Bill Text: NY S06141 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides additional benefits for certain county correction officers in Suffolk county; provides benefits to retirement system members with credited service of thirty years.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-11 - PRINT NUMBER 6141B [S06141 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S06141-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6141--B 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 30, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, CHU -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee -- 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 the retirement of county correction officers in Suffolk county The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions c, g and h of section 89-f of the retirement 2 and social security law, as added by chapter 591 of the laws of 1988, 3 and such section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, 4 subdivisions g and h as relettered by chapter 543 of the laws of 1992, 5 are amended to read as follows: 6 c. (1) Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon 7 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together 8 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such 9 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's 10 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent 11 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member 12 may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member 13 with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's 14 final average salary. 15 (2) Upon completion of thirty years of such service and upon retire- 16 ment, each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an 17 annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of such member's accumu- 18 lated contributions at the time of such member's retirement and an addi- 19 tional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the reserved-for-in- 20 creased-take-home-pay to which such member may then be entitled shall be EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10296-13-4S. 6141--B 2 1 sufficient to provide such member with a retirement allowance equal to 2 sixty percent of such member's final average salary. 3 g. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of 4 retirement, shall retire after the completion of twenty-five years or 5 thirty years of total creditable service. Application therefor may be 6 filed in a manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this 7 article. Upon completion of twenty-five years or thirty years of such 8 service and upon retirement, each such member shall receive a pension 9 which, together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent 10 of [his] such member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] 11 such member's retirement and an additional pension which is the actuari- 12 al equivalent of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] 13 such member may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] 14 such member with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such 15 member's final average salary for a member retiring after the completion 16 of twenty-five years, or a retirement allowance equal to sixty percent 17 of such member's final average salary for a member retiring after the 18 completion of thirty years. 19 h. In computing the twenty-five years or thirty years of total service 20 of a member pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and full 21 allowance shall be made for service of such member in time of war after 22 World War I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such 23 member at the time of [his] such member's entrance into the armed forces 24 was in the service of the county of Suffolk. 25 § 2. Subdivision d of section 604 of the retirement and social secu- 26 rity law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to 27 read as follows: 28 d. 1. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in 29 Suffolk county as a correction officer as defined in section eighty- 30 nine-f of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of 31 final average salary times years of credited service at the completion 32 of twenty-five years of service as such correction officer, but not 33 exceeding one-half of [his or her] such member's final average salary. 34 2. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in 35 Suffolk county as a correction officer as defined in section eighty- 36 nine-f of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of 37 final average salary times years of credited service at the completion 38 of thirty years of service as such correction officer, but not exceeding 39 sixty percent of such member's final average salary. 40 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the 41 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk and may 42 be amortized over a period of ten years. 43 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 44 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 45 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 46 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all 47 members that retire on or after such date. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would modify the service retirement benefit for members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed by Suffolk County as correction officers. The modified service retirement benefit will be one-half of final average salary (FAS) upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service and sixty percent of FAS upon completion of thirty years of creditable service. The current service retirement benefit is one-half of FAS upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service.S. 6141--B 3 If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $440,000 in the annual contributions of Suffolk County for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average 0.3% of salary annually. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.5 million which will be borne by Suffolk County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Suffolk County elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for each year including interest would be $702,000. These estimated costs are based on 843 affected members employed by Suffolk County, with annual salary of approximately $115 million as of March 31, 2023. 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. 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 March 8, 2024, and intended for use only during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-106, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
