NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9494
SPONSOR: Abbate TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the retirement and social security
law, in relation to calculation of service credit for certain members
PURPOSE: This bill intends to provide additional pension benefits for
certain members who had salary increases withheld for the fiscal year
2009-2010, and 2010-2011.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill would provide that a member desig-
nated as managerial or confidential woo had specific benefits withheld
in fiscal years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 would have their retirement
benefits calculated upon retirement to provide an additional month of
service credit, but not in access of 24 months, for each month of
employment from April 1, 2009 for members either in the classified
service of the state of New York in a position designated managerial or
confidential pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law or in
the service of a public authority under the civil service jurisdiction
of the stated department of civil service, who is in active service as
of April 1, 2014 and retire on or before March 31, 2015.
JUSTIFICATION: Chapter 100 of 2008 provided several classes of civil
service members with salary increases, performance advances, longevities
and merit payments for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 fiscal years. Chapter
491 of the laws of 2011 provided additional increases for these civil
service employees. While other civil service classes actually received
all of these benefits, the director of Budget withheld or delayed such
benefits from members designates managerial or confidential. This bill
seeks to level, the playing field for managerial or confidential employ-
ees by granting them additional credit upon retirement.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: See fiscal note
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9494
IN ASSEMBLY
May 2, 2014
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
calculation of service credit for certain members
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 3 of subdivision a of section 902 of the retire-
2 ment and social security law, as added by chapter 126 of the laws of
3 2000, is amended to read as follows:
4 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the service retire-
5 ment benefit of an eligible employee is subject to a maximum retirement
6 benefit, the additional benefit authorized by this subdivision or by
7 paragraph four of subdivision b of this section shall be computed by
8 multiplying the final average salary times the number of years of
9 service credit granted by this subdivision or by paragraph four of
10 subdivision b of this section times the benefit fraction of the plan
11 under which the employee retires.
12 § 2. Subdivision b of section 902 of the retirement and social securi-
13 ty law is amended by adding a new paragraph 4 to read as follows:
14 4. (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any member who is
15 in active service, as defined in paragraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of subdi-
16 vision e of section nine hundred of this article, as of April first, two
17 thousand fourteen in a position or positions in the classified service
18 of the state of New York designated managerial or confidential pursuant
19 to article fourteen of the civil service law or a member of a public
20 authority under the civil service jurisdiction of the state department
21 of civil service shall receive one month of additional service credit
22 for each full month of service credit rendered in such position on or
23 after April first, two thousand nine through the date of retirement up
24 to a maximum of twenty-four months of service credit.
25 (ii) The provisions of subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall only
26 apply to those qualifying members who retire on or before March thirty-
27 first, two thousand fifteen.
28 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14833-02-4
A. 9494 2
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to legislative law section 50:
This bill will provide an additional month of service credit, but not
in excess of 24 months, for each month of employment from April 1, 2009
for members either in the classified service of the state of New York in
a position designated managerial or confidential pursuant to article
fourteen of the civil service law or in the service of a public authori-
ty under the civil service jurisdiction of the state department of civil
service, who is in active service as of April 1, 2014 and retire on or
before March 31, 2015.
If this bill is enacted, there will be an immediate past service cost
of approximately $23 million which would be borne by the State of New
York as a one-time payment. This estimate cost assumes a payment date of
March 1, 2015.
This estimate is based on the assumption that approximately the same
number of members retire in this one year period as have on average
retired in each of the 2 prior fiscal years. If more or less members
retire than has been assumed, the cost will vary.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2013 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2013
Report of the Actuary and the 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2013
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2010,
2011, 2012 and 2013 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial
Assumptions, and the Codes Rules and Regulations of the State of New
York: Audit and Control.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
This estimate, dated January 9, 2014 and intended for use only during
the 2014 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2014-46, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement
System.
