Relates to authorizing state university police, regional state park police and detective investigators for the office of the attorney general to receive additional service credit in an optional twenty year retirement plan.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7108--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 18, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. THOMAS, CHU -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and
Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the
Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
authorizing certain persons in an optional twenty year retirement plan
to receive credit for previous service as a state university police
officer, a regional state park police officer or a detective investi-
gator for the office of the attorney general
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 384-e of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding three new subdivisions d, e and f to read as follows:
3 d. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon
4 completion of twenty years of service, and upon retirement, each such
5 member who was previously credited with service credit in the New York
6 state and local employees' retirement system or the New York state and
7 local police and fire retirement system as an officer appointed by the
8 state university pursuant to paragraph l of subdivision two of section
9 three hundred fifty-five of the education law and who has successfully
10 completed a course of law enforcement training as provided in such
11 section of the education law may receive for each such year of previous
12 service, up to a total of no greater than five years of previous
13 service, additional pension equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final
14 average salary.
15 To obtain such credit a member shall pay such retirement system, for
16 deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11184-07-4
S. 7108--B 2
1 equal to the product of the number of years of service being claimed
2 and three percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve
3 months of credited service immediately preceding the date that the
4 member made application for credit pursuant to this section.
5 e. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon
6 completion of twenty years of service, and upon retirement, each such
7 member who was previously credited with service credit in the New York
8 state and local employees' retirement system or the New York state and
9 local police and fire retirement system as an officer or member of the
10 regional state park police department may receive for each such year of
11 previous service, up to a total of no greater than five years of previ-
12 ous service, additional pension equal to one-sixtieth of such member's
13 final average salary.
14 To obtain such credit a member shall pay such retirement system, for
15 deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum
16 equal to the product of the number of years of service being claimed
17 and three percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve
18 months of credited service immediately preceding the date that the
19 member made application for credit pursuant to this section.
20 f. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon
21 completion of twenty years of service, and upon retirement, each such
22 member who was previously credited with service credit in the New York
23 state and local employees' retirement system as an investigator in a
24 detective investigator role employed in the office of the attorney
25 general may receive for each such year of previous service, up to a
26 total of no greater than five years of previous service, additional
27 pension equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final average salary.
28 To obtain such credit a member shall pay such retirement system, for
29 deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum
30 equal to the product of the number of years of service being claimed
31 and three percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve
32 months of credited service immediately preceding the date that the
33 member made application for credit pursuant to this section.
34 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow up to five years of previous service rendered as
a police officer with either the State University of New York or
Regional State Park Police Department or as an investigator in a detec-
tive investigator role in the Office of the New York State Attorney
General to become creditable under section 384-e of the Retirement and
Social Security Law. Upon completion of twenty years of service and upon
retirement, an affected member would receive an additional pension of
one-sixtieth of their final average salary for each such additional year
credited. Affected members would be required to contribute an amount
equal to three percent of their prior twelve months of compensation for
each year of service credit claimed.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be a past service cost averaging 13.7% of an
affected member's compensation for each year of additional service cred-
it granted. All costs would be shared by the State of New York and the
local participating employers in the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System.
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:
S. 7108--B 3
Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
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 March 19, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-151, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
