STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8765
IN SENATE
May 15, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
service credit for town and village justices
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 41 of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision m to read as follows:
3 m. Service credit for village and town justices. Notwithstanding any
4 other provisions of law to the contrary, no member of the retirement
5 system in the title of justice, being reported by a town or village that
6 is an employer, shall receive less than one-half year of service credit
7 per fiscal year that they serve in such title.
8 § 2. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the New York state
9 and local employees' retirement system shall recalculate the service
10 credit for any past or current town or village justice who is an active
11 member of such retirement system on or after the effective date of this
12 act.
13 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
14 it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediate-
15 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
16 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
17 authorized to be made and completed on or before such date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow town and village justices who are active members
of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS) to
receive a minimum of 1/2 year of service credit per fiscal year that
they serve in such title. This additional service credit would increase
the pensions of justices who become eligible for a vested pension due to
the additional service credit granted, or attain 20 years of service
credit and become eligible for a higher pension for all their years of
service credit, or combine judicial service credit with other full time
service rendered with the state of New York or a participating employer
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15418-03-8
S. 8765 2
in ERS and thus become eligible to use this extra service towards
retirement on a higher final average salary.
If this bill is enacted, there would be a past service cost that would
be based on the age, service, salary and plan of the affected members.
For an individual who combines this additional service credit with other
service credit in ERS in a full time position, it is estimated that this
cost would average approximately 15% of their highest full time salary
per year of additional service credit granted. This cost could exceed
$300,000 for certain individuals.
The exact number of current members as well as future members who
could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined.
Pursuant to Section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law,
these costs would be borne entirely by the State of New York and would
require an itemized appropriation sufficient to pay the cost of the
provision. A precise cost for future years can't be determined at this
time. Every year a cost will be determined (and billed to the state)
based on those benefitting from this provision.
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, 2017 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2017
Report of the Actuary and the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, and 2017 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2017
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 May 10, 2018, and intended for use only during
the 2018 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2018-95, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
