Bill Text: NY S05634 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Relates to employer's duties regarding optional public retirement systems; provides for the automatic enrollment for employees whose right to membership has been made optional by the head of the public retirement system involved.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-06-21 - SUBSTITUTED BY A7193C [S05634 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S05634-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5634--B
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     April 21, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
          -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered  reprinted  as  amended
          and  recommitted  to  said  committee  --  committee  discharged, bill
          amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
          tee
        AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
          providing for the automatic enrollment for employees  whose  right  to
          membership has been made optional by the head of the public retirement
          system involved
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 45 of the retirement and social  security  law,  as
     2  added by chapter 878 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  45.  Right  to membership.   a. Upon the employment of any employee
     4  whose right to membership in a public retirement system  of  the  state,
     5  which  for  purposes of this section shall include any public retirement
     6  system other than the New York state teachers'  retirement  system,  has
     7  been  made  optional  by the head of the retirement system involved, the
     8  employer shall inform the employee in writing of the right to  join  the
     9  system.  Each such employee shall acknowledge the receipt of such notice
    10  by signing a copy thereof and filing it with  such  employer;  provided,
    11  however,  the  failure  to  inform such employee shall not in any way be
    12  construed to waive the requirement that membership for such an  employee
    13  commences  only  when  an  application  for membership is filed with the
    14  system, nor shall it be  construed  to  waive  any  of  the  eligibility
    15  requirements for previous service credit.
    16    b. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision a of this section,
    17  upon  the  employment  of  any employee whose right to membership in the
    18  board of education retirement system has been made optional by the  head
    19  of  the  retirement  system  involved,  the  employer  shall provide the
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10847-10-7

        S. 5634--B                          2
     1  respective automatic contribution arrangement for the employee  to  join
     2  the  retirement system ninety days after the commencement of employment,
     3  with membership in the retirement  system commencing on the ninety-first
     4  day  after  commencement  of  employment, provided that, if the employee
     5  files with the system an application to opt  out  of  membership  within
     6  ninety days after commencement of employment, the employer shall refrain
     7  from  enrolling  the  employee in the retirement system unless and until
     8  such employee subsequently files an application for membership with  the
     9  system.  The  automatic enrollment of optional employees as provided for
    10  in this section shall not be construed to modify the right  of  eligible
    11  employees  to join the retirement system as of the first date of covered
    12  employment by filing an application for membership with the system.  The
    13  employer  shall  further  inform the employee in writing of the right to
    14  join the system as well as the fact that the employee shall be  enrolled
    15  in  the  retirement system after the ninetieth day after commencement of
    16  employment, unless such employee files with the system an application to
    17  opt out of the system prior to such  date.  Any  eligible  employee  who
    18  elects  to  opt  out  of  membership in the retirement system within the
    19  ninety day period shall retain the right to join such system  by  subse-
    20  quently  filing  an  application for membership so long as such employee
    21  remains in covered employment.
    22    2.  Each employer shall enroll in the retirement system every  current
    23  employee  eligible  for,  but not enrolled in, the retirement system, on
    24  October first, two thousand eighteen,  unless  such  employee  files  an
    25  application  with  the  system  to  opt  out of the retirement system by
    26  September thirtieth, two thousand eighteen. Automatic enrollment in  the
    27  retirement system shall not be construed to waive any of the eligibility
    28  requirements for previous service credit.
    29    3.  The  automatic enrollment of optional employees as provided for in
    30  this section shall not be construed to modify the rights and obligations
    31  of any employee who is a mandated member of a public  retirement  system
    32  under  any  applicable law, and such mandated members may not opt out of
    33  membership.
    34    § 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          In response to your request, this letter presents the estimated finan-
        cial impact if participation is made mandatory for the Board  of  Educa-
        tion Retirement System of the City of New York (BERS).
          The  ultimate  employer cost for this change will be determined by the
        number, ages, years of service, and salary of those employees that would
        otherwise not have elected to become member of BERS.
          In order to prepare this analysis, we were supplied a file  of  12,287
        individuals  who  are  not currently members of BERS but could voluntary
        elect to participate. This group consisted of 11,292 part-time  and  995
        full-time  employees  that  was approximately 73% female with an average
        age of 34.9, average salary of approximately $25,500, and  average  past
        service  of 2.4 years. We are also told, for calendar year 2016, employ-
        ees in Payroll Codes 745, 744 and 056  are  part-time  and  earned  0.80
        years,  0.44  years  and 0.72 years of service on average, respectively.
        Employees in Payroll Code 740 are generally full-time employees.  Final-
        ly, we were told 72% of eligible employees eventually join BERS.
          Based  on  this  data and these statistics, we have estimated that the
        additional annual employer contribution will  be  $11.0  million  if  no
        prior  years  of  service  are  purchased by these individuals and $18.1
        million  if  all  years  of  prior  service  eligible  for  buyback  are
        purchased.  These  estimates assume that the fractional years of service

        S. 5634--B                          3
        earned in 2016 as described above remains unchanged in the future. These
        estimates also assume a level workforce (i.e., the  number  and  salary,
        age  and service characteristics of the added group remain approximately
        the  same  in  future  years.)  Finally, for purposes of determining the
        portion of the annual employer contribution attributable to the  buyback
        of prior service, we have assumed an amortization period of 15 years (14
        payments under the Lag methodology used in the actuarial valuation.) All
        other  actuarial  assumptions  and methods are the same as those used in
        the June 30, 2016 (Lag) actuarial valuation to determine the Preliminary
        Fiscal Year 2018 employer contributions for BERS.
          If the change to mandatory participation is  made  prior  to  July  1,
        2017,  these  new  additional  members  would  likely be included in the
        census data as of June 30, 2017 and  if  so  the  increase  in  employer
        contributions to BERS would first be reflected in Fiscal Year 2019.
          STATEMENT  OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Sherry S. Chan, am the Chief Actu-
        ary for, and independent of, the New York City Pension Funds and Retire-
        ment Systems. I am a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the
        Conference of Consulting Actuaries and a Member of the American  Academy
        of Actuaries. I meet the Qualification Standards of the American Academy
        of  Actuaries  to  render the actuarial opinion contained herein. To the
        best of my knowledge, the results contained herein have been prepared in
        accordance with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the  Actu-
        arial Standards Board.
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