NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7219REVISED 5/17/23
SPONSOR: Sillitti (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
establishing a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emergency
service
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Allows volunteer fire and emergency service workers the option of
purchasing up to three years of public retirement service credit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
A member upon application to'a public retirement system of the state,
may obtain one year of service credit for every five years of volunteer
fire or emergency service provided in the state. A member shall be
limited under this section to obtain not more than three years of
service credit for a total of fifteen years of volunteer fire or emer-
gency service provided.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill will help recruit and retain volunteer firefighters and emer-
gency service workers. Our volunteers provide integral services in our
communities and we must do all we can to create incentives for them to
continue serving. By allowing volunteer firefighters and emergency
service workers in certain retirement systems to purchase up to three
years of public retirement system credit for each five-year period of
volunteer service, we can provide them with a small, but meaningful
incentive.
Similar to LOSAP, this incentive is based on years of volunteer service.
The longer a volunteer serves, the more credit they will receive.
Retaining experienced volunteers is imperative for training new
recruits. The institutional knowledge that experienced volunteers bring
to our communities improves both public safety and public health.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.9689 of 2021/22-referred to Governmental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7219
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 15, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SILLITTI, DeSTEFANO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.
of A. ANGELINO, BENDETT, K. BROWN, BYRNES, GALLAHAN, GRAY, JONES,
McDONOUGH, MIKULIN, MORINELLO, NORRIS, SMITH, THIELE -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
establishing a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emer-
gency service
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 article 20-A to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 20-A
4 CREDIT FOR NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEER FIRE OR EMERGENCY SERVICE
5 Section 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit.
6 § 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit. 1.
7 For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the follow-
8 ing meanings:
9 (a) "Public retirement system of the state" shall have the same mean-
10 ing as such term is defined pursuant to subdivision twenty-three of
11 section five hundred one of this chapter.
12 (b) "Member" shall mean a member of a public retirement system of the
13 state.
14 2. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a member shall be eligible
15 for credit for volunteer fire or emergency service as provided pursuant
16 to this section.
17 3. A member, upon application to a public retirement system of the
18 state, may obtain one year of service credit for every five years of
19 volunteer fire or emergency service provided in the state. A member
20 shall be limited under this section to obtain not more than three years
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08016-05-3
A. 7219 2
1 of service credit for a total of fifteen years of volunteer fire or
2 emergency service provided. Proof of volunteer fire or emergency
3 service shall be certified by the volunteer agency for which such member
4 volunteered his or her time.
5 4. A member shall have at least five years of credited service, not
6 including service granted hereunder, to be eligible to receive credit
7 pursuant to this section.
8 5. To obtain credit pursuant to this section, a member shall pay the
9 appropriate retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to accumu-
10 late employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the number of
11 years of volunteer fire or emergency service being claimed and three
12 percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of
13 credited service immediately preceding the date that such member made
14 application for credit pursuant to this section. If permitted by rule or
15 regulation of the applicable retirement system, a member may pay such
16 member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not exceed
17 the time period of volunteer fire or emergency service to be credited
18 pursuant to this section. In the event such member leaves the employer
19 payroll prior to completion of payment, he or she shall forward all
20 remaining required payments to the appropriate retirement system prior
21 to the effective date of retirement. If the full amount of such member
22 costs is not paid to the appropriate retirement system prior to the
23 member's retirement, the amount of service credited shall be propor-
24 tional to the total amount of the payments made prior to retirement.
25 6. In no event shall the credit granted pursuant to this section, when
26 added to credit granted for volunteer fire or emergency service with any
27 retirement system of this state pursuant to any other provision of law,
28 exceed a total of three years.
29 7. To be eligible to receive credit for volunteer fire or emergency
30 service under this section, a member shall make application for such
31 credit before the effective date of retirement.
32 8. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to this
33 section, other than the member costs set forth in subdivision five of
34 this section, shall be paid by the state and all employers which partic-
35 ipate in the retirement system in which such member is granted credit.
36 9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death
37 prior to retirement, amounts paid by a member for the purchase of volun-
38 teer fire or emergency service credit pursuant to this section shall be
39 refunded, with interest, to the extent the volunteer fire or emergency
40 service purchased with such amounts does not produce a greater death
41 benefit than would have been payable had such member not purchased such
42 credit.
43 10. Service credit granted pursuant to this section shall be credita-
44 ble in any special twenty or twenty-five year retirement plan.
45 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow members of any New York State retirement system
to purchase service credit for time rendered in volunteer fire or emer-
gency service. A member may obtain one year of service credit for every
five years of volunteer fire or emergency service, not to exceed three
years of total credit. Members must have at least five years of credited
service (not including volunteer service). Members would be required to
make a payment of three percent of their most recent compensation per
year of additional service credit granted by this bill. Service credit
would be creditable on regular age-based and special service-based
A. 7219 3
plans. Members may not be credited more than one year for all service
obtained in a calendar year.
This bill would not be consistent with the Retirement System's policy
that service credit may only be granted for service for which a salary
has been paid.
Insofar as this proposal affects the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement System (NYSLERS), all costs would be shared by the State
of New York and the local participating employers in the NYSLERS. If
enacted during the 2023 legislative session, it is estimated that the
past service cost will be 18% of an affected member's compensation for
each year of service credit that is purchased.
Insofar as this proposal affects the New York State and Local Police
and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), all costs would be shared by the
State of New York and the local participating employers in the NYSLPFRS.
If enacted during the 2023 legislative session, it is estimated that the
past service cost will be 22% of an affected member's compensation for
each year of service credit that is purchased.
Further, we anticipate additional administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
The exact number of current members as well as future members who
could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined.
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.
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 3, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-69, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
