Authorizes the transfer of memberships for certain members of the New York state and local police and fire retirement system who previously held a membership with the New York state and local employees' retirement system back to such retirement system.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7480
SPONSOR: Darling TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
authorizing the transfer of memberships for certain members of the New
York state and local police and fire retirement system to the New York
state and local employees' retirement system
PURPOSE:
To allow a member of the New York State Retirement System to use all
service credit in certain circumstances which would allow for the full
benefit that was funded by both employee and employer contributions.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. amends section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security
Law by allowing a member of the New York State Police and Fire Retire-
ment System who previously had a membership in the New York State
Employee's Retirement System retroactively transfer that time back into
the employees' retirement system and allow that member to retire from
that system.
Section 2. This bill shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
There are several POlice Officers who have prior service credit with the
New Yok State Employee's Retirement serving as another occupation such
as Correction Officers. The prior service, in most cases, cannot be
credited for purposes of a police officer retirement from section 384-d,
20-year special plans. This bill would allow the officer to transfer
back into the employee's retirement system and allow him or her to use
all service credit, including his police service credit, if the circum-
stances work.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
See fiscal note
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7480
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 24, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DARLING -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
authorizing the transfer of memberships for certain members of the New
York state and local police and fire retirement system to the New York
state and local employees' retirement system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 384-d of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision z to read as follows:
3 z. Any member currently enrolled pursuant to this section and who
4 previously had a membership with the New York state and local employees'
5 retirement system may elect to retroactively transfer his membership in
6 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system to the
7 New York state and local employees' retirement system.
8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow any active member of the New York State and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS) covered by the
provisions of section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law
(RSSL) and who was previously a member of the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS) to retroactively transfer all
NYSLPFRS service credit to the NYSLERS. Such transfer would not require
employment in any position that would grant membership in the NYSLERS.
Resulting plan coverage, as well as the cost of mandatory member
contributions, would be based upon date of membership and last reported
employment instance in the NYSLERS.
Insofar as this bill would affect the New York State and Local Retire-
ment System, the cost will depend upon the applicant's age, service,
salary, plan, and any benefit type otherwise payable.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11197-02-3
A. 7480 2
Insofar as this bill affects the NYSLERS, pursuant to Section 25 of
the RSSL, any costs would be borne entirely by the State of New York and
would require an itemized appropriation sufficient to pay the cost of
the provision.
In addition to the per-person costs discussed above, implementing the
provisions of this legislation would generate administrative costs.
The number of members and retirees who could be affected by this
legislation cannot be readily determined, but all 25,641 active PFRS
members covered by the provisions of section 384-d of the RSSL would be
eligible.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2022
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 17, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-166, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
