STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10744
IN ASSEMBLY
August 3, 2016
___________
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
service retirement benefits for certain employees of the power author-
ity of the state of New York
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision b of section 442 of the retire-
2 ment and social security law, as amended by chapter 306 of the laws of
3 1996, is amended to read as follows:
4 1. A member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
5 system or a member of a teacher's retirement system or a member of the
6 New York state and local employees' retirement system or a general
7 member who is employed on an hourly-rate basis while performing services
8 for the power authority of the state of New York at its generating
9 stations, operation and maintenance centers, substations and remote
10 metering and equipment delivery points, including the Blenheim-Gilboa
11 Project, St. Lawrence Project, Niagara Project, James A. Fitzpatrick
12 Plant and Clark Energy Center, and at any such facility which may be
13 subsequently constructed may retire without reduction of his or her
14 retirement benefit upon his or her attainment of at least fifty-five
15 years of age and completion of thirty or more years of service; and
16 § 2. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social securi-
17 ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
18 as follows:
19 a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five
20 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other
21 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements
22 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a
23 general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
24 system or a member of a teachers' retirement system or a general member
25 who is employed on an hourly-rate basis while performing services for
26 the power authority of the state of New York at its generating stations,
27 operation and maintenance centers, substations and remote metering and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15503-02-6
A. 10744 2
1 equipment delivery points, including the Blenheim-Gilboa Project, St.
2 Lawrence Project, Niagara Project, James A. Fitzpatrick Plant and Clark
3 Energy Center, and at any such facility which may be subsequently
4 constructed may retire without reduction of his or her retirement bene-
5 fit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion
6 of thirty or more years of service. For members who become members of
7 the New York state and local employees' retirement system on or after
8 April first, two thousand twelve, the normal service retirement benefits
9 specified in section five hundred four of this article shall be payable
10 to general members, other than elective members, who have met the mini-
11 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
12 three.
13 § 3. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
14 ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
15 as follows:
16 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
17 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
18 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
19 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
20 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
21 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
22 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
23 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
24 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
25 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
26 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
27 article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
28 the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first
29 joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who
30 is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified
31 court system who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
32 employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve or
33 a general member who is employed on an hourly-rate basis while perform-
34 ing services for the power authority of the state of New York at its
35 generating stations, operation and maintenance centers, substations and
36 remote metering and equipment delivery points, including the Blenheim-
37 Gilboa Project, St. Lawrence Project, Niagara Project, James A. Fitzpa-
38 trick Plant and Clark Energy Center, and at any such facility which may
39 be subsequently constructed may retire without reduction of his or her
40 retirement benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age
41 and completion of thirty or more years of service, provided, however,
42 that a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified
43 court system who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
44 employees' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten
45 and retires without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon
46 attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty
47 or more years of service pursuant to this section shall be required to
48 make the member contributions required by subdivision f of section six
49 hundred thirteen of this article for all years of credited and credita-
50 ble service, provided further that the [the] preceding provisions of
51 this subdivision shall not apply to a New York city revised plan member.
52 § 4. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
53 ty law, as amended by chapter 19 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read
54 as follows:
55 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
56 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
A. 10744 3
1 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
2 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
3 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
4 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
5 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
6 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
7 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
8 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
9 this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
10 article provided, however, a member who is a peace officer employed by
11 the unified court system or a member of a teachers' retirement system or
12 the New York state and local employees' retirement system or a general
13 member who is employed on an hourly-rate basis while performing services
14 for the power authority of the state of New York at its generating
15 stations, operation and maintenance centers, substations and remote
16 metering and equipment delivery points, including the Blenheim-Gilboa
17 Project, St. Lawrence Project, Niagara Project, James A. Fitzpatrick
18 Plant and Clark Energy Center, and at any such facility which may be
19 subsequently constructed may retire without reduction of his or her
20 retirement benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age
21 and completion of thirty or more years of service.
22 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the amend-
23 ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu-
24 rity law made by section three of this act shall be subject to the expi-
25 ration and reversion of such subdivision pursuant to subdivision (b) of
26 section 13 of chapter 682 of the laws of 2003, as amended, when upon
27 such date the provisions of section four of this act shall take effect.
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50.
This bill will allow certain Tier 5 and 6 members who are represented
by Local 2104 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers,
AFL-CIO who are employed on an hourly-rate basis while performing
services for the power authority of the state of New York to retire
without early age reduction upon attaining 30 years of creditable
service and age 55.
If this legislation is enacted during the 2016 legislative session, we
anticipate that there will be an increase in the annual contributions of
the state of New York of approximately 0.6% of the compensation of the
affected Tier 5 members, and approximately 0.8% of the compensation of
the affected Tier 6 members. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017,
this is estimated to be approximately $27,000.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $44,800 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, 2017.
This estimate is based on 57 members known to be affected, with an
annual salary estimated to be approximately $4.1 million as of March 31,
2016.
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, 2015 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2015
Report of the Actuary and the 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015
Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes
Rules and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control.
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The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2015
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 estimate, dated June 13, 2016, and intended for use only during
the 2016 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2016-108, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
