STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6688
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 19, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing county correction officers with a special optional twenty
year retirement plan
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 article 14-C to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 14-C
4 OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PLAN FOR COUNTY CORRECTION OFFICERS OR DEPUTY
5 SHERIFFS PERFORMING AS CORRECTION OFFICERS
6 Section 561. Definitions.
7 562. Optional twenty year retirement plan for certain members
8 whose employer elects to provide same.
9 563. Additional pension benefit for members of optional twenty
10 year retirement plan.
11 564. Consistent provisions.
12 § 561. Definitions. For purposes of this article:
13 (a) "Member" shall mean a person who is employed as a county
14 correction officer or a deputy sheriff who is engaged directly in
15 correction officer duties that aggregate fifty per centum of their
16 service by a county which elects by resolution or local law, duly
17 adopted, to provide the benefits as authorized by this article.
18 (b) "Retirement system" shall mean the New York state and local
19 employees' retirement system.
20 (c) "Creditable service" shall include any and all services performed
21 as a sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, or correction officer.
22 Credit for service as a member or officer of the state police or as a
23 paid firefighter, police officer or officer of any organized fire
24 department or police force or department of any county, city, village,
25 town, fire district or police district, shall also be deemed to be cred-
26 itable service and shall be included in computing years of total service
27 for retirement pursuant to this section, provided such service was
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00692-03-5
S. 6688 2
1 performed by the member while contributing to the retirement system
2 pursuant to the provisions of this article or article eight of this
3 chapter.
4 § 562. Optional twenty year retirement plan for certain members whose
5 employer elects to provide same. (a) Any member of the retirement system
6 may elect to become a member pursuant to the provisions of this section
7 within one year after they become a member, if their employer has
8 elected to make the benefits provided by this section available to
9 members, or within one year after their employer elects to make the
10 benefits provided by this section available to its members.
11 (b) Elections made pursuant to this section shall be in writing and
12 shall be duly acknowledged and filed with the comptroller. Any member
13 who files such an election pursuant to this section may withdraw it
14 after it has been filed for at least a year. Such withdrawal shall be by
15 written notice duly acknowledged and filed with the comptroller.
16 (c) A member participating on the basis of this section at the time of
17 retirement shall be entitled to retire after the completion of twenty
18 years of total creditable service or upon the attainment of age sixty-
19 two, by filing an application therefor in a manner similar to that
20 provided in this chapter.
21 (i) Upon completion of twenty years of such service and upon retire-
22 ment, each such member shall receive a pension sufficient to provide
23 them with a retirement allowance equal to one-fortieth of their final
24 average salary for each year of total creditable services for which they
25 are otherwise entitled but not exceeding in the aggregate one-half of
26 their final average salary.
27 (ii) Upon attainment of age sixty-two and upon retirement without
28 completion of twenty years of such service, each such member shall
29 receive a pension sufficient to provide them with a retirement allowance
30 equal to one-fortieth of their final average salary for each year of
31 creditable service. Every such member shall also be entitled to an addi-
32 tional pension equal to the pension for any other creditable service
33 rendered as otherwise provided for in this chapter. This latter pension
34 shall not increase the total allowance to more than one-half of their
35 final average salary.
36 (d) The increased pensions to such members, as provided by this
37 section, shall be paid from additional contributions made by the partic-
38 ipating employer on account of such members. The actuary of the retire-
39 ment system shall compute the additional contribution required for each
40 member who elects to receive the special benefits provided under this
41 section. Such additional contributions shall be computed on the basis of
42 contributions during the prospective service of such member which will
43 cover the liability of the retirement system for such extra pensions.
44 Upon approval of the comptroller, such additional contributions shall be
45 certified by them to the chief fiscal officer or the participating
46 employer. The amount thereof shall be included in the annual appropri-
47 ation of the participating employer. Such amount shall be paid on the
48 warrant of the chief fiscal officer of the participating employer to the
49 pension accumulation fund of the retirement system.
50 (e) In computing the twenty years of completed service of a member,
51 full credit shall be given for military service as defined in subdivi-
52 sions twenty-nine-a and thirty of section three hundred two of this
53 chapter.
