Assembly Bill A10068

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

                                  10068

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              March 3, 2010
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
  on Governmental Employees

AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
  transfer of retirement membership for employees  of  SUNY  within  the
  professional, scientific and technical bargaining unit

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

  Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
a new section 618 to read as follows:
  S 618. TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIP INTO NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES'
RETIREMENT SYSTEM. A. DEFINITIONS. WHENEVER USED IN THIS SECTION:
  1. THE TERM "ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE" SHALL MEAN A  PERSON  WHO  AS  OF  THE
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF
NEW YORK IN A POSITION WITHIN THE PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
BARGAINING  UNIT  AND  WHO  IS AS OF SAID EFFECTIVE DATE A MEMBER OF THE
OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM AND WHO FIRST  BECAME  AN  EMPLOYEE  OF  THE
STATE  UNIVERSITY  OF NEW YORK ON A DATE BETWEEN JANUARY FIRST, NINETEEN
HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR AND DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND AND  WHO  IS
STILL  EMPLOYED  BY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AS OF THE DATE SAID
EMPLOYEE FILES AN APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION B OF THIS SECTION;
  2. THE TERM "OPTIONAL RETIREMENT  PROGRAM"  SHALL  MEAN  THE  OPTIONAL
RETIREMENT PROGRAM ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO ARTICLE EIGHT-B OF THE EDUCA-
TION LAW.
  B.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, AN ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE
SHALL BE ALLOWED TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  AND  LOCAL
EMPLOYEES'  RETIREMENT SYSTEM BY FILING AN APPLICATION WITH SAID RETIRE-
MENT SYSTEM NO LATER THAN DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND ELEVEN.
  C. AN ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE WHO FILES AN APPLICATION TO BECOME A MEMBER OF
THE NEW YORK STATE AND  LOCAL  EMPLOYEES'  RETIREMENT  SYSTEM  SHALL  BE
DEEMED  TO  BE A MEMBER OF THAT RETIREMENT SYSTEM WITH A DATE OF MEMBER-
SHIP AS OF THE DATE SAID ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE WAS  FIRST  EMPLOYED  BY  THE
STATE  UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK. THE ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE'S MEMBERSHIP IN THE
OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM SHALL TERMINATE AS OF THE DATE SAID APPLICA-
TION IS FILED.

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

                                                           LBD16067-01-0

A. 10068                            2

  D. AN ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE WHO BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK STATE AND
LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM PURSUANT TO  SUBDIVISION  B  OF  THIS
SECTION SHALL BEGIN ACCRUING SERVICE CREDIT IN SAID RETIREMENT SYSTEM AS
OF  THE DATE SUCH APPLICATION IS FILED, BUT SAID ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE SHALL
NOT BE ENTITLED TO ANY PREVIOUS SERVICE CREDIT FOR ANY PERIOD OF EMPLOY-
MENT  DURING  WHICH  SAID ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE WAS A MEMBER OF THE OPTIONAL
RETIREMENT PROGRAM, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED  IN  THIS  SECTION.  AN  ELIGIBLE
EMPLOYEE WHO BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES'
RETIREMENT SYSTEM PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION B OF THIS SECTION MAY ELECT TO
PURCHASE  CREDIT  FOR  PREVIOUS SERVICE FOR ANY PERIOD DURING WHICH SAID
EMPLOYEE WAS A MEMBER OF THE OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM  BY  FILING  AN
APPLICATION  WITH  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT
SYSTEM NO LATER THAN DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND ELEVEN  AND  BY
PAYING  TO  SAID  RETIREMENT SYSTEM AN AMOUNT AS DETERMINED BY THE COMP-
TROLLER  EQUAL  TO  THE  FULL  COST  OF  SUCH  PREVIOUS  SERVICE  CREDIT
PURCHASED.  SAID  PAYMENT  MAY  BE  MADE BY A TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM THE
EMPLOYEE'S OPTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM ACCOUNT TO THE NEW YORK STATE AND
LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM. SAID PAYMENT MAY ALSO BE MADE IN ONE
PAYMENT BY THE EMPLOYEE OR BY PAYROLL DEDUCTION OVER  A  PERIOD  NOT  TO
EXCEED FIVE YEARS.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
  FISCAL NOTE: Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This  bill  will  allow  employees of the State University of New York
(SUNY) in a position within the Professional, Scientific  and  Technical
bargaining  unit, who first became employed with SUNY between January 1,
1994 and December 31, 2000, and who enrolled in the Optional  Retirement
Program to terminate their membership in the Optional Retirement Program
and  to  apply to become members of the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement  System  (NYSLERS)  as  of  such  date  of  application.
Affected members will have to pay the entire past service cost as deter-
mined  by  by  Comptroller in order to get retirement service credit for
the service rendered before their dates of membership.
  If this bill is enacted, the number of employees who may  be  affected
by this legislation cannot be readily determined. For every employee who
does  so elect, there will be an annual cost to the State of New York of
approximately 9.2% of salary for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.
  In addition to the annual cost above, for every member who elects this
benefit, there will be a past service cost that will depend on the  age,
service  and  salary  of  the member. The members will be able to offset
this cost by the  transfer  of  funds  from  their  Optional  Retirement
Program  balances.  For  an individual member, if the amount transferred
from the Optional Retirement Program is less than the past service cost,
the member will have to make up the  difference  either  as  a  one-time
payment  or  by  making  a  series of payments over a period of five (5)
years.
  This estimate, dated January 6, 2010 and intended for use only  during
the 2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-9, prepared by the
Actuary for the New York State and Local  Employees' Retirement System.