STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8026
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 7, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT granting a retroactive retirement date of August 5, 2010 from the
New York state and local police and fire retirement system for Cariol
Horne
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
2 Cariol Horne, who is a member of the New York state and local police and
3 fire retirement system, and was employed by the city of Buffalo police
4 department as a police officer, shall be deemed eligible for a service
5 retirement benefit effective August 5, 2010. Due to no fault of her own,
6 Ms. Horne was ineligible to file for her service retirement benefit with
7 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system on August
8 5, 2010, based on her wrongful termination from the city of Buffalo
9 police department. At the time of her termination she was ineligible to
10 qualify for a service retirement benefit because she did not have twenty
11 qualifying years of service credit necessary to retire under her special
12 retirement plan established pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement
13 and social security law. On April 13, 2021, a grave injustice was
14 corrected when Cariol Horne's termination was vacated and she was subse-
15 quently reinstated to the Buffalo police department for the period of
16 July 26, 2008 through August 4, 2010, which provided her with the neces-
17 sary twenty years of qualifying service credit required under her
18 special plan. Within one year from the effective date of this act,
19 Cariol Horne may file with the New York state and local police retire-
20 ment system an application for service retirement benefits with an
21 effective date of retirement of August 5, 2010. Once such application is
22 received, any rights or benefits payable to Ms. Horne shall be retroac-
23 tive to the effective date of her retirement. Upon receipt of such
24 request, the New York state and local police and fire retirement system,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11791-02-1
A. 8026 2
1 shall pay Cariol Horne the retirement benefits she otherwise would have
2 received if she had retired on August 5, 2010, without interest.
3 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing this act
4 shall be borne by the city of Buffalo.
5 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would provide police officer Cariol Horne a service retire-
ment benefit commencing August 5, 2010. Currently, Officer Horne is
entitled to a service retirement benefit commencing April 9, 2019.
If this bill is enacted during the 2021 legislative session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $300,000 which
will be borne by the City of Buffalo as a one-time payment. This esti-
mate is based on the assumption that payment will be made on February 1,
2022.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2020 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2020 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2020 Report of the Actuary and the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
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, 2020
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 June 7, 2021, and intended for use only during
the 2021 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2021-150, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
