115 million as of
        March 31, 2023.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          Membership  data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
        of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
        al valuation.  Distributions and other statistics can be  found  in  the
        2023  Report  of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
        Report.
          The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2023
        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, 2023
        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 3, 2024, and intended for use only during
        the 2024 Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2024-15  Revised,
        prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
        System.