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
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7468--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 24, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JONES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Govern-
mental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
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
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04956-07-4
A. 7468--A 2
1 pay such member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not
2 exceed the time period of police service to be credited pursuant to this
3 section. In the event the member leaves the employer payroll prior to
4 completion of payment, such member shall forward all remaining required
5 payments to the appropriate retirement system prior to the effective
6 date of retirement. If the full amount of such member costs is not paid
7 to the appropriate retirement system prior to the member's retirement,
8 the amount of service credited shall be proportional to the total amount
9 of the payments made prior to retirement.
10 (iii) To be eligible to receive credit for police service under this
11 paragraph, a member must make application for such credit before the
12 effective date of retirement.
13 (iv) No member shall be eligible to receive credit for police services
14 under this paragraph who received credit under section one thousand of
15 this chapter.
16 (v) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death
17 prior to retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of
18 police service credit pursuant to this paragraph shall be refunded, with
19 interest, to the extent the police service purchased with such amounts
20 does not produce a greater death benefit than would have been payable
21 had the member not purchased such credit.
22 (vi) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of
23 retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of police
24 service credit pursuant to this section shall be refunded, with inter-
25 est, to the extent the police service purchased with such amounts does
26 not produce a greater retirement allowance than would have been payable
27 had the member not purchased such credit.
28 (vii) In the event the service credit granted pursuant to this para-
29 graph, when added to a member's current service credit, renders such
30 member eligible for service retirement, such member shall be deemed
31 eligible for such service retirement and may elect to retire under the
32 rules set forth by the retirement system.
33 § 2. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to paragraph
34 3 of subdivision c of section 381-b of the retirement and social securi-
35 ty law, as added by section one of this act, other than the member costs
36 set forth in subparagraph (ii) of such paragraph, shall be paid by the
37 state of New York.
38 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow New York State Police covered under Section
381-b of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) to receive
service credit for time rendered as a deputy sheriff, county corrections
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,
such service is not creditable in any service-based retirement plan in
the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System. A member
may obtain three months of §381-b service credit for every five months
such NYSLERS service credit, not to exceed two years of additional
service credit. Members must have at least seventeen years of credited
service under §381-b (not including the NYSLERS service) and would be
required to make a payment of three percent of their most recent compen-
sation per year of additional service credit granted by this bill.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 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
A. 7468--A 3
of additional service that is credited, which will be billed to the
State of New York annually based on those benefiting from this
provision.
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, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
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 May 24, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-181, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
