Bill Text: NY A07703 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to certain members who re-enter public service; extends tier reinstatement provisions to a retiree of a public retirement system who was an active member of a public retirement system on or after January 1, 1989.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 64-28)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-31 - print number 7703a [A07703 Detail]
Download: New_York-2011-A07703-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 7703 2011-2012 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y May 16, 2011 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER, CANESTRARI, COLTON, BENEDETTO, JAFFEE, SPANO, SCHIMEL, RUSSELL, BARRON, DenDEKKER, WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. AMEDORE, ARROYO, AUBRY, BARCLAY, BOYLAND, BOYLE, BREN- NAN, BROOK-KRASNY, BURLING, BUTLER, CAHILL, CALHOUN, CASTRO, CLARK, CONTE, COOK, CORWIN, CROUCH, CUSICK, CYMBROWITZ, DINOWITZ, DUPREY, ENGLEBRIGHT, FINCH, GABRYSZAK, GALEF, GIBSON, GIGLIO, GOTTFRIED, HAWLEY, HAYES, HEASTIE, HOOPER, HOYT, JACOBS, KAVANAGH, KOLB, LATIMER, LAVINE, LIFTON, P. LOPEZ, V. LOPEZ, LUPARDO, MAGEE, MAISEL, MARKEY, McDONOUGH, McENENY, McKEVITT, MENG, J. MILLER, MILLMAN, MOLINARO, OAKS, ORTIZ, PAULIN, PEOPLES-STOKES, PERRY, PRETLOW, RABBITT, RAIA, RAMOS, REILICH, REILLY, J. RIVERA, N. RIVERA, P. RIVERA, ROBINSON, ROSENTHAL, SAYWARD, SCARBOROUGH, SCHROEDER, SWEENEY, TEDISCO, THIELE, TITONE, TITUS, TOBACCO, WEISENBERG, WRIGHT, ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to certain members who re-enter public service THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 4 of section 645 of the retirement and 2 social security law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 322 of the laws 3 of 2002 and subdivision 4 as added by chapter 640 of the laws of 1998 4 and as renumbered by chapter 646 of the laws of 1999, are amended to 5 read as follows: 6 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person [other than 7 a retiree of a public retirement system,] who previously was a member of 8 a public retirement system and whose membership in such public retire- 9 ment system ceased by reason of (i) insufficient service credit, (ii) 10 withdrawal of accumulated contributions, or (iii) withdrawal of member- 11 ship, upon rejoining such public retirement system or another public 12 retirement system, shall be deemed to have been a member of his or her 13 current retirement system during the entire period of time commencing EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02318-02-1 A. 7703 2 1 with and subsequent to the original date of such previous ceased member- 2 ship, provided that such person (a) makes application therefor to the 3 administrative head of his or her current public retirement system, and 4 (b) repays the amount refunded, if any, at the time such previous 5 membership ceased, together with interest at the rate of five percent 6 per annum compounded annually from the date of such refund through the 7 date of repayment. Upon such reinstatement of date of membership, such 8 member shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and privileges to 9 which he or she would have been entitled had his or her current member- 10 ship begun on such original date of membership except that, solely for 11 the purposes of granting retirement credit to members of a public 12 retirement system other than the New York city teachers' retirement 13 system for service credited during such previous ceased membership where 14 such was in a public retirement system other than the member's current 15 retirement system, such previously credited service shall be deemed to 16 be prior service, not subsequent service. Furthermore, any such member 17 whose original date of membership was prior to July first, nineteen 18 hundred seventy-three shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and 19 privileges to which he or she would have been entitled had he or she 20 been in active service on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy- 21 three. Any contribution made to the public retirement system pursuant to 22 article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter by a member who rejoined his 23 or her current system on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred 24 seventy-six shall not be refunded. 25 4. The provisions of this article shall be applicable to a person who 26 [is, on the date this article becomes effective] WAS A MEMBER ON OR 27 BEFORE JANUARY FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-NINE, or who subsequent to 28 such date becomes, a member of a public retirement system. 29 S 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to 30 all persons who are alive as of the effective date of this act and shall 31 apply to payments made on or after the effective date of this act; and 32 provided further, that any retirees qualifying under this act shall have 33 their retirement allowance recalculated from July 1, 2011 or the date of 34 reinstatement, whichever is later. FISCAL NOTE.-- This bill would allow certain living retirees of New York public retirement systems who retired prior to December 16, 1999 and who previ- ously were members of a New York public retirement system to be deemed to have become members of the systems from which they retired as of the original date of such previous ceased membership. Tier 3 and 4 retirees of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System or the New York State Teachers' Retirement System who become Tier 1 or 2 retirees and who have already purchased their previous service would receive a refund of these contributions. No benefits will be deemed to have accrued prior to the effective date of this Act. If this bill is enacted, insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (NYS & LERS), approximately 1,534 retirees of the NYS & LERS will be affected. The estimated addi- tional annual increase in contributions would be approximately $2.1 million. This cost will be shared by the State of New York and all participating employers in the NYS & LERS. Insofar as this bill would affect employers in the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYS & LPFRS), the estimated additional costs would be negligible. In addition there will be costs for retirees who had a previous ceased membership with a public employee retirement system other than the A. 7703 3 NYS&LERS or the NYS&LPFRS. These costs would depend upon the number of retirees affected and upon each retiree's age, salary, credited service, plan coverage and tier. The number of retirees with such previous ceased membership with another public retirement system cannot be readily determined. These additional costs would be shared by the State of New York and all participating employers in their respective systems. This estimate, dated April 8, 2011 and intended for use only during the 2011 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2011-124, prepared by the Actuary for the NYS&LERS and the NYS&LPFRS. FISCAL NOTE.--This bill would amend subdivisions 2 and 4 of section 645 of the Retirement and Social Security Law to extend the tier rein- statement provisions to any retiree of a public retirement system. The retiree must be alive as of the effective date of the bill in order to be eligible. This bill only applies to payments made on or after the effective date of this act. The annual cost to the employers of members of the New York State Teachers' Retirement System for this benefit is estimated to be $7.0 million or .05% of payroll if this bill is enacted. The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2011-42 dated May 4, 2011 prepared by the Actuary of the New York State Teachers' Retirement System and is intended for use only during the 2011 Legislative Session.