Bill Text: NY S05883 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to providing county correction officers with a special optional twenty year retirement plan.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-3)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-16 - PRINT NUMBER 5883A [S05883 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S05883-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5883--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 21, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. SKOUFIS, GALLIVAN, HELMING, HINCHEY, MANNION, OBER- ACKER, ORTT, RHOADS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when print- ed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions in accord- ance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- 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 county correction officers with a special optional twenty year retirement plan The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding 2 a new article 14-C to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 14-C 4 OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PLAN FOR COUNTY CORRECTION OFFICERS OR DEPUTY 5 SHERIFFS PERFORMING AS CORRECTION OFFICERS 6 Section 561. Definitions. 7 562. Optional twenty year retirement plan for certain members 8 whose employer elects to provide same. 9 563. Additional pension benefit for members of optional twenty 10 year retirement plan. 11 564. Consistent provisions. 12 § 561. Definitions. For purposes of this article: 13 (a) "Member" shall mean a person who is employed as a county 14 correction officer or a deputy sheriff who is engaged directly in 15 correction officer duties that aggregate fifty per centum of their 16 service by a county which elects by resolution or local law, duly 17 adopted, to provide the benefits as authorized by this article. 18 (b) "Retirement system" shall mean the New York state and local 19 employees' retirement system. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05836-04-4S. 5883--A 2 1 (c) "Creditable service" shall include any and all services performed 2 as a sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, or correction officer. 3 Credit for service as a member or officer of the state police or as a 4 paid fireman, policeman or officer of any organized fire department or 5 police force or department of any county, city, village, town, fire 6 district or police district, shall also be deemed to be creditable 7 service and shall be included in computing years of total service for 8 retirement pursuant to this section, provided such service was performed 9 by the member while contributing to the retirement system pursuant to 10 the provisions of this article or article eight of this chapter. 11 § 562. Optional twenty year retirement plan for certain members whose 12 employer elects to provide same. (a) Any member of the retirement system 13 may elect to become a member pursuant to the provisions of this section 14 within one year after he or she becomes a member, if his or her employer 15 has elected to make the benefits provided by this section available to 16 members, or within one year after his or her employer elects to make the 17 benefits provided by this section available to its members. 18 (b) Elections made pursuant to this section shall be in writing and 19 shall be duly acknowledged and filed with the comptroller. Any member 20 who files such an election pursuant to this section may withdraw it 21 after it has been filed for at least a year. Such withdrawal shall be by 22 written notice duly acknowledged and filed with the comptroller. 23 (c) A member participating on the basis of this section at the time of 24 retirement shall be entitled to retire after the completion of twenty 25 years of total creditable service or upon the attainment of age sixty- 26 two, by filing an application therefor in a manner similar to that 27 provided in this chapter. 28 (i) Upon completion of twenty years of such service and upon retire- 29 ment, each such member shall receive a pension sufficient to provide him 30 or her with a retirement allowance equal to one-fortieth of his or her 31 final average salary for each year of total creditable services for 32 which he or she is otherwise entitled but not exceeding in the aggregate 33 one-half of his or her final average salary. 34 (ii) Upon attainment of age sixty-two and upon retirement without 35 completion of twenty years of such service, each such member shall 36 receive a pension sufficient to provide him or her with a retirement 37 allowance equal to one-fortieth of his or her final average salary for 38 each year of creditable service. Every such member shall also be enti- 39 tled to an additional pension equal to the pension for any other credit- 40 able service rendered as otherwise provided for in this chapter. This 41 latter pension shall not increase the total allowance to more than one- 42 half of his or her final average salary. 43 (d) The increased pensions to such members, as provided by this 44 section, shall be paid from additional contributions made by the partic- 45 ipating employer on account of such members. The actuary of the retire- 46 ment system shall compute the additional contribution required for each 47 member who elects to receive the special benefits provided under this 48 section. Such additional contributions shall be computed on the basis of 49 contributions during the prospective service of such member which will 50 cover the liability of the retirement system for such extra pensions. 51 Upon approval of the comptroller, such additional contributions shall be 52 certified by him or her to the chief fiscal officer or the participating 53 employer. The amount thereof shall be included in the annual appropri- 54 ation of the participating employer. Such amount shall be paid on the 55 warrant of the chief fiscal officer of the participating employer to the 56 pension accumulation fund of the retirement system.S. 5883--A 3 1 (e) In computing the twenty years of completed service of a member, 2 full credit shall be given for military service as defined in subdivi- 3 sions twenty-nine-a and thirty of section three hundred two of this 4 chapter. 