Bill Text: NY A06634 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
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; reduces the retirement age from 63 to 62.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-02-15 - reported referred to ways and means [A06634 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A06634-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6634--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 23, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Govern- mental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- commit- tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom- mitted to said committee 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. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08564-03-2A. 6634--A 2 1 § 2. Subdivisions a and a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and 2 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision a-1 as 3 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: 4 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred 5 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini- 6 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty- 7 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement 8 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article, 9 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision 10 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of 11 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six 12 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred 13 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of 14 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this 15 article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or 16 the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first 17 joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who 18 is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified 19 court system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local20employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve] 21 may retire without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon 22 attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty 23 or more years of service, provided, however, that a uniformed court 24 officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system who first 25 becomes a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement 26 system on or after January first, two thousand ten and retires without 27 reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least 28 fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of 29 service pursuant to this section shall be required to make the member 30 contributions required by subdivision f of section six hundred thirteen 31 of this article for all years of credited and creditable service, 32 provided further that the [the] preceding provisions of this subdivision 33 shall not apply to a New York city revised plan member. 34 a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement 35 system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except 36 for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified 37 court system, the service retirement benefit specified in section six 38 hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met 39 the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age 40 sixty-three. 41 § 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and 42 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as 43 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: 44 a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a 45 member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than 46 twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York 47 state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thou- 48 sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final 49 average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age 50 for members who first become members of a public retirement system of 51 the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age 52 sixty-three; except that the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two 53 for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer employed 54 by the unified court system. 55 b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the 56 service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years ofA. 6634--A 3 1 [credit] credited service who first become a member of a public retire- 2 ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at 3 age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for uniformed court officers or 4 peace officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension 5 equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final 6 average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final 7 average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any 8 retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than 9 the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contrib- 10 utions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded 11 annually to the date of retirement. 12 § 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and 13 social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is 14 amended to read as follows: 15 3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the 16 minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit 17 authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of 18 section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal 19 retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in 20 which event, the amount of his or her retirement benefit computed with- 21 out optional modification shall be reduced by six and one-half per 22 centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age sixty-three; 23 provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed court officer or 24 peace officer employed by the unified court system, the retirement bene- 25 fit computed without optional modification shall be reduced in accord- 26 ance with paragraph one of this subdivision. 27 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 28 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 29 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 30 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend- 31 ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu- 32 rity law made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration 33 of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith. FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would 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 2022 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase in the annual contributions of the State of New York in the amount of approximately 0.8% of the compen- sation of the affected members. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, this is estimated to be approximately $1.2 million. 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 $8.49 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, 2023. These estimated costs are based on 1,814 affected members employed by the unified court system as a uniformed court officer or peace officer with a total estimated annual salary of approximately $125.1 million as of March 31, 2021. Summary of relevant resources:A. 6634--A 4 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- 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 December 29, 2021, and intended for use only during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-28, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
