Senate Bill S8327

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  8327

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              June 23, 2010
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens. ADDABBO, SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed,
  and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
  service  retirement  benefits  for  court  reporters  employed  by the
  unified court system

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision b of section 442 of the retirement and social
security law is amended by  adding  a  new  paragraph  1-a  to  read  as
follows:
  1-A.  A  MEMBER  WHO IS A COURT REPORTER EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED COURT
SYSTEM MAY RETIRE WITHOUT REDUCTION OF HIS  OR  HER  RETIREMENT  BENEFIT
UPON  HIS  OR  HER  ATTAINMENT  OF  AT LEAST FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE AND
COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE; AND
  S 2. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 662 of the laws of  1988,  is  amended  to
read as follows:
  a.  The  normal  service  retirement benefit specified in section five
hundred four OF THIS ARTICLE shall be payable to general members,  other
than  elective  members,  who  have met the minimum service requirements
upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two,  provided,  however,  a
general  member  who  is  a  peace officer employed by the unified court
system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may  retire  without
reduction  of  his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least
fifty-five years of age and  completion  of  thirty  or  more  years  of
service;  AND  PROVIDED  FURTHER  THAT  A  GENERAL MEMBER WHO IS A COURT
REPORTER EMPLOYED  BY  THE  UNIFIED  COURT  SYSTEM  MAY  RETIRE  WITHOUT
REDUCTION  OF  HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENEFIT UPON ATTAINMENT OF AT LEAST
FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE AND COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE OR MORE  YEARS  OF
SERVICE.
  S 3. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
ty  law, as amended by section 7 of part B of chapter 504 of the laws of
2009, is amended to read as follows:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD17288-02-0
              

S. 8327                             2

  a. The service retirement benefit specified  in  section  six  hundred
four  of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment  of  age  sixty-
two,  other  than  members who are eligible for early service retirement
pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
d  of  section  six  hundred  four-d  of  this article, subdivision c of
section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c  of  section  six  hundred
four-g  of  this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
this article or subdivision c of section  six  hundred  four-i  of  this
article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
the  New  York  state  and  local employees' retirement system who first
joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who
is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed  by  the  unified
court system may retire without reduction of his or her retirement bene-
fit  upon  attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion
of thirty or more years of service, provided, however, that a  uniformed
court  officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system who
first becomes a member of  the  New  York  state  and  local  employees'
retirement  system  on  or  after  January  first,  two thousand ten and
retires without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon  attain-
ment  of  at  least  fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or
more years of service pursuant to this section shall be required to make
the member contributions  required  by  subdivision  f  of  section  six
hundred  thirteen of this article for all years of credited and credita-
ble service. A MEMBER WHO IS A COURT REPORTER EMPLOYED  BY  THE  UNIFIED
COURT SYSTEM MAY RETIRE WITHOUT REDUCTION OF HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENE-
FIT  UPON  ATTAINMENT OF AT LEAST FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE AND COMPLETION
OF TWENTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE.
  S 4. Subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by section 3-a of chapter 19 of the laws of 2008,  is
amended to read as follows:
  a.  The  service  retirement  benefit specified in section six hundred
four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the  mini-
mum  service  requirements  upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
two, other than members who are eligible for  early  service  retirement
pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
d  of  section  six  hundred  four-d  of  this article, subdivision c of
section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c  of  section  six  hundred
four-g  of  this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
this article or subdivision c of section  six  hundred  four-i  of  this
article  provided,  however, a member who is a peace officer employed by
the unified court system or a member of a teachers' retirement system or
the New York state and local employees'  retirement  system  may  retire
without reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at
least  fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of
service; A MEMBER WHO IS A COURT REPORTER EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED  COURT
SYSTEM  MAY  RETIRE  WITHOUT  REDUCTION OF HIS OR HER RETIREMENT BENEFIT
UPON ATTAINMENT OF AT LEAST FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE  AND  COMPLETION  OF
TWENTY-FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE.
  S 5. Paragraph 1 of subdivision b of section 902 of the retirement and
social  security  law, as amended by section 10 of part B of chapter 504
of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:

S. 8327                             3

  1. [An] EXCEPT FOR A COURT REPORTER OF THE UNIFIED  COURT  SYSTEM,  AN
eligible  employee  (i) with a date of membership in a retirement system
on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred seventy-six and before
January first, two thousand ten, and (ii) who has ten or more  years  of
membership  or  ten  or more years of credited service with a retirement
system under the provisions of article fourteen or fifteen of this chap-
ter shall not be required to contribute to a retirement system  pursuant
to  section five hundred seventeen or six hundred thirteen of this chap-
ter as of the cessation date.   COURT REPORTERS  OF  THE  UNIFIED  COURT
SYSTEM  WITH  TEN  OR  MORE  YEARS OF MEMBERSHIP OR TEN OR MORE YEARS OF
CREDITED SERVICE SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO  CONTRIBUTE  TO  A  RETIREMENT
SYSTEM PURSUANT TO SECTION SIX HUNDRED THIRTEEN OF THIS CHAPTER.
  S 6. The cost attributable to the operation of this act shall be borne
by the unified court system.
  S 7. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, that the amend-
ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu-
rity law made by section three of this act shall be subject to the expi-
ration  and  reversion  of  such  subdivision  pursuant to section 13 of
chapter 682 of the laws of 2003, as amended, when  upon  such  date  the
provisions of section four of this act shall take effect.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This  bill  would allow Tier 2, 3, 4 and 5 Court Reporters employed by
the Unified Court System to retire  without  benefit  reduction  due  to
early  retirement  upon  the  attainment  of  age  fifty-five  (55)  and
completion of at least twenty-five (25) years of service.  In  addition,
the  bill  will  provide that Tier 5 court reporters will stop paying 3%
member contributions after ten years of service credit.
  If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there will be an  increase
of  approximately  $220,000  in the annual contributions of the State of
New York, on behalf of the Unified Court  System  for  the  fiscal  year
ending  March  31,  2011.  In  addition,  for all Tier 5 court reporters
employed by the Unified Court System,  there  will  also  be  an  annual
increase to the State of New York of approximately 2.4%.
  In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an  immediate  past  service  cost  of approximately $9.64 million which
would be borne by the State of New York  as  a  one-time  payment.  This
estimate  is  based on the assumption that payment will be made on March
1, 2011.
  These estimated costs are based  on  one  thousand  sixty-two  (1,062)
known  affected  court  reporters having a total estimated annual salary
for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 of approximately $100 million.
  This estimate, dated June 9, 2010 and intended for use only during the
2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-164, prepared  by  the
Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System.