5 (f) Every member participating on the basis of this section shall be 6 separated from the service on the last day of the calendar month next 7 succeeding the calendar month in which he or she attains age sixty-two, 8 provided, however, that such a member who attained the age of sixty-two 9 before his or her employer elected to make the benefits provided by this 10 section available to him or her, or who attains the age of sixty-two 11 within one month after his or her employer makes such benefits avail- 12 able, to be eligible for a pension computed in accordance with the 13 provisions of this section, shall be separated from the service within 14 three months after his or her employer makes such benefits available. 15 (g) The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstand- 16 ing any other provision of this article to the contrary. 17 (h) The benefits of this section shall be available only to those 18 members whose employer elects to provide such benefits by adopting a 19 resolution or local law to such effect and filing a certified copy ther- 20 eof with the comptroller. 21 (i) The benefits provided by this section shall be payable to a 22 member, unless at the date of retirement such member would otherwise be 23 entitled to a greater benefit under other provisions of this chapter had 24 he or she withdrawn from this section, in which event such greater bene- 25 fits shall be payable. 26 § 563. Additional pension benefit for members of optional twenty year 27 retirement plan. (a) A participating employer which has elected, or 28 which elects to provide the benefits of the optional twenty year retire- 29 ment plan for its employees as specified in this article may elect to 30 make contributions for the purpose of providing an additional pension 31 pursuant to this section for members in its employ who are entitled to a 32 pension pursuant to section five hundred sixty-two of this article. 33 Every member employed by an employer which has elected the provisions of 34 section five hundred sixty-two of this article and this section may 35 elect to be covered by the provisions of this section by filing with the 36 comptroller, a duly executed and acknowledged form prepared by the comp- 37 troller for that purpose. 38 (b) Upon retirement, each such member shall receive, for each year of 39 service in excess of twenty, an additional pension which shall be equal 40 to one-sixtieth of his or her final average salary; provided, however, 41 that the total allowance payable pursuant to this section shall not 42 exceed three-quarters of such member's final average salary. 43 § 564. Consistent provisions. Nothing contained in this article shall 44 be construed to otherwise affect the applicability of article eleven, 45 fourteen or fifteen of this chapter. Any other provisions of this chap- 46 ter relating to mandatory contribution to the retirement system based 47 upon a member's date of membership in such system shall not be deemed to 48 be affected by the provisions of this article, and any member who on the 49 effective date of this article is not required to contribute shall not 50 be required to make any contributions as a result of this section. For 51 those members required to contribute to the retirement system, such 52 contribution shall be treated in the same manner as specified for such 53 members in article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter. 54 § 2. Any past service payments required of a county as a result of the 55 adoption of the benefits permitted by this act may be amortized over a 56 period of up to ten years at the option of such county.S. 5883--A 4 1 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would add Article 14-C to the Retirement and Social Security Law, creating county electable twenty-year plans covering any county correction officers and deputy sheriffs engaged directly in correction officer duties that aggregate at least fifty percent of their service. A county may elect to provide a retirement benefit equal to fifty percent of final average salary after twenty years of service. A county may further elect to provide for additional sixtieths for service in excess of twenty years. All service rendered as a correction officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff or undersheriff, a member or officer of the State Police, a paid firefighter, a police officer, or an officer of any organized fire department or police force will be creditable. The retirement bene- fit is not to exceed seventy-five percent of final average salary. If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, there will be an increase in the annual contributions of any electing county for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, as approximated in the following table. In future years, these costs will vary as the billing rates of the affected members change. Current Plan Article 14-C Article 14-C 20-Year Plan 20-Year Plan with additional sixtieths Article 14 or Article 15 9.0% 10.3% 89*, 25-Year Plans 4.9% 6.4% County Law Enforcement Article 14-B 25-Year Plan 3.7% 5.2% Article 14-B 25-Year Plan 2.1% 3.6% 25-Year Plan with additional sixtieths In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost that will depend upon the affected members' service, salary, tier, current retirement plan, and new retire- ment plan. Once a county elects to provide this coverage, an exact cost will be determined based on a roster of eligible members provided by the county. The past service cost may be amortized over a period of up to ten years. 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.S. 5883--A 5 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 February 16, 2024, and intended for use only during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-50, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
