NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5469
SPONSOR: Englebright TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to defining the
terms "retiree" and "beneficiary" within the freedom of information law
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to clarify that the name of a retiree in a
public employees' retirement system is subject to disclosure under FOIL.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill would amend section 86 of the Public Officers Law to define
"retiree" as a former officer or employee of an agency, the state legis-
lature, or the judiciary who was a member of a public retirement system
of the state, as such term is defined in subdivision twenty-three of
section five hundred one of the retirement and social security law, and
is receiving, or entitled to receive, a benefit from such public retire-
ment system. The bill would also define "beneficiary" as a person desig-
nated by a member or retiree of a public retirement system of the state
to receive retirement or death benefits following the death of the
member or retiree. This bill clarifies that the names of retirees
receiving public employees' retirement benefits are subject to disclo-
sure pursuant to a FOIL request, while the names of beneficiaries are
not.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
JUSTIFICATION:
Subdivision 7 of section 89 of the Public Officers Law clearly states
that the identity of a retiree can be disclosed in response to a FOIL
request, but that the identity of a beneficiary is exempt. Despite this,
the First Department, Appellate Division interpreted this subdivision to
preclude access to the names of retirees who receive pension benefits
through the NYC Police Pension Fund (Empire Center for New York State
Policy v. New York City Police Pension Fund, 88 AD3d 520, 930 NYS2d 576,
(1st Dept, 2011)). However, in 2014, the Court of Appeals in the matter
of Empire Ctr. For N.Y. State Policy v. New York State Teachers' Retire-
ment Sys., 2014 NY Slip Op 03193, reversing the Appellate Division, held
that the Public Officers Law does not permit, pursuant to a FOIL
request, the withholding of the names of retirees who receive benefits
from public employees' retirement systems. The Court noted that the FOIL
request at issue in this case was not made for the purpose of fundrais-
ing or solicitation, which might raise privacy concerns; the Court stat-
ed that if a FOIL request was made for the purpose of solicitation, then
it would be time to consider the effect of a privacy exemption. By
adding the definitions of "retiree" and "beneficiary" to FOIL, this bill
will clarify that the intent of subdivision 7 of section 89 is to allow
for the release of retiree's names while protecting the names of benefi-
ciaries, which is also consistent with the Court of Appeals ruling.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2012 A9461-A referred to investigations and government operations
2013-14 A5171 referred to investigations and government operations
2015-16 A3149 referred to investigations and government operations
2017-18 A3306 referred to investigations and government operations
2019-20 A4061 passed Assembly
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5469
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 18, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, PEOPLES-STOKES, GLICK, GALEF,
ABINANTI, SEAWRIGHT, LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to defining the
terms "retiree" and "beneficiary" within the freedom of information
law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 86 of the public officers law is amended by adding
2 two new subdivisions 10 and 11 to read as follows:
3 10. "Retiree" means a former officer or employee of an agency, the
4 state legislature, or the judiciary who was a member of a public retire-
5 ment system of the state, as such term is defined in subdivision twen-
6 ty-three of section five hundred one of the retirement and social secu-
7 rity law and is receiving, or entitled to receive, a benefit from such
8 public retirement system.
9 11. "Beneficiary" means a person designated by a member or retiree of
10 a public retirement system of the state to receive retirement or death
11 benefits following the death of the member or retiree.
12 § 2. Subdivision 7 of section 89 of the public officers law, as added
13 by chapter 783 of the laws of 1983, is amended to read as follows:
14 7. Nothing in this article shall require the disclosure of the home
15 address of an officer or employee, former officer or employee, or of a
16 retiree of a public [employees'] retirement system of the state, as such
17 term is defined in subdivision twenty-three of section five hundred one
18 of the retirement and social security law; nor shall anything in this
19 article require the disclosure of the name or home address of a benefi-
20 ciary of a public [employees'] retirement system of the state, as such
21 term is defined in subdivision twenty-three of section five hundred one
22 of the retirement and social security law, or of an applicant for
23 appointment to public employment; provided however, that nothing in this
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01690-01-1
A. 5469 2
1 subdivision shall limit or abridge the right of an employee organiza-
2 tion, certified or recognized for any collective negotiating unit of an
3 employer pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law, to
4 obtain the name or home address of any officer, employee or retiree of
5 such employer, if such name or home address is otherwise available under
6 this article.
7 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
