STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10602
IN ASSEMBLY
June 20, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A.
Pheffer Amato) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
mental Employees
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to disabilities
of fire alarm dispatchers in certain cities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new
2 section 207-r to read as follows:
3 § 207-r. Disabilities of fire alarm dispatchers in certain cities.
4 Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law or
5 administrative code to the contrary, except for the purposes of the
6 workers' compensation law and the labor law, any condition of impairment
7 of health caused by diseases of the heart, resulting in total or partial
8 disability or death to a fire alarm dispatcher, a supervising fire alarm
9 dispatcher level one or a supervising fire alarm dispatcher level two of
10 a fire department in a city with a population of one million or more, or
11 any retired member of such department who has been retired for five or
12 less years, who successfully passed a physical examination on entry into
13 the service of such department, which examination failed to reveal any
14 evidence of such condition, shall be presumptive evidence that it was
15 incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
16 be proved by competent evidence.
17 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
18 provisions of this act shall be borne by the city of New York.
19 § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
20 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
21 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
22 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would provide Fire Alarm Dispatch-
ers of the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) a rebutt-
able statutory presumption that a qualifying partial or total disability
or death related to a heart disease was incurred in the performance of
duty.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10279-03-4
A. 10602 2
ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands)
One Incident One Incident Per Year
Year Disability Death Disability Death
2025 30 39 30 39
2026 30 39 62 79
2027 30 39 94 120
2028 30 39 127 163
2029 30 39 161 207
2030 30 39 196 252
2031 30 39 233 298
2032 30 39 270 346
2033 30 39 309 395
2034 30 39 348 446
2035 30 39 389 498
2036 30 39 431 552
2037 30 39 474 608
2038 30 39 519 665
2039 0 0 535 685
2040 0 0 551 705
2041 0 0 567 727
2042 0 0 584 748
2043 0 0 602 771
2044 0 0 620 794
2045 0 0 638 818
2046 0 0 657 842
2047 0 0 677 868
2048 0 0 697 894
2049 0 0 718 921
Disability costs shown are for members with less than 10 years of
service.
Employer contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2049 is not shown.
The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to
New York City.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL LIABILITIES
as of June 30, 2023 ($ in Thousands)
Present Value (PV) Per Disability Per Death
PV of Benefits: 257 329
PV of Employee Contributions: 0 0
PV of Employer Contributions: 257 329
Unfunded Accrued Liabilities: 257 329
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
Recognized as Ongoing Gain/Loss Per Disability Per Death
Number of Payments: 14 14
Amortization Payment: 30 K 39 K
CENSUS DATA: The number of members who will benefit in the future from
this fiscal note is unknown. The estimates presented herein are based on
preliminary census data collected as of June 30, 2023. The census data
for the potentially impacted population used to develop the average
costs is summarized below.
Disability* Death
A. 10602 3
Active Members
- Number Count: 76 187
- Average Age: 34.0 41.0
- Average Service: 5.0 12.2
- Average Salary: 69,300 82,900
* Members with less than 10 years of service
IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Under the proposed legislation, an active
member, or retiree (within five years of their respective retirement
date) of NYCERS who is employed as a Fire Alarm Dispatcher and becomes
disabled or dies due to heart disease would be eligible for a perform-
ance of duty disability or death benefit.
Currently, an active member of NYCERS who is employed as a Fire Alarm
Dispatcher and becomes disabled due to heart disease would be eligible
for an applicable ordinary disability retirement benefit, after attain-
ing 10 years of credited service. Members with less than 10 years of
service may be eligible for a performance of duty disability benefit if
current eligibility requirements are satisfied.
The disability benefit is generally a lifetime payment equal to the
greatest of 1/3 of Final Average Salary (FAS), 1/60th of FAS for each
year of service, or the service retirement benefit, if eligible.
The ordinary death benefit for Tier 4 and Tier 6 NYCERS Fire Alarm
Dispatchers is generally a lump sum payment equal to three times the
member's salary. The performance of duty death benefit is generally
equal to a lifetime benefit of 50% of a member's wages earned during the
last year of service, payable to certain beneficiaries.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems.
The number of members and eligible retirees who will benefit in the
future from this fiscal note is unknown. The cost of this proposed
legislation could vary greatly depending on the number of future members
who benefit and on their length of service, age, and salary history.
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods, and models used, demo-
graphics of the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates from
actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from those
presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this
Fiscal Note.
This Fiscal Note is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative and Other
Postemployment Benefits).
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of
Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS but do not believe it impairs our
objectivity and we meet the Qualification Standards of the American
Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
To the best of our knowledge, the results contained herein have been
prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and
procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the
Actuarial Standards Board.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2024-63 dated May 17,
2024 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement
Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session.
