Senate Bill S8329

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

                                  8329

                            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
  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  COURT REPORTERS 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
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.

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

                                                           LBD17283-02-0

S. 8329                             2

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 COURT REPORTERS 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 COURT REPORTERS 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  court  reporters  in  the  unified  court
system  with  membership dates on or after April 1, 1972, and all Tier 2
court reporters 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 $1.58 million which would be borne by
the State of New York as a one-time payment.  These estimated costs  are
based  on  sixty-four  known  affected officers having a total estimated
annual salary for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 of approximately
$7.1 million.
  This estimate, dated May 21, 2010 and intended for use only during the
2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-165, prepared  by  the
Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System.