Bill Text: NY A07344 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides WTC-related benefits to certain employees who worked at the Verrazano Bridge Toll Facility.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-03-13 - print number 7344b [A07344 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A07344-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7344--B 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 17, 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 -- 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 WTC-related benefits to certain employees who worked at the Verrazano Bridge Toll Facility The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 36 of section 2 of the retire- 2 ment and social security law, as amended by chapter 424 of the laws of 3 2021, is amended to read as follows: 4 (e) "Participated in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup 5 operations" shall mean any member who: (i) participated in the rescue, 6 recovery, or cleanup operations at the World Trade Center site, as 7 defined in paragraph (f) of this subdivision; (ii) worked at the Fresh 8 Kills Land Fill in New York; (iii) worked at the New York city morgue or 9 the temporary morgue on pier locations on the west side of Manhattan; 10 (iv) manned the barges between the west side of Manhattan and the Fresh 11 Kills Land Fill in New York; (v) repaired, cleaned or rehabilitated 12 vehicles or equipment, including emergency vehicle radio equipment owned 13 by the city of New York that were contaminated by debris in the World 14 Trade Center site, as defined in paragraph (f) of this subdivision, 15 regardless of whether the work on the repair, cleaning or rehabilitation 16 of said vehicles and equipment was performed within the World Trade 17 Center site, provided such work was performed prior to decontamination 18 of such vehicles or equipment; [or] (vi) worked in the following depart- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10515-06-4A. 7344--B 2 1 ments, worksites and titles: (A) New York City Police Department at 11 2 Metrotec Center in Brooklyn or 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan as a Police 3 Communication Technician (PCT), Supervisor Police Communication Techni- 4 cian (SPCT), Principal Police Communication Technician I, Principal 5 Police Communication Technician II, Principal Police Communication Tech- 6 nician III, Administrative Manager - Communications, or in the Police 7 Administrative Aide title series; (B) Fire Department of the City of New 8 York at 35 Empire Boulevard in Brooklyn, 79th Street Transverse in 9 Manhattan, 83-98 Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens, 1129 East 180 Street in 10 the Bronx, 65 Slosson Avenue in Staten Island, 9 Metrotec Center in 11 Brooklyn, or 25 Rockaway Avenue in Brooklyn as Fire Alarm Dispatchers 12 (FAD), Supervising Fire Alarm Dispatchers I (SFAD), Supervising Fire 13 Alarm Dispatchers II (Borough Supervisor), Deputy Director & Director 14 Fire Dispatch Operations, or Assistant Commissioner for Communications; 15 (C) for the Fire Department of the City of New York's Emergency Medical 16 Service at 1 or 9 Metrotec Centers in Brooklyn, or 55-30 58 Street in 17 Maspeth Queens as Emergency Medical Specialist-Level I (EMT), Emergency 18 Medical Specialist Level II-(Paramedic), Supervising Emergency Medical 19 Specialist Level I (LT), Supervising Emergency Medical Specialist Level 20 II (Capt), Deputy Chief EMS Communications, or Division Commander EMS 21 Communications; or (vii) worked at the Verrazano Bridge Toll Facility. 22 For purposes of this paragraph, the term "member" shall include each 23 person who during the qualifying period was in the employment of a 24 public employer which then participated for such employees in a public 25 retirement system in this state, irrespective of whether the person was 26 a participant in such system at that time, provided that the person has 27 become a participant in such retirement system and has purchased service 28 credit for a period of time that includes some or all of the qualifying 29 period in accordance with provisions of law applicable to such purchase 30 of service credit. 31 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to 32 have been in full force and effect on and after September 11, 2001. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would expand the definition of a member who participated in World Trade Center (WTC) rescue, recovery or cleanup operations to include those who worked at the Verrazano Bridge Toll Facility. Insofar as this bill would affect the New York State and Local Employ- ees' Retirement System (NYSLERS) and the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), if this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, it would (a) reclassify certain retiree benefits as accidental disability, (b) lead to an increased number of accidental disability benefits for future retirees, and (c) also lead to more deaths being classified as "accidental". The cost of the revised benefit will depend upon the applicant's age, service, salary, plan and benefit type otherwise payable. Benefit prior Ordinary Performance to enactment: None Disability of Duty NYSLERS cost for 10 times 5.5 times 3 times proposed benefit: salary salary salary NYSLPFRS cost for 10 times 5.5 times 3 times proposed benefit: salary salary salaryA. 