Grants certain members or officers of the state police credit for service as a deputy sheriff, county corrections officer, or state corrections officer; two years credit; provides cost shall be borne by member.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6026
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 25, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JONES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
granting members or officers of the state police credit for service as
a deputy sheriff, county corrections officer, or state corrections
officer
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision c of section 381-b of the retirement and social
2 security law is amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
3 (3) (i) Deputy sheriff, county corrections, or state corrections
4 service. Upon completion of more than seventeen years of service, each
5 such member who was previously credited with service credit in the New
6 York state and local employees' retirement system as a deputy sheriff,
7 county corrections officer, or member in the uniformed personnel in
8 institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and
9 community supervision as defined in subdivision i of section eighty-nine
10 of this chapter and who was engaged directly in law enforcement activ-
11 ities while performing such services shall receive three months of
12 service credit for each such five months of previous service, up to a
13 total of no greater than two years of previous service credit.
14 (ii) To obtain such credit, a member shall pay such retirement system,
15 for deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum
16 equal to the product of the number of years of police service being
17 claimed and three percent of such member's compensation earned during
18 the twelve months of credited service immediately preceding the date
19 that the member made application for credit pursuant to this section. If
20 permitted by rule or regulation of the retirement system, the member may
21 pay such member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not
22 exceed the time period of police service to be credited pursuant to this
23 section. In the event the member leaves the employer payroll prior to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08270-02-5
A. 6026 2
1 completion of payment, such member shall forward all remaining required
2 payments to the appropriate retirement system prior to the effective
3 date of retirement. If the full amount of such member costs is not paid
4 to the appropriate retirement system prior to the member's retirement,
5 the amount of service credited shall be proportional to the total amount
6 of the payments made prior to retirement.
7 (iii) To be eligible to receive credit for police service under this
8 paragraph, a member must make application for such credit before the
9 effective date of retirement.
10 (iv) No member shall be eligible to receive credit for police services
11 under this paragraph who received credit under section one thousand of
12 this chapter.
13 (v) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death
14 prior to retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of
15 police service credit pursuant to this paragraph shall be refunded, with
16 interest, to the extent the police service purchased with such amounts
17 does not produce a greater death benefit than would have been payable
18 had the member not purchased such credit.
19 (vi) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of
20 retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of police
21 service credit pursuant to this section shall be refunded, with inter-
22 est, to the extent the police service purchased with such amounts does
23 not produce a greater retirement allowance than would have been payable
24 had the member not purchased such credit.
25 (vii) In the event the service credit granted pursuant to this para-
26 graph, when added to a member's current service credit, renders such
27 member eligible for service retirement, such member shall be deemed
28 eligible for such service retirement and may elect to retire under the
29 rules set forth by the retirement system.
30 § 2. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to paragraph
31 3 of subdivision c of section 381-b of the retirement and social securi-
32 ty law, as added by section one of this act, other than the member costs
33 set forth in subparagraph (ii) of such paragraph, shall be paid by the
34 state of New York.
35 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow New York State Police (Troopers) covered under
§381-b of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) to receive
service credit for time rendered as a deputy sheriff, county correction
officer, or member in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
and who were engaged directly in law enforcement activities. Currently
this time is not creditable in any service-based retirement plan in the
New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System. Troopers may
obtain three months of additional service credit for every five months
of time rendered, not to exceed two years. To obtain the additional
service credit, Troopers must have at least seventeen years of service
credit in §381-b, must pay three percent of their salary per year of
service awarded, and cannot combine with credit received under §1000 of
the RSSL.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it is
estimated that the past service cost will average approximately 27% of
an affected member's most recent 12 months of compensation for each year
of additional service that is credited. This cost will be billed to the
State of New York annually, based on those benefiting from this
provision.
A. 6026 3
Further, we anticipate additional administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
The exact number of current members as well as future members who
could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined.
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 February 19, 2025, and intended for use only
during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-64. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, 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.
