Bill Text: NY A04807 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to creating funding for post-employment benefit reserve funds.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-16 - held for consideration in local governments [A04807 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A04807-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4807 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 5, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SMULLEN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Local Governments AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to the creation and funding of other post-employment benefit reserve funds, and extending to boards of cooperative educational services the authority to create and maintain workers' compensation reserve funds The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new 2 section 6 to read as follows: 3 § 6. Other post-employment benefit reserve funds. 1. As used in this 4 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 a. "Municipal corporation" means (i) a municipal corporation as 6 defined in section two of this chapter; (ii) a school district (except a 7 school district in a city with a population of one hundred twenty-five 8 thousand or more); (iii) a board of cooperative educational services; 9 (iv) fire district; (v) district corporation; (vi) police district; and 10 (vii) special improvement district governed by a separate board of 11 commissioners. 12 b. "Other post-employment benefit" means any benefit other than a 13 pension benefit that a municipal corporation is obligated by contract, 14 local law, or statute to pay to, or on behalf of, an individual on 15 account of that individual's prior employment by the municipal corpo- 16 ration, including post-employment healthcare benefits, regardless of the 17 type of plan that provides them, but excluding termination benefits such 18 as those described in section six-p of this article. 19 c. "Participating employer" means a participating employer as defined 20 in either subdivision twenty of section two or in subdivision twenty of 21 section three hundred two of the retirement and social security law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08713-01-9A. 4807 2 1 2. The governing board of any municipal corporation which is also a 2 participating employer may establish by resolution a reserve fund for 3 the purpose of financing other post-employment benefits. 4 3. There may be paid into an other post-employment benefit reserve 5 fund: 6 a. such amounts as may be provided therefor by budgetary appropriation 7 or raised by tax therefor; 8 b. such revenues as are not required by law to be paid into any other 9 fund or account; 10 c. such other funds as may be legally appropriated; and 11 d. notwithstanding any law to the contrary, such amounts as may be 12 transferred from a reserve fund established pursuant to section six-c, 13 six-d, six-e, six-f, six-g, six-j, six-m, six-n, or six-p of this arti- 14 cle comprised of moneys raised from the same tax base as the moneys in 15 the other post-employment benefit reserve fund, or a reserve fund estab- 16 lished pursuant to section thirty-six hundred fifty-one of the education 17 law, provided, that any such transfer shall only be made by resolution 18 of the governing board of such municipal corporation adopted after a 19 public hearing held on at least fifteen days prior published notice in 20 the official newspaper of the municipal corporation or, if the municipal 21 corporation does not have an official newspaper, in at least one newspa- 22 per having general circulation in the municipal corporation area. 23 4. The moneys in an other post-employment benefit reserve fund shall 24 be deposited and secured in the manner provided by section ten of this 25 article. The governing board of such municipal corporation, or the chief 26 fiscal officer thereof if the governing board shall delegate such duty 27 to him or her, may invest the moneys in such fund in the manner provided 28 by section eleven of this article. Any interest earned or capital gain 29 realized on the money so deposited or invested shall accrue to and 30 become part of such fund. 31 5. The governing board of such municipal corporation by resolution may 32 authorize expenditures from an other post-employment benefit reserve 33 fund. Except as otherwise provided by law, moneys in an other post-em- 34 ployment benefit reserve fund may only be expended to finance other 35 post-employment benefits. 36 6. The governing board of such municipal corporation by resolution may 37 authorize the transfer of a portion of the moneys in an other post-em- 38 ployment benefit reserve fund to a reserve fund of the municipal corpo- 39 ration established pursuant to section six-c, six-d, six-e, six-f, 40 six-g, six-j, six-m, six-n, or six-p of this article comprised of moneys 41 raised from the same tax base as the moneys in the retirement contrib- 42 ution reserve fund, or a reserve fund established pursuant to section 43 thirty-six hundred fifty-one of the education law, provided, that any 44 such transfer shall only be made by resolution of the governing board of 45 such municipal corporation adopted after a public hearing held on at 46 least fifteen days prior published notice in the official newspaper of 47 the municipal corporation or, if the municipal corporation does not have 48 an official newspaper, in at least one newspaper having general circu- 49 lation in the municipal corporation area. 50 7. The chief fiscal officer of such municipal corporation shall 51 account for an other post-employment benefit reserve fund separate and 52 apart from all other funds of the municipal corporation. Such accounting 53 shall show: the source, date and amount of each sum paid into the fund; 54 the interest earned by such fund; capital gains or losses resulting from 55 the sale of investments of this fund; the order, purpose thereof, date 56 and amount of each payment from this fund; the assets of the fund, indi-A. 4807 3 1 cating cash balance and a schedule of investments. The chief fiscal 2 officer, within sixty days of the end of each fiscal year, shall furnish 3 a detailed report of the operation and condition of this fund to the 4 governing board. 