7344--B 3 Benefit prior Service Ordinary to enactment: Retirement Death NYSLERS cost for 2 times 4.5 times proposed benefit: salary salary NYSLPFRS cost for 2 times 13 times proposed benefit: salary salary The exact number of current members as well as future members who could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined. Pursuant to Section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, the costs arising in the NYSLERS will be borne entirely by the State of New York and will require an itemized appropriation sufficient to pay the cost of the provision. The costs arising in the NYSLPFRS will be shared by the State of New York and the local participating employers of the NYSLPFRS. Further, we anticipate additional administrative costs to implement the provisions of this legislation. 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. 2024-18, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would expand the definition of a member who participated in World Trade Center rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations to include those who worked at the Verrazano Bridge Toll Facility. ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands) Per Incident Year Disability Death 2025 30 116 2026 30 116 2027 30 116 2028 30 116 2029 30 116 2030 30 116A. 7344--B 4 2031 30 116 2032 30 116 2033 30 116 2034 30 116 2035 30 116 2036 30 116 2037 30 116 2038 30 116 2039 0 0 2040 0 0 2041 0 0 2042 0 0 2043 0 0 2044 0 0 2045 0 0 2046 0 0 2047 0 0 2048 0 0 2049 0 0 Employer contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2049 is not shown. The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL LIABILITIES as of June 30, 2023 ($ in Thousands) Present Value (PV) Per Disability Per Death PV of Benefits: 254 983 PV of Employee Contributions: 0 0 PV of Employer Contributions: 254 983 Unfunded Accrued Liabilities: 254 983 AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY Recognized as Ongoing Per Disability Per Death Gain/Loss Number of Payments: 14 14 Amortization Payment: 30 K 116 K CENSUS DATA: The number of members and eligible retirees who worked at the Verrazano bridge during the applicable period is unknown. The esti- mates presented herein are based on preliminary census data collected as of June 30, 2023. The census data for the potentially impacted popu- lation used to develop the average costs in this Fiscal Note is based on TBTA members active during the applicable period and is summarized below. NYCERS Active Members - Number Count: 220 - Average Age: 56.0 - Average Service: 25.1 - Average Salary: 119,300 Term. Vested Members - Number Count: 31 - Average Age: 58.0A. 7344--B 5 Receiving Members - Number Count: 902 - Average Age: 68.2 IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Currently, a member who becomes disabled would be eligible for an applicable ordinary disability retirement, generally a lifetime payment of 1/3 of salary or service benefit if greater. The ordinary death benefit is a lump sum payment generally equal to three times the member's salary for active members or a frac- tion of the retirement benefit for retirees. Under the proposed legislation, the accidental death benefit would generally be equal to a lifetime benefit of 50%, or 100% for those eligible for Special Accidental Death Benefits, of a member's wages earned during the last year of service. ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods of NYCERS. The cost of this proposed legislation could vary greatly depending on the number of future members who benefit and on their length of service, age, and salary history. The estimated financial impact for disabled members has been calcu- lated assuming 50% would have retired under an Ordinary Disability bene- fit, and 50% would have continued working if the proposed legislation were not passed. RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods, and models used, demo- graphics of the impacted population and other factors such as invest- ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates from actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from those presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this Fiscal Note. This Fiscal Note is intended to measure pension-related impacts and does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative and Other Postemployment Benefits). STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov- sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS but do not believe it impairs our objectivity and we meet the Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein. To the best of our knowledge, the results contained herein have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the Actuarial Standards Board. FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2024-22 dated March 11, 2024 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use only during the 2024 Legislative Session.
