Amd SS75-h, 442, 503, 603 & 902, rpld S613 sub f, R & SS L
 
Allows peace officers employed by the unified court system to retire without benefit reduction due to early retirement upon attainment of age 50 and completion of 25 years of service.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4144--A
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE, JOHN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
COOK, HOOPER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
mental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Governmental
Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
service retirement benefits for peace officers employed by the unified
court system and to repeal subdivision f of section 613 of such law
relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 75-h of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows:
3 h. A member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
4 system may retire without reduction of his or her retirement benefit
5 upon his or her attainment of at least fifty years of age and completion
6 of twenty-five years of service.
7 § 2. Paragraph 1 of subdivision b of section 442 of the retirement and
8 social security law, as amended by chapter 306 of the laws of 1996, is
9 amended to read as follows:
10 1. A member who is [a peace officer employed by the unified court
11 system or] a member of a teacher's retirement system or a member of the
12 New York state and local employees' retirement system may retire without
13 reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon his or her attainment of
14 at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years
15 of service; and
16 § 3. Subdivision b of section 442 of the retirement and social securi-
17 ty law is amended by adding a new paragraph 5 to read as follows:
18 5. A member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
19 system may retire without reduction of his or her retirement benefit
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07029-02-0
A. 4144--A 2
1 upon his or her attainment of at least fifty years of age and completion
2 of twenty-five years of service.
3 § 4. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social securi-
4 ty law, as amended by chapter 662 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
5 read as follows:
6 a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five
7 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other
8 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements
9 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a
10 general member who is a [peace officer employed by the unified court
11 system or a] member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without
12 reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least
13 fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of
14 service and a general member who is a peace officer employed by the
15 unified court system may retire without reduction of his or her retire-
16 ment benefit upon attainment of at least fifty years of age and
17 completion of twenty-five or more years of service.
18 § 5. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
19 ty law, as amended by section 7 of part B of chapter 504 of the laws of
20 2009, is amended to read as follows:
21 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
22 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
23 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
24 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
25 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
26 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
27 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
28 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
29 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
30 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
31 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
32 article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
33 the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first
34 joins such system before January first, two thousand ten [or a member
35 who is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the
36 unified court system] may retire without reduction of his or her retire-
37 ment benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and
38 completion of thirty or more years of service[, provided, however, that
39 a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court
40 system who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
41 employees' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten
42 and retires without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon
43 attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty
44 or more years of service pursuant to this section shall be required to
45 make the member contributions required by subdivision f of section six
46 hundred thirteen of this article for all years of credited and credita-
47 ble service]. A member who is a peace officer employed by the unified
48 court system may retire without a reduction of his or her retirement
49 benefit upon attainment of at least fifty years of age and completion of
50 twenty-five years of service.
51 § 6. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
52 ty law, as amended by section 3-a of chapter 19 of the laws of 2008, is
53 amended to read as follows:
54 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
55 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
56 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
A. 4144--A 3
1 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
2 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
3 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
4 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
5 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
6 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
7 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
8 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
9 article provided, however, a member who is a peace officer employed by
10 the unified court system or a member of a teachers' retirement system or
11 the New York state and local employees' retirement system may retire
12 without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at
13 least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of
14 service. A member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
15 system may retire without a reduction of his or her retirement benefit
16 upon attainment of at least fifty years of age and completion of twen-
17 ty-five years of service.
18 § 7. Subdivision f of section 613 of the retirement and social securi-
19 ty law is REPEALED.
20 § 8. Paragraph 1 of subdivision b of section 902 of the retirement and
21 social security law, as amended by section 10 of part B of chapter 504
22 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
23 1. [An] Except for peace officers of the unified court system, an
24 eligible employee (i) with a date of membership in a retirement system
25 on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred seventy-six and before
26 January first, two thousand ten, and (ii) who has ten or more years of
27 membership or ten or more years of credited service with a retirement
28 system under the provisions of article fourteen or fifteen of this chap-
29 ter shall not be required to contribute to a retirement system pursuant
30 to section five hundred seventeen or six hundred thirteen of this chap-
31 ter as of the cessation date. Peace officers of the unified court
32 system with ten or more years of membership or ten or more years of
33 credited service shall not be required to contribute to a retirement
34 system pursuant to section six hundred thirteen of this chapter.
35 § 9. The cost attributable to the operation of this act shall be borne
36 by the unified court system.
37 § 10. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
38 the amendments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and
39 social security law made by section five of this act shall be subject to
40 the expiration and reversion of such subdivision pursuant to section 13
41 of chapter 682 of the laws of 2003, as amended, when upon such date the
42 provisions of section six of this act shall take effect.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Peace Officers employed by the Unified Court
System to retire without benefit reduction due to early retirement upon
the attainment of age fifty (50) and completion of at least twenty-five
(25) years of service. In addition this bill removes the required member
contributions of 4% of salary that such Tier 5 members would make for
all years of service and replaces that requirement with 3% of salary for
the first 10 years of service only.
If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that for Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4
Peace Officers employed by the Unified Court System there will be an
increase of approximately $12.2 million in the annual contributions of
the State of New York, on behalf of the Unified Court System for the
fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. In addition, for all Tier 5 Peace
Officers employed by the Unified Court System, there will also be an
A. 4144--A 4
annual increase to the State of New York of approximately 4.9% of sala-
ry.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $59.4 million which
would be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This
estimate is based on the assumption that payment will be made on March
1, 2011.
These estimated costs are based on 6,402 known affected officers
having a total estimated annual salary for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2010 of approximately $507 million.
This estimate, dated March 26, 2010 and intended for use only during
the 2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-98, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement
System.