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A09391 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          9391
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      March 6, 2024
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Governmental Employees
 
        AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation  to  disabilities
          of deputy sheriff members of a retirement system in certain cities
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The general municipal  law  is  amended  by  adding  a  new
     2  section 207-r to read as follows:
     3    § 207-r. Disabilities of deputy sheriff members of a retirement system
     4  in  certain  cities.  1.  Notwithstanding the provisions of any general,
     5  special or local law or administrative code to the contrary, but  except
     6  for the purposes of the workers' compensation law and the labor law, any
     7  condition  of  impairment  of  health  caused  by  diseases of the lung,
     8  resulting in total or partial disability or death  to  a  paid  employee
     9  performing the duties of a deputy sheriff in the sheriff's department of
    10  a  city  with a population of one million or more where such employee is
    11  drawn from competitive civil service lists, or  any  retired  member  of
    12  such  department  who  retired  from a title whose duties are those of a
    13  deputy sheriff and has been retired for five or less years, who success-
    14  fully passed a physical examination on entry into the  service  of  such
    15  department,  which  examination  failed  to  reveal any evidence of such
    16  condition, shall be presumptive evidence that it  was  incurred  in  the
    17  performance  and  discharge  of  duty,  unless the contrary be proved by
    18  competent evidence.
    19    2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a deputy sheriff member
    20  retiring pursuant to the provisions of subdivision one of  this  section
    21  shall  receive  a  pension equal to three-fourths of such member's final
    22  average salary, and a retired member who has been retired for five years
    23  or less and would have been able to retire pursuant to the provisions of
    24  subdivision one of this section if such subdivision had been in force at
    25  the time of such retired  member's  retirement,  shall  be  entitled  to
    26  receive  a pension equal to three-fourths of such member's final average
    27  salary and have their pension recalculated commencing with the later  of
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10216-03-4

        A. 9391                             2
 
     1  the effective date of this section or the first day that diseases of the
     2  lung resulted in the full or partial disability of such retired member.
     3    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          SUMMARY: The proposed legislation would provide certain Deputy Sheriff
        members  or  retirees  (within five years of their respective retirement
        date) of the New York  City  Employees'  Retirement  System  (NYCERS)  a
        rebuttable  statutory  presumption  that  a  qualifying partial or total
        disability or death related to  a  lung  disease  was  incurred  in  the
        performance of duty.
 
              ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
                 by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands)
 
                       One Incident        One Incident Per Year
             Year    Disability  Death     Disability     Death
 
             2025      55        167         55           167
             2026      55        167         113          340
             2027      55        167         171          518
             2028      55        167         232          701
             2029      55        167         294          889
             2030      55        167         359          1,083
             2031      55        167         425          1,283
             2032      55        167         493          1,489
             2033      55        167         563          1,701
             2034      55        167         636          1,920
             2035      55        167         710          2,145
             2036      55        167         787          2,377
             2037      55        167         866          2,615
             2038      55        167         947          2,861
             2039      0         0           976          2,947
             2040      0         0           1,005        3,035
             2041      0         0           1,035        3,126
             2042      0         0           1,066        3,220
             2043      0         0           1,098        3,317
             2044      0         0           1,131        3,416
             2045      0         0           1,165        3,519
             2046      0         0           1,200        3,624
             2047      0         0           1,236        3,733
             2048      0         0           1,273        3,845
             2049      0         0           1,312        3,961
           Employer contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2049 is not shown.
 
          The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to
        New York City.
 
                  EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL LIABILITIES
                          as of June 30, 2023 ($ in Thousands)
 
        Present Value (PV)                 Per Disability      Per Death
        PV of Benefits:                    429                 1,416
        PV of Employee Contributions:      (40)                0
        PV of Employer Contributions:      469                 1,416
        Unfunded Accrued Liabilities:      469                 1,416

        A. 9391                             3
 
                       AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
 
             Recognized as Ongoing Gain/Loss    Per Disabilty   Per Death
             Number of Payments:                14              14
             Amortization Payment:              55 K            167 K
 
          CENSUS  DATA:  The estimates presented herein are based on preliminary
        census data collected as of June 30,  2023.  The  census  data  for  the
        impacted population is summarized below.
 
                                                NYCERS
             Active Members
             - Number Count:                    150
             - Average Age:                     42.3
             - Average Service:                 11.2
             - Average Salary:                  81,500
 
          IMPACT  ON  MEMBER BENEFITS: Currently, a New York City Deputy Sheriff
        who becomes disabled due to lung disease would be eligible for an appli-
        cable ordinary disability retirement, generally a  lifetime  payment  of
        1/3  of salary.  The ordinary death benefit is a lump sum payment gener-
        ally equal to three times the member's salary.
          Under the proposed legislation, the  performance  of  duty  disability
        benefit  for  NYCERS  Deputy  Sheriff members who are disabled from lung
        disease would be equal to:
          * 75% of Final Average Salary (FAS), where
          * FAS is defined as 3-Year FAS for Tier 4 and 5-Year FAS for  Tier  6,
        without
          * an explicit Workers' Compensation offset.
          Under  the proposed legislation, the performance of duty death benefit
        would generally be equal to a lifetime benefit  of  50%  of  a  member's
        wages  earned  during the last year of service, plus, if applicable, the
        Special Accidental Death Benefit (SADB) payable under General  Municipal
        Law section 208-f.
          SADB  for  Deputy  Sheriffs  was enacted by Chapter 720 of the Laws of
        2023 and all accidental deaths are assumed to qualify for SADB.
          ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The  estimates  presented  herein  have  been
        calculated  based  on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
        of the impacted retirement systems.
          The number of members and eligible retirees who will  benefit  in  the
        future  from  this  fiscal  note  is  unknown. The cost of this proposed
        legislation could vary greatly depending on the number of future members
        who benefit and on their length of service, age, and salary history.  In
        particular,  the  increase  would be greater for a member who is not yet
        eligible for an ODR benefit when the disabling  lung  disease  is  diag-
        nosed.
          The  estimated  financial  impact for disabled members has been calcu-
        lated assuming 50% would have retired under an Ordinary Disability bene-
        fit, and 50% would have continued working if  the  proposed  legislation
        were not passed.
          RISK  AND  UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
        highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods,  and  models  used,  demo-
        graphics  of  the  impacted population and other factors such as invest-
        ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates  from
        actuarial   assumptions,  the  actual  costs  could  differ  from  those

        A. 9391                             4
 
        presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the  scope  of  this
        Fiscal Note.
          This  Fiscal  Note  is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
        does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative  and  Other
        Postemployment Benefits).
          STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
        sky  are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of
        Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS but do not believe  it  impairs  our
        objectivity  and  we  meet  the  Qualification Standards of the American
        Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion  contained  herein.
        To  the  best  of  our knowledge, the results contained herein have been
        prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles  and
        procedures  and  with  the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the
        Actuarial Standards Board.
          FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2024-11 dated February 7,
        2024 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City  Retirement
        Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use only during
        the 2024 Legislative Session.
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