Assembly Bill A8718

                                BILL NUMBER:A8718

TITLE  OF BILL:  An act to authorize James Freitag to apply for retroac-
tive membership in the New York state teachers' retirement system

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:  To authorize James P. Freitag to apply
for retroactive membership in the New York  State  Teachers'  Retirement
System

SUMMARY  OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:  This bill would grant retroactive Tier
II status in the New York State Teachers' Retirement System to James  P.
Freitag  by  deeming him to have been a member of such system since June
5, 1975.

JUSTIFICATION:  James P. Freitag began his employment with the county of
Cattaraugus on June 5, 1975 and remained as a county  employee  for  the
next  four years. However, Mr. Freitag was not informed of his eligibil-
ity to join the retirement system until August of 1978. Several  factors
contributed to the fact that Mr. Freitag was not given the same opportu-
nity to join the retirement system as other county employees were.

Mr.  Freitag  was employed by the county as a provisional counselor from
June 5, 1975 until September 12, 1976 and then was called away to active
duty for the U.S. Army on September 11, 1976 until the summer  of  1978.
He  was  on leave from the county, but remained as a provisional compet-
itive class employee. Therefore, he was away on active duty  during  the
              

time  period  when other county employees were informed by the county of
the opportunity to join the New York State and Local Employees'  Retire-
ment  System  (ERS).  Mr.  Freitag  joined  Tier III of ERS at the first
opportunity he was presented with, in August 1978.

Mr. Freitag was then employed by a public  school  in  August  1979,  at
which time he became a member of the New York State Teachers' Retirement
System  (NYSTRS)  transferring his membership from ERS where he remained
in Tier III.

The county and state have found  for  the  following  reasons  that  the
relief sought by Mr. Freitag is appropriate: First, he did not expressly
decline  membership,  second,  he  did  not participate in any procedure
explaining the option to join the system as other county employees  did,
and third, there is no record that Mr. Freitag was afforded by the coun-
ty  the  opportunity  to  participate  in  a procedure that a reasonable
person would recognize as an explanation or request requiring  a  formal
decision by him to join the public retirement system until August, 1978.
Since  Tier  II  was  closed  off as of July 1, 1976 Mr. Freitag was not
afforded the option to join Tier 11 as other county employees were.

Both the county of Cattaraugus and the New York State Teachers'  Retire-
ment  System  acknowledge that James P. Freitag was an eligible employee
as of June 5, 1975. This recognition should, in and of itself, be  proof
that Mr. Freitag deserves to be granted Tier II status.

PRIOR  LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY:    This is a new bill; however, Mr. Freitag
made his original request to the Legislature for special legislation  in
2004.  The  county and state have finally come to agreement that without
question, Mr. Freitag should rightly be  afforded  this  opportunity  to
join Tier II.

FISCAL  IMPLICATIONS:   If this legislation is enacted, there will be an
immediate past service cost of approximately $57,000 which would be paid
by the county of Cattaraugus, New York State.

This estimate, dated February 25, 2009 is intended for use  only  during
the 2009 Legislative Session, as prepared by the Actuary for the NYSTRS.

If Mr. Freitag is not granted the opportunity to join Tier II this year,
the  estimated  cost to the county, should it be enacted next year, will
go up significantly.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.