STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7021
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 28, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. C. RYAN, BORRELLO, HELMING, JACKSON, MARTINEZ, MATT-
ERA, MAY, MURRAY, OBERACKER, PALUMBO, RHOADS, ROLISON, SKOUFIS, STEC,
TEDISCO, WEBB, WEBER -- 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
establishing a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emer-
gency service
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 20-A to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 20-A
4 CREDIT FOR NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEER FIRE OR EMERGENCY SERVICE
5 Section 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit.
6 § 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit. 1.
7 For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the follow-
8 ing meanings:
9 (a) "Public retirement system of the state" shall have the same mean-
10 ing as such term is defined pursuant to subdivision twenty-three of
11 section five hundred one of this chapter.
12 (b) "Member" shall mean a member of a public retirement system of the
13 state.
14 2. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a member shall be eligible
15 for credit for volunteer fire or emergency service as provided pursuant
16 to this section.
17 3. A member, upon application to a public retirement system of the
18 state, may obtain one year of service credit for every five years of
19 volunteer fire or emergency service provided in the state. A member
20 shall be limited under this section to obtain not more than three years
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08390-02-5
S. 7021 2
1 of service credit for a total of fifteen years of volunteer fire or
2 emergency service provided. Proof of volunteer fire or emergency
3 service shall be certified by the volunteer agency for which such member
4 volunteered time.
5 4. A member shall have at least five years of credited service, not
6 including service granted hereunder, to be eligible to receive credit
7 pursuant to this section.
8 5. To obtain credit pursuant to this section, a member shall pay the
9 appropriate retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to accumu-
10 late employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the number of
11 years of volunteer fire or emergency service being credited and three
12 percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of
13 credited service immediately preceding the date that such member made
14 application for credit pursuant to this section. If permitted by rule or
15 regulation of the applicable retirement system, a member may pay such
16 member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not exceed
17 the time period of volunteer fire or emergency service to be credited
18 pursuant to this section. In the event such member leaves the employer
19 payroll prior to completion of payment, such member shall forward all
20 remaining required payments to the appropriate retirement system prior
21 to the effective date of retirement. If the full amount of such member
22 costs is not paid to the appropriate retirement system prior to the
23 member's retirement, the amount of service credited shall be propor-
24 tional to the total amount of the payments made prior to retirement.
25 6. In no event shall the credit granted pursuant to this section, when
26 added to credit granted for volunteer fire or emergency service with any
27 retirement system of this state pursuant to any other provision of law,
28 exceed a total of three years.
29 7. To be eligible to receive credit for volunteer fire or emergency
30 service under this section, a member shall make application for such
31 credit before the effective date of retirement.
32 8. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to this
33 section, other than the member costs set forth in subdivision five of
34 this section, shall be paid by the state and all employers which partic-
35 ipate in the retirement system in which such member is granted credit.
36 9. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, none of the
37 provisions of this section shall be subject to the appropriation
38 requirement of section twenty-five of this chapter.
39 10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death
40 prior to retirement, amounts paid by a member for the purchase of volun-
41 teer fire or emergency service credit pursuant to this section shall be
42 refunded, with interest, to the extent the volunteer fire or emergency
43 service purchased with such amounts does not produce a greater death
44 benefit than would have been payable had such member not purchased such
45 credit.
46 11. Service credit granted pursuant to this section shall be credita-
47 ble in any special twenty or twenty-five year retirement plan.
48 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow members of any New York State public retirement
system to purchase one year of service credit for every five years of
volunteer fire or emergency service provided, not to exceed a total of
three years of total credit. Members would be required to make a payment
of three percent of their most recent compensation per year of addi-
tional service credit granted. This bill is not consistent with the New
S. 7021 3
York State and Local Retirement System's policy of granting service
credit only when a salary has been paid.
Members must have at least five years of credited service (not includ-
ing volunteer service) to be eligible. Members may not be credited more
than one year for all service provided in a calendar year. Any service
credit granted would be creditable only in twenty-year and twenty-five-
year service-based retirement plans.
The provisions of Section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
shall not apply.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System (NYSLERS), all costs would be shared by the State of
New York and all local participating employers in the NYSLERS. If
enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it is estimated that the
past service cost would be 22 percent of an affected member's compen-
sation for each year of service credit that is purchased.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), all costs would be shared by the
State of New York and all local participating employers in the NYSLPFRS.
If enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it is estimated that the
past service cost would be 22 percent of an affected member's compen-
sation for each year of service credit that is purchased.
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 March 5, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-74. 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.
