Provides alternative retirement benefits for the police force at Erie County Medical Center; provides a qualifying member shall receive a retirement allowance consisting of a pension equal to one-fiftieth of their final average salary for each year of qualifying creditable service.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7861
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 11, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing alternative retirement benefits for the police force at Erie
County Medical Center
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
2 a new section 89-y to read as follows:
3 § 89-y. Alternative retirement benefits for the police force at Erie
4 County Medical Center. a. For purposes of this section:
5 1. "Qualifying member" shall mean any member who is in service as a
6 sworn member employed under the police department of the Erie County
7 Medical Center.
8 2. "Qualifying creditable service" shall mean creditable service
9 rendered while a member is a qualifying member.
10 b. 1. Any qualifying member, as defined in subdivision a of this
11 section, shall be eligible to retire pursuant to the provisions of this
12 section. Such eligibility shall be an alternative to the eligibility
13 provisions available under any other plan of this article to which such
14 member is subject. The comptroller may request certifications from agen-
15 cy officials, as appropriate, to identify such eligible members.
16 2. Any such qualifying member shall be entitled to retire after the
17 completion of twenty-five years of qualifying creditable service,
18 including such service credits transferred from any other plan under
19 this article, by filing an application therefor in a manner similar to
20 that provided in section seventy of this article and immediately collect
21 their full annuity without penalty; or members shall be eligible to
22 retire and collect their full annuity without penalty upon completion of
23 ten years of service as a sworn member employed under the police depart-
24 ment of the Erie County Medical Center; provided, however, that no
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04280-03-5
A. 7861 2
1 member shall be eligible to retire until such member has a minimum of
2 ten years of qualifying creditable service.
3 c. A member retiring under the provisions of this section shall
4 receive a retirement allowance consisting of a pension equal to one-fif-
5 tieth of such member's final average salary for each year of qualifying
6 creditable service. This retirement allowance shall not exceed seventy-
7 five percent of such member's final average salary.
8 d. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent a member, who does not
9 retire pursuant to the provisions of this section, from utilizing
10 service which is creditable service pursuant to the provisions of this
11 section for the service credit pursuant to any other plan of this arti-
12 cle to which such member is subject.
13 e. All members may elect to transfer their years of service credits
14 from any other plan of this article to which such member is subject to
15 the plan described in this section and be eligible to receive full
16 service credit.
17 f. The increased costs of the benefits provided for in this section
18 shall be paid from additional contributions made by the employer.
19 g. For all members appointed after the effective date of this section,
20 mandatory retirement shall be enforced at age sixty-two with no penal-
21 ties of any kind.
22 h. The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstanding
23 any other provision in this article to the contrary.
24 § 2. Subdivision a of section 445 of the retirement and social securi-
25 ty law, as amended by chapter 714 of the laws of 2023, is amended to
26 read as follows:
27 a. No member of a retirement system who is subject to the provisions
28 of this article shall retire without regard to age, exclusive of retire-
29 ment for disability, unless [he or she] such member is a police officer,
30 an investigator member of the New York city employees' retirement
31 system, firefighter, correction officer, a qualifying member as defined
32 in section eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred fifty-seven of
33 the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, sanitation
34 worker, a special officer (including persons employed by the city of New
35 York in the title urban park ranger or associate urban park ranger),
36 school safety agent, campus peace officer or a taxi and limousine
37 commission inspector member of the New York city employees' retirement
38 system or the New York city board of education retirement system, a
39 dispatcher member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a
40 police communications member of the New York city employees' retirement
41 system, an EMT member of the New York city employees' retirement system,
42 a deputy sheriff member of the New York city employees' retirement
43 system, a correction officer of the Westchester county correction
44 department as defined in section eighty-nine-e of this chapter or
45 employed in Suffolk county as a peace officer, as defined in section
46 eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five hundred eighty-eight of the laws
47 of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of this chapter, employed in Suffolk
48 county as a correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-f of
49 this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as a correction officer,
50 uniformed correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy
51 sheriff, as defined in section eighty-nine-g of this chapter, or
52 employed in Nassau county as an ambulance medical technician, an ambu-
53 lance medical technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance
54 medical technician related services, or a police medic, police medic
55 supervisor or a member who performs police medic related services, as
56 defined in section eighty-nine-s, as amended by chapter five hundred
A. 7861 3
1 seventy-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this
2 chapter, or employed in Nassau county as a peace officer, as defined in
3 section eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five hundred ninety-five of
4 the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of this chapter, or employed
5 in Albany county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, correction
6 officer or identification officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-h
7 of this chapter or is employed in St. Lawrence county as a sheriff,
8 undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in
9 section eighty-nine-i of this chapter or is employed in Orleans county
10 as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as
11 defined in section eighty-nine-l of this chapter or is employed in
12 Jefferson county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or
13 correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-j of this chapter
14 or is employed in Onondaga county as a deputy sheriff-jail division
15 competitively appointed or as a correction officer, as defined in
16 section eighty-nine-k of this chapter or is employed in a county which
17 makes an election under subdivision j of section eighty-nine-p of this
18 chapter as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer
19 as defined in such section eighty-nine-p or is employed in Broome County
