NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A6702
SPONSOR: Burke
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to authorize James Unger to receive certain credit under section
384-d of the retirement and social security law
 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
This legislation corrects a statutory deficiency by permitting Officer
James Unger, of the Town of West Seneca Police Department, the authority
to transfer service credit accrued resulting from his employment with
the Erie County Sheriffs Department to the pension plan of his existing
employer.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 establishes the authority to transfer service credit.
Section 2 requires past service costs to be borne by the Town of West
Seneca.
Section 3 sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
James Unger served as sworn member of the Erie County Sheriffs Depart-
ment prior to his appointment as an officer with the Town of West Sene-
ca. Police Department. His former position with Sheriff's Department
road patrol is consistent with the performance of his current job duties
and as such, he ought to be afforded the option as set forth within this
legislation.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: S06739A referred to Civil Service and Pensions
2021-2022: A09634 referred to governmental employees
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
The bill would take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6702
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 5, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BURKE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize James Unger to receive certain credit under section
384-d of the retirement and social security law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, James Unger,
2 currently a town of West Seneca police officer and member of the New
3 York state and local police and fire retirement system covered by
4 section 384-d of the retirement and social security law, who between
5 January 21, 2003 and September 6, 2006 was employed by the Erie county
6 sheriff's department where he was a member of the New York state and
7 local employees' retirement system, and who, for reasons not ascribable
8 to his own negligence, was not granted service credit under section
9 384-d of the retirement and social security law for his period of
10 employment with the Erie county sheriff's department, shall be granted
11 such service credit under section 384-d of the retirement and social
12 security law and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits asso-
13 ciated with coverage under such section, provided a request to that
14 effect is filed with the state comptroller within one year from the
15 effective date of this act. Prior to James Unger submitting such
16 request, he must first file an application for tier reinstatement with
17 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system, as he
18 has previously withdrawn his membership with the New York state and
19 local employees' retirement system. Once any costs associated with James
20 Unger's tier reinstatement to his prior membership are paid in full by
21 him, he may be granted the service credit and such service credit will
22 be creditable service under section 384-d of the retirement and social
23 security law for James Unger.
24 § 2. All past service costs incurred in implementing the provisions of
25 this act shall be borne by the town of West Seneca.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00565-03-3
A. 6702 2
1 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would grant service credit under section 384-d together with
384-e of the Retirement and Social Security Law to James Unger, a
current member of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retire-
ment System (NYSLPFRS) employed by the Town of West Seneca, for the
period of January 21, 2003, through September 6, 2006, during which time
they were employed as deputy sheriff in Erie County. Currently, deputy
sheriff service is not creditable in a NYSLPFRS twenty-year police
retirement plan.
If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $219,000 which
will be borne by the Town of West Seneca as a one-time payment. This
estimate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2024.
This bill will not increase the future annual contributions of the
Town of West Seneca.
James Unger must complete and file an application for tier rein-
statement with the NYSLPFRS for service credit to be granted.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2022
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
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 18, 2023, and intended for use only
during the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-10,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.