Relates to providing a heart disease presumption for a fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, division supervising fire marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal or fire marshal trainee employed by Nassau county.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10730
IN ASSEMBLY
July 1, 2020
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Abbate) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing a heart disease presumption for certain fire marshals in
Nassau county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
2 a new section 63-g to read as follows:
3 § 63-g. Disability benefits; certain disabilities. Notwithstanding any
4 provision of this chapter or of any general, special or local law to the
5 contrary, any member who is a fire marshal, supervising fire marshal,
6 division supervising fire marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, chief
7 fire marshal or fire marshal trainee employed by Nassau county who
8 contracts any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of
9 the heart, resulting in disability or death to such fire marshal, super-
10 vising fire marshal, division supervising fire marshal, assistant chief
11 fire marshal, chief fire marshal or fire marshal trainee, presently
12 employed, and who shall have sustained such disability while so
13 employed, shall be presumptive evidence that such disability was
14 incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural and
15 proximate result of an accident, unless the contrary be proved by compe-
16 tent evidence; provided, however, that prior to entry into service, such
17 fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, division supervising fire
18 marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal or fire
19 marshal trainee successfully passed a physical examination which failed
20 to disclose evidence of any disease or other impairment of the heart.
21 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
22 section 605-f to read as follows:
23 § 605-f. Disability benefits; certain disabilities. Notwithstanding
24 any provision of this chapter or of any general, special or local law to
25 the contrary, any member who is a fire marshal, supervising fire
26 marshal, division supervising fire marshal, assistant chief fire
27 marshal, chief fire marshal or fire marshal trainee employed by Nassau
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15747-02-0
A. 10730 2
1 county who contracts any condition of impairment of health caused by
2 diseases of the heart, resulting in disability or death to such fire
3 marshal, supervising fire marshal, division supervising fire marshal,
4 assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal or fire marshal train-
5 ee, presently employed, and who shall have sustained such disability
6 while so employed, shall be presumptive evidence that such disability
7 was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural
8 and proximate result of an accident, unless the contrary be proved by
9 competent evidence; provided, however, that prior to entry into service,
10 such fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, division supervising fire
11 marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal or fire
12 marshal trainee successfully passed a physical examination which failed
13 to disclose evidence of any disease or other impairment of the heart.
14 § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
15 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to section 25 of the
16 retirement and social security law.
17 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law Section 50:
This bill would allow certain members of the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System (ERS) employed by Nassau County as chief
fire marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, division supervising fire
marshal, supervising fire marshal, fire marshal and fire marshal trainee
to receive an accidental disability benefit if the member is impaired
due to a condition of the heart as a result of an accident, in the
performance of his or her duties, unless the contrary be proven by
competent evidence. The annual benefit would be 3/4 of final average
salary less worker's compensation.
If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session, it would
lead to more disabilities being classified as "accidental". The cost of
the revised benefit will depend upon the applicant's age, service, sala-
ry, plan, and benefit type otherwise payable.
Benefit without enactment: None Ordinary Service
Disability
Cost for revised benefit: 7.5 times 3 times 1 times
salary salary salary
However, we anticipate that few additional accidental disability
retirements will be granted, and thus, the resulting costs are expected
to be negligible.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2019 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found In the 2019
Report of the Actuary and the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 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, 2019
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.
A. 10730 3
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 March 16, 2020, and intended for use only during
the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-92, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.