20 as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as
21 defined in section eighty-nine-m of this chapter or is a Monroe county
22 deputy sheriff-court security, or deputy sheriff-jailor as defined in
23 section eighty-nine-n, as added by chapter five hundred ninety-seven of
24 the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, of this chapter or is employed
25 in Greene county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or
26 correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-o of this chapter
27 or is a traffic officer with the town of Elmira as defined in section
28 eighty-nine-q of this chapter or is employed by Suffolk county as a park
29 police officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-r of this chapter or
30 is a peace officer employed by a county probation department as defined
31 in section eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred three of the
32 laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter or is employed in
33 Rockland county as a deputy sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-
34 nine-v of this chapter as added by chapter four hundred forty-one of the
35 laws of two thousand one, or is employed in Rockland county as a superi-
36 or correction officer as defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chap-
37 ter as added by chapter five hundred fifty-six of the laws of two thou-
38 sand one or is a paramedic employed by the police department in the town
39 of Tonawanda and retires under the provisions of section eighty-nine-v
40 of this chapter, as added by chapter four hundred seventy-two of the
41 laws of two thousand one, or is a county fire marshal, supervising fire
42 marshal, fire marshal, assistant fire marshal, assistant chief fire
43 marshal, chief fire marshal, division supervising fire marshal or fire
44 marshal trainee employed by the county of Nassau as defined in section
45 eighty-nine-w of this chapter or is employed in Monroe county as a depu-
46 ty sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-nine-x of this chapter,
47 employed as an emergency medical technician, critical care technician,
48 advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic or supervisor of such
49 titles in a participating Suffolk county fire district as defined in
50 section eighty-nine-ss of this chapter, or is a qualifying member as
51 defined in section eighty-nine-y of this chapter and is in a plan which
52 permits immediate retirement upon completion of a specified period of
53 service without regard to age. Except as provided in subdivision c of
54 section four hundred forty-five-a of this article, subdivision c of
55 section four hundred forty-five-b of this article, subdivision c of
56 section four hundred forty-five-c of this article, subdivision c of
A. 7861 4
1 section four hundred forty-five-d of this article, subdivision c of
2 section four hundred forty-five-e of this article, subdivision c of
3 section four hundred forty-five-f of this article and subdivision c of
4 section four hundred forty-five-h of this article, a member in such a
5 plan and such an occupation, other than a police officer or investigator
6 member of the New York city employees' retirement system or a firefight-
7 er, shall not be permitted to retire prior to the completion of twenty-
8 five years of credited service; provided, however, if such a member in
9 such an occupation is in a plan which permits retirement upon completion
10 of twenty years of service regardless of age, [he or she] such member
11 may retire upon completion of twenty years of credited service and prior
12 to the completion of twenty-five years of service, but in such event the
13 benefit provided from funds other than those based on such a member's
14 own contributions shall not exceed two per centum of final average sala-
15 ry per each year of credited service.
16 § 3. Section 603 of the retirement and social security law is amended
17 by adding a new subdivision w to read as follows:
18 w. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
19 four of this article shall be payable to members with twenty-five years
20 of creditable service, without regard to age, who is a qualifying member
21 as defined in section eighty-nine-y of this chapter if: (i) such members
22 have met the minimum service requirements upon retirement; and (ii) in
23 the case of a member subject to the provisions of article fourteen of
24 this chapter, such member files an election therefor which provides that
25 such member will be subject to the provisions of this article and to
26 none of the provisions of such article fourteen. Such election, which
27 shall be irrevocable, shall be in writing, duly executed and shall be
28 filed with the comptroller within one year of the effective date of this
29 subdivision or within one year after entering the employment with Erie
30 County Medical Center upon which eligibility is based, whichever comes
31 later. For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "creditable
32 service" shall have the meaning as so defined in both sections eighty-
33 nine-y and six hundred one of this chapter.
34 § 4. Section 604 of the retirement and social security law is amended
35 by adding a new subdivision w to read as follows:
36 w. The early service retirement benefit for a qualifying member as
37 defined in section eighty-nine-y of this chapter shall be a pension
38 equal to one-fiftieth of final average salary times years of credited
39 service at the completion of twenty-five years of service as such
40 member, but not exceeding three-fourths of such member's final average
41 salary.
42 § 5. All costs associated with implementing the provisions of this act
43 shall be borne by Erie County Medical Center.
44 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would permit members of the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement System employed under the police department of the Erie
County Medical Center to retire upon completion of twenty-five years of
creditable service with a benefit of one-half of final average salary
(FAS) and an additional benefit of one-fiftieth of FAS for each year of
creditable service in excess of twenty-five years, not to exceed seven-
ty-five percent (75%) of FAS. Additionally, members covered under Arti-
cle 14 would be permitted one year to make an irrevocable election to
switch to the twenty-five-year plan benefit.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $250,000 in the
A. 7861 5
annual contributions of Erie County Medical Center for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the bill-
ing rates and salary of the affected members change. In future years
this cost will vary but is expected to average 6.0% of salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $1.32 million which will
be borne by Erie County Medical Center as a one-time payment. This esti-
mate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2026.
These estimated costs are based on 42 affected members employed by
Erie County Medical Center, with annual salary of approximately $3.3
million as of March 31, 2024. The affected members were identified using
job title codes provided by the office of Senator Sean Ryan.
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 March 7, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-33. As Chief Actu-
ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin
Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct
and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.
