Relates to age and service eligibility requirements for ordinary retirement for members of the unified court system; restores 55/30 for all members; reduces the retirement age from 63 to 62.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9540
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified
court system
PURPOSE:
This bill will allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court officer
or peace officer employed by the Unified Court System to retire without
early age reduction upon attaining 30 years of creditable service and
age 55. It will also reduce the normal retirement age from 63 to 62, and
lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire prior to normal
retirement age.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 503 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
by allowing Tier 6 uniformed court officers or peace officers employed
by the Unified Court System into the age 55 retirement plans already in
place for other similar employees, and reduces the normal retirement age
for these employees from 63 to 62.
Section 2 amends Section 603 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
by allowing Tier 6 uniformed court officers or peace officers employed
by the Unified Court System into the age 55 retirement plans already in
place for other similar employees, and reduces the normal retirement age
for these employees from 63 to 62.
Section 3 amends Section 604 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
by allowing Tier 6 uniformed court officers or peace officers employed
by the Unified Court System into the age 55 retirement plans already in
place for other similar employees, and reduces the normal retirement age
for these employees from 63 to 62.
Section 4 amends Section 603 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
by allowing Tier 6 uniformed court officers or peace officers employed
by the Unified Court System into the age 55 retirement plans already in
place for other similar employees, and reduces the normal retirement age
for these employees from 63 to 62.
Section 5 provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law to
the contrary, this bill is not subject to the appropriation requirement
of Retirement and Social Security Law section 25.
Section 6 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
When changes were made to the Retirement and Social Security Law that
allowed employees to retire without early age reduction upon attaining
30 years of service and age 55, court officers and peace officers
employed by the unified court system were left out of the legislation.
This bill will redress those inequities and provide these vital employ-
ees with the same opportunities as their counterparts. As they work in
the high-stress environment that is our court system, they deserve the
same retirement benefits already afforded to other law enforcement
personnel.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: A.5679-Veto Memo 88
2021/2022: A.6634 - referred to ways and means
2020: A.9910-referred to Governmental Employees
2019: A.5940-Veto Memo 249
2018: A.9910-Veto Memo 290
2017: S.3670-Veto Memo 191
2016: S.6936-Veto Memo 245
2015: S.4907-Veto Memo 209
2014: S.7757-Veto Memo 568
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amendments to
subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social security law
made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration of Such
subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9540
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified
court system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social
2 security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five
5 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other
6 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements
7 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a
8 general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
9 system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without
10 reduction of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit upon attain-
11 ment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or
12 more years of service. For members who become members of the New York
13 state and local employees' retirement system on or after April first,
14 two thousand twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in
15 section five hundred four of this article shall be payable to general
16 members, other than elective members, who have met the minimum service
17 requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-three; provided
18 that, a member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
19 system may retire without reduction of such member's retirement benefit
20 upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of
21 thirty or more years of service.
22 § 2. Subdivisions a and a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and
23 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision a-1 as
24 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
25 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
26 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
27 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08385-03-4
A. 9540 2
1 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
2 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
3 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
4 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
5 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
6 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
7 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
8 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
9 article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
10 the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first
11 joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who
12 is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified
13 court system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
14 employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve]
15 may retire without reduction of [his or her] such member's retirement
16 benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and
17 completion of thirty or more years of service, provided, however, that a
18 uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court
19 system who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
20 employees' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten
21 and retires without reduction of [his or her] such member's retirement
22 benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and
23 completion of thirty or more years of service pursuant to this section
24 shall be required to make the member contributions required by subdivi-
25 sion f of section six hundred thirteen of this article for all years of
26 credited and creditable service, provided further that the [the] preced-
27 ing provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a New York city
28 revised plan member.
29 a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement
30 system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except
31 for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified
32 court system, the service retirement benefit specified in section six
33 hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met
34 the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age
35 sixty-three.
36 § 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and
37 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as
38 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
39 a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a
40 member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than
41 twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York
42 state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thou-
43 sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final
44 average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age
45 for members who first become members of a public retirement system of
46 the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age
47 sixty-three; except that the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two
48 for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer employed
49 by the unified court system.
50 b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
51 service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years of
52 [credit] credited service who first become a member of a public retire-
53 ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at
54 age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for uniformed court officers or
55 peace officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension
56 equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final
A. 9540 3
1 average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final
2 average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any
3 retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than
4 the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contrib-
5 utions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded
6 annually to the date of retirement.
7 § 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and
8 social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is
9 amended to read as follows:
10 3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the
11 minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit
12 authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of
13 section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal
14 retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in
15 which event, the amount of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit
16 computed without optional modification shall be reduced by six and one-
17 half per centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age
18 sixty-three; provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed
19 court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system, the
20 retirement benefit computed without optional modification shall be
21 reduced in accordance with paragraph one of this subdivision.
22 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
23 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
24 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
25 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
26 ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu-
27 rity law made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration
28 of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi-
cer or peace officer employed by the unified court system to retire
without early age reduction upon attaining 30 years of creditable
service and age 55. It would also reduce the normal retirement age from
63 to 62 and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire
prior to normal retirement age.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System (NYSLERS), the increased costs would be borne entirely
by the State of New York. If this bill were enacted during the 2024
Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of benefits would
be approximately $34.2 million.
In the NYSLERS, this benefit improvement will be funded by (1) billing
a past service cost to cover retrospective benefit increases and (2)
increasing the billing rates charged annually to cover prospective bene-
fit increases, as follows:
(1) To fund retrospective costs, the State of New York will be
required to pay $18.9 million as of March 1, 2025.
(2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of the
State of New York will include a separate itemized charge equal to 1.0%
of billable salary reported to the NYSLERS for the affected members, or
approximately $2.2 million beginning in fiscal year ending March 31,
2025. This permanent annual cost will increase as Tier 6 salary grows
and will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the billing
rate.
These estimated costs are based on 2,207 affected members employed by
New York State, with annual salary of approximately $166 million as of
March 31, 2023.
A. 9540 4
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. 2024-92, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
