S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
4142--A
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
January 30, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE, PHEFFER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
COOK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental
Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Governmental Employees in
accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the computation of final average salary
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 431 of the retirement and social
security law, as added by chapter 503 of the laws of 1971, is amended to
read as follows:
1. lump sum payments for deferred compensation, sick leave, accumu-
lated vacation or other credits for time not worked, PROVIDED, HOWEVER,
THAT WITH RESPECT TO PEACE OFFICERS OF THE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM WHO
JOINED THE NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM BEFORE
JULY FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE, PAYMENT FOR UP TO THIRTY
DAYS OF UNUSED ACCUMULATED VACATION TIME CREDITED TO SUCH MEMBER AT THE
TIME OF RETIREMENT MAY BE INCLUDED IN DETERMINING FINAL AVERAGE SALARY,
S 2. Subdivisions a and b of section 443 of the retirement and social
security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b as added by
chapter 379 of the laws of 1986, are amended to read as follows:
a. The salary base used for the computation of benefits upon retire-
ment, hereinafter called in this article final average salary, applica-
ble to all members of the retirement systems who are subject to the
provisions of this article, shall be the average salary earned by such a
member during any three consecutive years which provide the highest
average salary, exclusive of any form of termination pay (which shall
include any compensation in anticipation of retirement), or any lump sum
payment for deferred compensation, sick leave, or accumulated vacation
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07027-02-0
A. 4142--A 2
credit, or any other payment for time not worked (other than compen-
sation received while on sick leave or authorized leave of absence);
provided, however, if the salary or wages earned during any year
included in the period used to determine final average salary exceeds
that of the average of the previous two years by more than twenty
[percentum] PER CENTUM, the amount in excess of twenty [percentum] PER
CENTUM shall be excluded from the computation of final average salary.
Where the period used to determine final average salary is the period
which immediately precedes the date of retirement, any month or months
(not in excess of twelve) which would otherwise be included in computing
final average salary but during which the member was on authorized leave
of absence at partial pay or without pay shall be excluded from the
computation of final average salary and the month or an equal number of
months immediately preceding such period shall be substituted in lieu
thereof, PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT WITH RESPECT TO PEACE OFFICERS OF THE
UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM, PAYMENT FOR UP TO THIRTY DAYS OF UNUSED ACCUMU-
LATED VACATION TIME CREDITED TO SUCH MEMBER AT THE TIME OF RETIREMENT
MAY BE INCLUDED IN DETERMINING FINAL AVERAGE SALARY.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision a of this section,
with respect to the members of the New York state AND LOCAL employees'
retirement system and New York state [policemen's and firemen's] AND
LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE retirement system, the final average salary, shall
be equal to one-third of the highest total salary earned during any
continuous period of employment for which the member was credited with
three years of service credit, exclusive of any form of termination pay
(which shall include any compensation in anticipation of retirement),
any lump sum payment for deferred compensation, sick leave, or accumu-
lated vacation credit, or any other payment for time not worked (other
than compensation received while on sick leave or authorized leave of
absence); provided, however, if the salary earned during any year of
credited service included in the period used to determine final average
salary exceeds the average of the salaries of the previous two years of
credited service by more than twenty per centum, the amount in excess of
twenty per centum shall be excluded from the computation of final aver-
age salary, PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT WITH RESPECT TO PEACE OFFICERS OF
THE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM, PAYMENT FOR UP TO THIRTY DAYS OF UNUSED ACCU-
MULATED VACATION TIME CREDITED TO SUCH MEMBER AT THE TIME OF RETIREMENT
MAY BE INCLUDED IN DETERMINING FINAL AVERAGE SALARY.
S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will allow Tier 1 peace officers in the unified court system
with membership dates on or after April 1, 1972, and all Tier 2 peace
officers in the unified court system to receive credit for up to 30 days
of unused accumulated vacation time in the calculation of their final
average salary.
If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there will be an immediate
past service cost of approximately $4.71 million which would be borne by
the State of New York as a one-time payment.
These estimated costs are based on 221 known affected officers having
a total estimated annual salary for the fiscal year ending March 31,
2009 of approximately $21 million.
This estimate, dated March 12, 2010 and intended for use only during
the 2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-96, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement
System.