STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
11536
IN ASSEMBLY
June 1, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Rozic) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize Denis Butler to receive certain service credit in
the New York state and local employees' retirement system
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 to the contrary,
2 Denis Butler, a current employee of the unified court system who had
3 previously retired from the New York state and local employees' retire-
4 ment system on December 30, 2021, shall have his retirement nullified
5 and shall be restored to active status in the New York state and local
6 employees' retirement system. Additionally, he shall be granted service
7 credit for all creditable public employment that he performed or will
8 perform on or after December 30, 2021 until he again retires from the
9 New York state and local employees' retirement system.
10 § 2. All past costs associated with implementing the provisions of
11 this act shall be paid by the office of court administration.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would nullify the retirement of Denis Butler, who retired
from the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS)
on December 30, 2021. They would be reinstated as a member of NYSLERS
and granted service credit for all creditable public employment
performed on or after December 30, 2021.
There will be an immediate past service cost of $295,000 borne by the
office of court administration as a one-time payment. This cost assumes
that payment will be made on March 1, 2027.
The office of court administration will be required to report all
pensionable earnings for Denis Butler since December 30, 2021. We esti-
mate that the office of court administration will be required to
contribute $250,000 for the newly established pensionable earnings.
Denis Butler will be required to repay all unduly paid benefits begin-
ning on December 30, 2021, with interest.
Summary of relevant resources:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15808-04-6
A. 11536 2
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated May 29, 2026, and intended for use only during
the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-217. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), I,
Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with
applicable 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. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not believe it
impairs my objectivity.
