Bill Text: NY S06141 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6141--A

                               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

        AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
          providing  additional  benefits  for certain retirement system members
          with credited service in excess of twenty-five years

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Subdivisions c and g of section 89-f of the retirement and
     2  social security law, as added by chapter 591 of the laws of  1988,  such
     3  section  as  renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, and subdivi-
     4  sion g as relettered by chapter 543 of the laws of 1992, are amended  to
     5  read as follows:
     6    c.  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,  provided  however  that  a member with credited
    15  service in excess of  twenty-five  years  shall  receive  an  additional
    16  retirement  allowance equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final aver-
    17  age salary for each year of creditable service in excess of  twenty-five
    18  years but not in excess of thirty years.
    19    g.  A  member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
    20  retirement, [shall] may retire after the completion of twenty-five years

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10296-04-4
        S. 6141--A                          2

     1  of total creditable service. Application therefor  may  be  filed  in  a
     2  manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon
     3  completion  of  at  least  twenty-five  years  of  such service and upon
     4  retirement,  each  such  member  shall receive a pension which, together
     5  with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent  of  [his]  such
     6  member's  accumulated  contributions  at the time of [his] such member's
     7  retirement and an additional pension which is the  actuarial  equivalent
     8  of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member may
     9  then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member with a
    10  retirement  allowance  equal  to  one-half  of [his] such member's final
    11  average salary plus an additional retirement allowance equal to one-six-
    12  tieth of such member's final average salary for each year of  creditable
    13  service  in  excess  of  twenty-five  years  but not in excess of thirty
    14  years.
    15    § 2. Subdivision d of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
    16  ty law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of  1988,  is  amended  to
    17  read as follows:
    18    d.  The  early  service  retirement  for  a  member who is employed in
    19  Suffolk county as a correction officer as  defined  in  section  eighty-
    20  nine-f  of  this  chapter,  shall  be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of
    21  final average salary times years of credited service at  the  completion
    22  of  twenty-five  years  of  service as such correction officer[, but not
    23  exceeding one-half of his or her] plus an additional  retirement  allow-
    24  ance  equal  to  one-sixtieth  of such member's final average salary for
    25  each year of credited service in excess of twenty-five years but not  in
    26  excess of thirty years.
    27    §   3.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing  the
    28  provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk  and  may
    29  be amortized over a period of ten years.
    30    §  4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
    31  of the provisions of this act shall  be  subject  to  the  appropriation
    32  requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
    33    §  5.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
    34  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 with additional sixtieths for
        each year of creditable service in excess of twenty-five years  but  not
        in  excess  of thirty years.   The current service retirement benefit is
        one-half of FAS upon  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of  creditable
        service.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
        ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $1.0 million 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 0.8% of affected salary annually.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $12.8 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 the first year
        including interest would be $1.64 million.
        S. 6141--A                          3

          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 January 3, 2024, and intended for use only during
        the 2024 Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2024-15  Revised,
        prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
        System.