STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5207
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- 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
establishing a twenty year retirement plan for members or officers of
law enforcement
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 section 383-e to read as follows:
3 § 383-e. Retirement of officers of state law enforcement; twenty year
4 retirement plan. a. Membership. Every non-seasonally appointed sworn
5 member or officer of the division of law enforcement in the department
6 of environmental conservation, a forest ranger in the service of the
7 department of environmental conservation, which shall mean a person who
8 serves on a full-time basis in the title of forest ranger I, forest
9 ranger II, forest ranger III, assistant superintendent of forest fire
10 control, superintendent of forest fire control or any successor titles
11 or new titles in the forest ranger title series in the department of
12 environmental conservation, a police officer in the department of envi-
13 ronmental conservation, the regional state park police, and university
14 police officers who enter or re-enter service in any such title shall be
15 covered by the provisions of this section, and every member described in
16 this subdivision in such service on or before one year prior to the
17 effective date of this section may elect to be covered by the provisions
18 of this section by filing an election therefor with the comptroller. To
19 be effective, such election must be duly executed and acknowledged on a
20 form prepared by the comptroller for that purpose.
21 b. Retirement allowance. A member, covered by the provisions of this
22 section at the time of retirement, shall be entitled to retire upon
23 completion of twenty years of total creditable service in such titles,
24 and shall retire upon the attainment of the mandatory retirement age
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05574-02-9
S. 5207 2
1 prescribed by this section, by filing an application therefor in a
2 manner similar to that provided in section three hundred seventy of this
3 article.
4 1. Upon completion of twenty years of such service and upon retire-
5 ment, each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an
6 annuity for such years of service as provided in paragraph four of this
7 subdivision, shall be sufficient to provide him with a retirement allow-
8 ance of one-half of his final average salary.
9 2. Upon completion of more than twenty years of such service and upon
10 retirement, each such member shall receive, for each year of service in
11 excess of twenty, an additional pension which, together with an annuity
12 for each such year as provided in paragraph four of this subdivision,
13 shall be equal to one-sixtieth of his final average salary, provided,
14 however, that the pension payable pursuant to this section shall not
15 exceed three-quarters of final average salary.
16 3. Upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age without completion
17 of twenty years of such service, each such member shall receive a
18 pension which, together with an annuity for such years of service as
19 provided in paragraph four of this subdivision, shall be equal to one-
20 fortieth of his final average salary for each year of creditable service
21 in such titles. Every such member shall also be entitled to an addi-
22 tional pension equal to the pension for any creditable service rendered
23 while not an employee in such titles as provided under paragraphs three
24 and four of subdivision a of section three hundred seventy-five of this
25 article. This latter pension shall not increase the total allowance to
26 more than one-half of his final average salary.
27 4. The annuity provided under paragraphs one, two and three of this
28 subdivision shall be the actuarial equivalent, at the time of retire-
29 ment, of the member's accumulated contributions based upon the rate of
30 contribution fixed under section three hundred eighty-three of this
31 title and upon the salaries earned while in such service. Such annuity
32 shall be computed as it would be if it were not reduced by the actuarial
33 equivalent of any outstanding loan nor by reason of the member's
34 election to decrease his contributions toward retirement in order to
35 apply the resulting amount toward payment of contributions for old age
36 and survivor's insurance. Any accumulated contributions in excess of the
37 amount required to provide the annuity computed pursuant to this para-
38 graph shall be used to increase the member's retirement allowance.
39 c. Credit for previous service. In computing the years of total cred-
40 itable service for each member described herein, full credit shall be
41 given and full allowance shall be made for service rendered as a police
42 officer or state university peace officer or member of a police force or
43 department of a state park authority or commission or an organized
44 police force or department of a county, city, town, village, police
45 district, authority or other participating employer or member of the
46 capital police force in the office of general services while a member of
47 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system, of the
48 New York state and local employees' retirement system or of the New York
49 city police pension fund and for all service for which full credit has
50 been given and full allowance made pursuant to the provisions of section
51 three hundred seventy-five-h of this article provided, however, that
52 full credit pursuant to the provisions of such section shall mean only
53 such service as would be creditable service pursuant to the provisions
54 of section three hundred eighty-three, three hundred eighty-three-a,
55 three hundred eighty-three-b, as added by chapter six hundred seventy-
56 four of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six, three hundred eighty-
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1 three-b, as added by chapter six hundred seventy-seven of the laws of
2 nineteen hundred eighty-six, three hundred eighty-three-c or three
3 hundred eighty-three-d of this title or pursuant to the provisions of
4 title thirteen of the administrative code of the city of New York for
5 any member contributing pursuant to this section who transferred to the
6 jurisdiction of the department of environmental conservation including
7 but not limited to environmental conservation officers and forest
8 rangers, regional state park police or state university of New York
9 peace officers.
10 d. Retirement for cause. Upon receipt of a certificate from the head
11 of the entity where such member is employed or his or her designee, a
12 member as described in subdivision a of this section, who has accrued
13 twenty-five or more years of service credit under this section shall be
14 retired on the first day of the second month next succeeding the date
15 such certificate was filed with the comptroller.
16 e. Credit for military service. In computing the years of total cred-
17 itable service full credit shall be given and full allowance shall be
18 made for service of such member in war after world war I as defined in
19 section three hundred two of this article, provided such member at the
20 time of his or her entrance into the armed forces was in police service
21 as defined in subdivision eleven of section three hundred two of this
22 article.
23 f. Transfer of membership to employees' retirement system. Any member
24 currently enrolled pursuant to this section and who previously trans-
25 ferred service credit from the New York state and local employees'
26 retirement system to the New York state and local police and fire
27 retirement system, may elect to transfer such previously transferred
28 service credit back to the New York state and local employees' retire-
29 ment system, and such member shall have the option to retroactively
30 transfer his or her membership into such employees' retirement system.
31 g. The provisions of this section shall be controlling, notwithstand-
32 ing any provision of this article to the contrary.
33 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
34 provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York and may
35 be amortized over a period of ten years.
36 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
37 have become a law.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will allow any non-seasonally appointed sworn member or
officer of the division of law enforcement in the department of environ-
mental conservation, a police officer in the department of environmental
conservation, a forest ranger in the department of environmental conser-
vation, a regional state park police officer or a university police
officer to become covered by the provisions of a special 20 year retire-
ment plan, which will provide a benefit of one-half of final average
salary upon retirement, and an additional benefit of one-sixtieth of
final average salary for each year of creditable service in excess of 20
years, not to exceed 12 such years.
If this bill is enacted, there will be an increase in the annual
contributions of the state of New York of approximately $3.1 million for
the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost to the state of New York of approximately
$38.0 million. This estimate is based on the assumption that payment
will be made on March 1, 2020. If the State of New York elects to amor-
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tize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year would
be $5.1 million.
This estimate is based on 1,220 affected officers, with an estimated
annual salary of approximately $98 million for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2018.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2018
Report of the Actuary and the 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017 and 2018 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, 2018
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.
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 January 23, 2019, and intended for use only
during the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-24,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.