5 8. No member of the governing board of such municipal corporation 6 shall: 7 a. authorize a withdrawal from an other post-employment benefit 8 reserve fund for any purpose except as provided in this section; or 9 b. expend any money withdrawn from such fund for a purpose other than 10 as provided in this section. 11 Any member of the governing board who violates the provisions of this 12 subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 13 9. The governing board of such municipal corporation by resolution may 14 determine that an other post-employment benefit reserve fund is no long- 15 er needed and terminate the fund. Such resolution shall transfer any 16 moneys remaining in such fund to one or more reserve funds of the munic- 17 ipal corporation established pursuant to section six-c, six-d, six-e, 18 six-f, six-g, six-j, six-m, six-n, or six-p of this article comprised of 19 moneys raised from the same tax base as the moneys in the other post-em- 20 ployment benefit reserve fund, or one or more reserve funds established 21 pursuant to section thirty-six hundred fifty-one of the education law. 22 § 2. Section 6-j of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter 23 704 of the laws of 1956, subdivisions 1 and 4 as amended by chapter 476 24 of the laws of 2018, subdivisions 2 and 6 as amended by chapter 340 of 25 the laws of 1973, subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 140 of the laws of 26 1996, and subdivision 5 as added and subdivision 6 as renumbered by 27 chapter 433 of the laws of 1987, is amended to read as follows: 28 § 6-j. [Workmen's] Workers' compensation reserve fund. 1. The govern- 29 ing board of any municipal corporation, school district, board of coop- 30 erative educational services, or fire district, which is, or shall here- 31 after become a self-insurer under the provisions of subdivision four of 32 section fifty of the workers' compensation law or section thirty of the 33 volunteer firefighters' benefit law may establish a reserve fund to be 34 known as the workers' compensation reserve fund of such municipal corpo- 35 ration, school district, board of cooperative educational services, or 36 fire district. 37 2. There may be paid into any such fund (a) such amounts as may be 38 provided therefor by budgetary appropriations and (b) such other sums as 39 may be legally appropriated. 40 3. The moneys in such fund shall be deposited and secured in the 41 manner provided by section ten of this article. The money in such fund 42 so deposited shall be accounted for separate and apart from all other 43 funds of the municipality, school district, board of cooperative educa- 44 tional services, or fire district, in the same manner as provided in 45 subdivision ten of section six-c of this article. The governing board, 46 or the chief fiscal officer of such municipality, school district, board 47 of cooperative educational services, or fire district, if the governing 48 board shall delegate such duty to him, may invest the moneys in such 49 fund in the manner provided in section eleven of this article. Any 50 interest earned or capital gain realized on the money so deposited or 51 invested shall accrue to and become part of such fund. The separate 52 identity of such fund shall be maintained whether its assets consist of 53 cash or investments or both. 54 4. An expenditure shall be made from such fund only for the payment of 55 compensation and benefits, medical, hospital or other expense authorized 56 by article two of the workers' compensation law and by the volunteerA. 4807 4 1 firefighters' benefit law and expenses of administering the self-insu- 2 rance program for such municipal corporation, school district, board of 3 cooperative educational services, or fire district. 4 5. If at the end of any fiscal year the moneys in such fund shall 5 exceed the amounts required to be paid pursuant to subdivision four of 6 this section plus any additional amount required to pay all pending 7 claims, the governing board of the municipal corporation, school 8 district, board of cooperative educational services or fire district 9 may, within sixty days of the close of such fiscal year, elect to: (a) 10 transfer said excess, or any part thereof, to any fund authorized by 11 this article or section thirty-six hundred fifty-one of the education 12 law; and/or (b) apply said excess, or any part thereof to the budget 13 appropriation of the next succeeding fiscal year. 14 6. If the municipal corporation, school district, board of cooperative 15 educational services, or fire district shall, after the establishment of 16 such fund, cease to be a self-insurer, the moneys remaining in such fund 17 may be transferred to any other fund authorized by this chapter or 18 section thirty-six hundred fifty-one of the education law only to the 19 extent that the moneys in such fund shall exceed in amount the sum 20 sufficient to pay all expenditures authorized in [paragraph numbered] 21 subdivision four of this section, both accrued and contingent. 22 § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, within one hundred 23 eighty days of the effective date of this act, a municipal corporation 24 may by resolution transfer into an other post-employment benefits 25 reserve fund created in accordance with section 6 of the general munici- 26 pal law any funds previously set aside by that municipal corporation and 27 identified in the audited financial statements of that municipal corpo- 28 ration for the purpose of paying other post-employment benefits as 29 defined in section 6 of the general municipal law, regardless of how 30 those funds have been designated. 31 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
