STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5970--B
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. GALLIVAN, KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and
Pensions -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to authorize James Unger to receive certain credit under section
384-d of the retirement and social security law
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, James Unger,
2 currently a town of West Seneca police officer and member of the New
3 York state and local police and fire retirement system covered by
4 section 384-d of the retirement and social security law, who between
5 January 21, 2003 and September 6, 2006 was employed by the Erie county
6 sheriff's department where he was a member of the New York state and
7 local employees' retirement system, and who, for reasons not ascribable
8 to his own negligence, was not granted service credit under section
9 384-d of the retirement and social security law for his period of
10 employment with the Erie county sheriff's department, shall be granted
11 such service credit under section 384-d of the retirement and social
12 security law and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits asso-
13 ciated with coverage under such section, provided a request to that
14 effect is filed with the state comptroller within one year from the
15 effective date of this act.
16 § 2. All past service costs incurred in implementing the provisions of
17 this act shall be borne by the town of West Seneca.
18 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will grant service credit under section 384-d of the Retire-
ment and Social Security Law to James Unger, a current member of the New
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11842-03-9
S. 5970--B 2
York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), for the
period of January 21, 2003 through September 6, 2006, during which he
was employed as a deputy sheriff in Erie County. Currently, deputy sher-
iff service is not creditable in a PFRS twenty year police retirement
plan.
If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session and Mr.
Unger buys back and transfers this service credit to the PFRS, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $161,000 which
will be borne by the Town of West Seneca as a one-time payment. This
estimate is based on the assumption that payment will be made on Febru-
ary 1, 2021.
There will be no increase in the annual contributions of the Town of
West Seneca.
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.
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 December 6, 2019, and intended for use only
during the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-5, prepared
by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.