Relates to obtaining military credit for members of the New York state and local police and fire retirement system; provides that the calculation for military credit shall be equal to the product of the number of years of military service being claimed and three percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited service.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7343
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
obtaining military service credit for members of the New York state
and local police and fire retirement system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 9 of section 1000 of the retirement and social
2 security law, as amended by chapter 41 of the laws of 2016, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 9. (a) Anything to the contrary in subdivision three of this section
5 notwithstanding, to obtain such credit, a member who first joins a
6 public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thou-
7 sand twelve shall pay such retirement system, for deposit in the fund
8 used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of
9 the number of years of military service being claimed and six percent of
10 such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited
11 service immediately preceding the date that the member made application
12 for credit pursuant to this section.
13 (b) Beginning with applications received by the New York state and
14 local police and fire retirement system on and after April first, two
15 thousand twenty-four, for members who first become members of the New
16 York state and local police and fire retirement system on or after April
17 first, two thousand twelve, the sum required in paragraph (a) of this
18 subdivision shall be equal to the product of the number of years of
19 military service being claimed and three percent of such member's
20 compensation earned during the twelve months of credited service imme-
21 diately preceding the date the member made application pursuant to this
22 section.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10817-03-3
A. 7343 2
This bill would decrease the amount of payment required by Tier 6
members of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement
System (NYSLPFRS) who are obtaining military service credit pursuant to
Section 1000 of the Retirement and Social Security Law. Under current
law, a Tier 6 member must pay a sum equal to the product of the number
of years of military service being claimed and six percent of such
member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited
service immediately preceding the date that the member made application
for credit. Beginning with applications received on or after April 1,
2024, this legislation would require such members to pay only three
percent of compensation per year of service being claimed.
If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, it is
estimated that the cost for the reduction of the member's payment will
be 3% of an affected members' compensation for each year of additional
service that is purchased. This cost would be shared by the State of New
York and the local participating employers in the NYSLPFRS.
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, 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 10, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-141, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
