Bill Text: NY S07386 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Eliminates restrictions upon transferring between public retirement systems.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-11-14 - SIGNED CHAP.438 [S07386 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S07386-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Eliminates restrictions upon transferring between public retirement systems.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-11-14 - SIGNED CHAP.438 [S07386 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S07386-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7386 IN SENATE April 25, 2016 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to the transfer of members between public retirement systems; and to repeal subdivisions g and i of section 43 of such law relating thereto The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions b and d of section 43 of the retirement and 2 social security law, subdivision b as amended by chapter 724 of the laws 3 of 1959 and subdivision d as amended by chapter 905 of the laws of 1971, 4 are amended to read as follows: 5 b. In order to effect such a transfer, a member must give notice to 6 the administrative head of the retirement system of which he or she is a 7 member, prior to his or her withdrawal therefrom, of his or her inten- 8 tion to enter such other retirement system [within one year. In the case9of a person who has withdrawn from a retirement system and has been10entitled to at least thirty years of total service credit in such11system, however, such notice may be given within three years from the12time of such withdrawal. In the case of a person who was a member of a13retirement system, and who while under such status becomes a member of14such second retirement system, and who has not withdrawn his contrib-15utions to the first such retirement system, any provisions of law16notwithstanding, such notice may be given on or before June thirtieth,17nineteen hundred fifty-nine]. A person so transferring from one retire- 18 ment system to another shall be deemed to have been a member of the 19 system to which he or she has transferred during the entire period of 20 membership service credited to him or her in the system from which he or 21 she has transferred. Such transferee, however, shall not receive more 22 than three per cent interest on his or her contributions and accumulated 23 contributions unless he or she has continuously been a member in either 24 the system from which or to which he or she is transferring since a date 25 prior to July first, nineteen hundred forty-three. This shall not be 26 construed to prevent a change in the interest rate to such member if the 27 interest rate payable to other members of the system to which he or she EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15108-01-6S. 7386 2 1 has transferred is changed. Any member who heretofore transferred from 2 one retirement system to another shall, commencing with the effective 3 date of [this act] chapter nine hundred three of the laws of nineteen 4 hundred fifty-seven, be entitled to the same rights, privileges and 5 benefits, and shall be subject to the same obligations, as a transferee 6 who [hereafter] thereafter transfers. He or she shall receive no credit 7 for prior service, except as hereinafter provided. He or she shall be 8 permitted to deposit in the second retirement system the total amount of 9 his contributions withdrawn from the first retirement system. [Upon such10deposit within one year or within three years, or on or before June11thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-nine, as the case may be, he or the12administrative head of the system to which he desires to transfer, shall13request the administrative head of the first retirement system to trans-14fer to the second retirement system a credit on account of his member-15ship in such system.] 16 d. Such reserve shall be transferred from the appropriate fund or 17 funds of the first system to the appropriate fund or funds of the second 18 system [within one year from the date of the request for a transfer of19credit]. Such member, thereupon, shall be given such status and credited 20 with such service in the second retirement system as he was allowed in 21 the first retirement system. Such contributor, notwithstanding any other 22 provision of law, shall on retirement [after three years of member23service in the second retirement system] be entitled to a pension based 24 on salary earned during member service [in either retirement system, or] 25 in both retirement systems together, [whichever may produce the greater26pension] pursuant to the statutory requirements of the second retirement 27 system. [No such contributor, however, shall be entitled on retirement28within three years of the date of his transfer, to a greater or lesser29pension for such service rendered before his transfer than he would have30received had he remained under the pension provisions of the first31retirement system.] 32 § 2. Subdivisions g and i of section 43 of the retirement and social 33 security law are REPEALED. 34 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.-- PROVISIONS OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION: This proposed legislation would amend subdivisions b and d of Section 43 of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) to simplify the administration of transfers between the retirement systems within New York State. The proposed legislation would also repeal subdivisions g and i of Section 43 of the RSSL to simplify the statute by removing outdated language that no longer affects members of any of the retirement systems. The effective date of the proposed legislation would be the date of enactment. IMPACT ON BENEFITS: The proposed change to subdivision b of Section 43 of the RSSL would eliminate the one-year time limit for members to give notice of their intent to transfer between retirement systems. The proposed change to subdivision d of Section 43 of the RSSL would elimi- nate the requirement that a transferee acquire at least three years of service in the second retirement system in order to have their pension calculated using service credit and salary history as if they were always in the second retirement system. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The number of members expected to be impacted by this proposed legislation cannot be readily determined. However, based on the small number of members who would have been affected by this change in the past, enactment of this proposed legislation is expected to result in an increase in employer contributions of no more thanS. 7386 3 $25,000 per year, in total, to the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System. FINANCIAL IMPACT - ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES: The enactment of this legislation is expected to serve to alleviate administrative burdens by reducing multiple transfers by members who change employment several times. STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Sherry S. Chan, am the Chief Actu- ary for the New York City Retirement Systems. I am an Associate 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 Qualifica- tion Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to render the actu- arial opinion contained herein. FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This estimate is intended for use only during the 2016 Legislative Session. It is Fiscal Note 2016-16, dated April 5, 2016 prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System.
