Authorizes a member to obtain up to three years of service credit for prior paid police service within the United States with an accredited police agency outside of the state of New York; requires a member to have at least five years of credited service to be eligible to receive such credit.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9837
SPONSOR: Zinerman TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
prior police service with an accredited police agency outside of the
state of New York
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new paragraph 3 to subdivision c of section 381-b of
the retirement and social security law to allow for a service credit of
up to three years of out of state service at an accredited police agen-
cy.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, only one out of every twelve candidates to join the New York
State Police follow it through to completion. One impediment is that,
for those coming from another state's police agencies, time accrued out
of state does not get factored in for purposes of calculating retirement
benefits. This bill, by allowing for up to three years of this service
to be counted for instate retirement, would encourage more qualified and
experienced candidates to apply to join the State Police.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
See fiscal note
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9837
IN ASSEMBLY
April 11, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZINERMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
prior police service with an accredited police agency outside of the
state of New York
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) Prior police service with an accredited police agency outside
4 of the state of New York. A member, upon application to the retirement
5 system, may obtain a total of up to three years of service credit for
6 prior police service performed as a paid police officer within the
7 United States but outside of the state, provided such service was
8 performed with an accredited police agency. To obtain such credit, a
9 member shall pay the retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to
10 accumulate employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the
11 number of years being claimed and the applicable contribution rate of
12 such member's current tier status earned during the twelve months of
13 credited service immediately preceding the date that the member made
14 application for credit pursuant to this paragraph. To be eligible to
15 receive prior service credit under this paragraph, a member shall make
16 application prior to the effective date of such member's retirement.
17 (ii) A member shall have at least five years of credited service (not
18 including service granted hereunder) to be eligible to receive credit
19 under this paragraph.
20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
21 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
22 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
23 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
24 completed on or before such effective date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow any member of the New York State Division of
State Police to be eligible for up to three years of service credit with
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14832-04-4
A. 9837 2
the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System
(NYSLPFRS) for paid employment as a police officer with an "accredited
police agency" in another state.
Except for military service, current law only allows for crediting
prior service for periods of paid employment with a participating
employer in a New York State public retirement system.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 legislative session, it is
estimated that the past service cost will average approximately 30% of
an affected member's most recent 12 months of compensation for each year
of additional service that is credited. This cost will be reduced by any
contributions required to be paid by the member, which are estimated to
be 3% for Tier 5 members and 6% for Tier 6 members. All remaining costs
will be billed to the State of New York annually, based on those bene-
fiting from this provision.
Further, we anticipate significant 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 April 4, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-150, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
