Relates to certain members who re-enter public service; extends tier reinstatement provisions to a retiree of a public retirement system who was an active member of a public retirement system on or after January 1, 1989.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7135--A
IN SENATE
April 30, 2012
___________
Introduced by Sens. SEWARD, LARKIN, LIBOUS, YOUNG -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Civil Service and Pensions -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
certain members who re-enter public service
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 4 of section 645 of the retirement and
2 social security law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 322 of the laws
3 of 2002 and subdivision 4 as added by chapter 640 of the laws of 1998
4 and as renumbered by chapter 646 of the laws of 1999, are amended to
5 read as follows:
6 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person [other than
7 a retiree of a public retirement system,] who previously was a member of
8 a public retirement system and whose membership in such public retire-
9 ment system ceased by reason of (i) insufficient service credit, (ii)
10 withdrawal of accumulated contributions, or (iii) withdrawal of member-
11 ship, upon rejoining such public retirement system or another public
12 retirement system, shall be deemed to have been a member of his or her
13 current retirement system during the entire period of time commencing
14 with and subsequent to the original date of such previous ceased member-
15 ship, provided that such person (a) makes application therefor to the
16 administrative head of his or her current public retirement system, and
17 (b) repays the amount refunded, if any, at the time such previous
18 membership ceased, together with interest at the rate of five percent
19 per annum compounded annually from the date of such refund through the
20 date of repayment. Upon such reinstatement of date of membership, such
21 member shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and privileges to
22 which he or she would have been entitled had his or her current member-
23 ship begun on such original date of membership except that, solely for
24 the purposes of granting retirement credit to members of a public
25 retirement system other than the New York city teachers' retirement
26 system for service credited during such previous ceased membership where
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02318-05-2
S. 7135--A 2
1 such was in a public retirement system other than the member's current
2 retirement system, such previously credited service shall be deemed to
3 be prior service, not subsequent service. Furthermore, any such member
4 whose original date of membership was prior to July first, nineteen
5 hundred seventy-three shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and
6 privileges to which he or she would have been entitled had he or she
7 been in active service on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-
8 three. Any contribution made to the public retirement system pursuant to
9 article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter by a member who rejoined his
10 or her current system on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred
11 seventy-six shall not be refunded.
12 4. The provisions of this article shall be applicable to a person who
13 [is, on the date this article becomes effective] was a member on or
14 before January first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine, or who subsequent to
15 such date becomes, a member of a public retirement system.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to
17 all persons who are alive as of the effective date of this act and shall
18 apply to payments made on or after the effective date of this act; and
19 provided further, that any retirees qualifying under this act shall have
20 their retirement allowance recalculated from July 1, 2012 or the date of
21 reinstatement, whichever is later.
FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow certain living retirees of New York public
retirement systems who retired prior to December 16, 1999 and who previ-
ously were members of a New York public retirement system to be deemed
to have become members of the systems from which they retired as of the
original date of such previous ceased membership. Tier 3 and 4 retirees
of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System or the New
York State Teachers' Retirement System who become Tier 1 or 2 retirees
and who have already purchased their previous service would receive a
refund of these contributions. No benefits will be deemed to have
accrued prior to the effective date of this act.
In addition, this bill would also affect retirees who had a previous
ceased membership with a public employee retirement system other than
the NYS & LERS or the NYS & LPFRS.
If this bill is enacted, insofar as this bill affects the New York
State and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS), approximately 1,484
retirees of the ERS will be affected. The estimated past service cost
would be approximately $15.9 million.
Pursuant to section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, this
ERS past service cost would be borne by the State of New York and would
require an itemized appropriation by the State of New York sufficient to
pay the cost of the provision. The State may amortize this past service
cost over a period of 5 years. The first year cost, including interest
would be approximately $3.7 million.
Insofar as this bill would affect employers in the New York State and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the estimated additional
costs would be negligible. These costs would be shared by the State of
New York and the participating employers in the PFRS.
Summary of relevant resources:
Data: March 31, 2011 Actuarial Year End File with distributions of
membership and other statistics displayed in the 2011 Report of the
Actuary and 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
Assumptions and Methods: 2010 and 2011 Annual Report to the Comp-
troller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules and Regulations of the
State of New York: Audit and Control.
S. 7135--A 3
Market Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2011 New York State and
Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Informa-
tion.
Valuations of Benefit Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized in
the 2011 Actuarial Valuations report.
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 May 24, 2012 and intended for use only during the
2012 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2012-143, prepared by the
Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System
and the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System.
