Authorizes active members of the New York state and local police and fire retirement system to purchase service credit for service with the Long Island Railroad Company police department.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8231
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DURSO -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT in relation to authorizing active members of the New York state
and local police and fire retirement system to purchase service credit
for service with the Long Island Railroad Company police department
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, any active
2 member of the New York state and local police and fire retirement system
3 who was a former police officer of the Long Island Railroad company
4 police department shall be eligible to apply to purchase up to three
5 years of service credit for such employment if, within one year of the
6 effective date of this act, the member shall (1) file a written request
7 to that effect with such retirement system; and (2) shall pay to the New
8 York state and local police and fire retirement system a sum equal to
9 the product of the number of years of service being claimed and three
10 percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of
11 credited service immediately preceding the date that the member made
12 application for credit pursuant to this section. Such members shall have
13 at least five years of credited service, not including service credited
14 by this section, to be eligible to receive the credit authorized pursu-
15 ant to this section.
16 § 2. All past service costs attributable to the implementation of this
17 act shall be borne by the state of New York.
18 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow active members of the New York State and Local
Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS) to purchase up to three
years of service credit for time rendered as a police officer in the
Long Island Railroad Company (LIRR) police department. To be eligible,
members must have at least five years of credited service (not including
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08934-02-5
A. 8231 2
this LIRR service). Currently, service with the LIRR must be credited in
the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police retirement program
before it can be transferred to NYSLPFRS. Members would be required to
pay three percent of their most recent compensation for each year of
additional service credit granted by this bill.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it is
estimated that the past service cost will be 22% of affected member's
compensation for each year of service credit that is purchased. This
cost will be billed to the State of New York annually, based on those
benefiting from this provision.
The exact number of current members as well as future members who
could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined. For
one member known to be impacted by this bill, the cost to the State of
New York will be approximately $153,000, assuming it is paid March 1,
2026.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 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, 2024 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 March 27, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-125. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional
Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of
Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a
member.