54 (f) Every member participating on the basis of this section shall be
55 separated from the service on the last day of the calendar month next
56 succeeding the calendar month in which they attain age sixty-two,
S. 6688 3
1 provided, however, that such a member who attained the age of sixty-two
2 before their employer elected to make the benefits provided by this
3 section available to them, or who attains the age of sixty-two within
4 one month after their employer makes such benefits available, to be
5 eligible for a pension computed in accordance with the provisions of
6 this section, shall be separated from the service within three months
7 after their employer makes such benefits available.
8 (g) The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstand-
9 ing any other provision of this article to the contrary.
10 (h) The benefits of this section shall be available only to those
11 members whose employer elects to provide such benefits by adopting a
12 resolution or local law to such effect and filing a certified copy ther-
13 eof with the comptroller.
14 (i) The benefits provided by this section shall be payable to a
15 member, unless at the date of retirement such member would otherwise be
16 entitled to a greater benefit under other provisions of this chapter had
17 they withdrawn from this section, in which event such greater benefits
18 shall be payable.
19 § 563. Additional pension benefit for members of optional twenty year
20 retirement plan. (a) A participating employer which has elected, or
21 which elects to provide the benefits of the optional twenty year retire-
22 ment plan for its employees as specified in this article may elect to
23 make contributions for the purpose of providing an additional pension
24 pursuant to this section for members in its employ who are entitled to a
25 pension pursuant to section five hundred sixty-two of this article.
26 Every member employed by an employer which has elected the provisions of
27 section five hundred sixty-two of this article and this section may
28 elect to be covered by the provisions of this section by filing with the
29 comptroller, a duly executed and acknowledged form prepared by the comp-
30 troller for that purpose.
31 (b) Upon retirement, each such member shall receive, for each year of
32 service in excess of twenty, an additional pension which shall be equal
33 to one-sixtieth of their final average salary; provided, however, that
34 the total allowance payable pursuant to this section shall not exceed
35 three-quarters of such member's final average salary.
36 § 564. Consistent provisions. Nothing contained in this article shall
37 be construed to otherwise affect the applicability of article eleven,
38 fourteen or fifteen of this chapter. Any other provisions of this chap-
39 ter relating to mandatory contribution to the retirement system based
40 upon a member's date of membership in such system shall not be deemed to
41 be affected by the provisions of this article, and any member who on the
42 effective date of this article is not required to contribute shall not
43 be required to make any contributions as a result of this section. For
44 those members required to contribute to the retirement system, such
45 contribution shall be treated in the same manner as specified for such
46 members in article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter.
47 § 2. Any past service payments required of a county as a result of the
48 adoption of the benefits permitted by this act may be amortized over a
49 five or ten-year period at the option of such county.
50 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would add Article 14-C to the Retirement and Social Security
Law, creating county electable twenty-year plans covering any county
correction officers and deputy sheriffs engaged directly in correction
officer duties that aggregate at least fifty percent of their service. A
county may elect to provide a retirement benefit equal to fifty percent
S. 6688 4
of final average salary (FAS) after twenty years of service. A county
may further elect to provide for additional sixtieths for service in
excess of twenty years. The retirement benefit is not to exceed seven-
ty-five percent of FAS.
Any member who elects to become covered under this new Article 14-C is
expected to retain all disability and death benefits under their prior
plan coverage.
Creditable service will include all service rendered as a correction
officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff or undersheriff, a member or officer of
the State Police, a paid firefighter, a police officer, or an officer of
any organized fire department or police force.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
will be an increase in the annual contributions of any electing county
for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, as approximated in the
following table. In future years these costs will vary as the billing
rates of the affected members change.
Current Plan Article 14-C 20-Year Article 14-C 20-Year
with sixtieths
Articles 14 or 15 10.3% 11.8%
89* 25-Year 5.7% 7.2%
County Law Enforcement
Article 14-B 20-Year 4.3% 5.8%
Article 14-B 20-Year 2.5% 4.0%
with sixtieths
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost that will depend upon the affected
members' service, salary, tier, current retirement plan and new retire-
ment plan. An exact cost will be determined based on a roster of eligi-
ble members to be provided by the electing county. The past service cost
may be amortized over a five-year or ten-year period, at the option of
the electing county.
Further, we anticipate additional administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
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 19, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-14. 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.
