Senate Bill S3634

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

                                  3634

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             March 25, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  MORAHAN,  DeFRANCISCO,  FARLEY,  GOLDEN,  GRIFFO,
  O. JOHNSON, LARKIN, MAZIARZ,  OPPENHEIMER,  PADAVAN,  SEWARD,  SKELOS,
  STAVISKY,  VOLKER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed
  to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions

AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
  certain members who re-enter public service

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

  Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 4 of section 645 of the  retirement  and
social security law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 322 of the laws
of  2002  and  subdivision 4 as added by chapter 640 of the laws of 1998
and as renumbered by chapter 646 of the laws of  1999,  are  amended  to
read as follows:
  2.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person [other than
a retiree of a public retirement system,] who previously was a member of
a public retirement system and whose membership in such  public  retire-
ment  system  ceased  by reason of (i) insufficient service credit, (ii)
withdrawal of accumulated contributions, or (iii) withdrawal of  member-
ship,  upon  rejoining  such  public retirement system or another public
retirement system, shall be deemed to have been a member of his  or  her
current  retirement  system  during the entire period of time commencing
with and subsequent to the original date of such previous ceased member-
ship, provided that such person (a) makes application  therefor  to  the
administrative  head of his or her current public retirement system, and
(b) repays the amount refunded,  if  any,  at  the  time  such  previous
membership  ceased,  together  with interest at the rate of five percent
per annum compounded annually from the date of such refund  through  the
date  of  repayment. Upon such reinstatement of date of membership, such
member shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and  privileges  to
which  he or she would have been entitled had his or her current member-
ship begun on such original date of membership except that,  solely  for

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02353-02-9
              

S. 3634                             2

the  purposes  of  granting  retirement  credit  to  members of a public
retirement system other than the  New  York  city  teachers'  retirement
system for service credited during such previous ceased membership where
such  was  in a public retirement system other than the member's current
retirement system, such previously credited service shall be  deemed  to
be  prior service, not subsequent service.  Furthermore, any such member
whose original date of membership was  prior  to  July  first,  nineteen
hundred  seventy-three shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and
privileges to which he or she would have been entitled  had  he  or  she
been  in  active  service  on  June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-
three. Any contribution made to the public retirement system pursuant to
article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter by a member who rejoined his
or her current system on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen  hundred
seventy-six shall not be refunded.
  4.  The provisions of this article shall be applicable to a person who
[is, on the date this article becomes effective]  WAS  A  MEMBER  ON  OR
BEFORE JANUARY FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-NINE, or who subsequent to
such date becomes, a member of a public retirement system.
  S  2.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to
all persons who are alive as of the effective date of this act and shall
apply to payments made on or after the effective date of this  act;  and
provided further, that any retirees qualifying under this act shall have
their retirement allowance recalculated from July 1, 2009 or the date of
reinstatement, whichever is later.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This  bill  would  allow  certain  living  retirees of New York public
retirement systems who retired prior to December 16, 1999 and who previ-
ously were members of a New York Public retirement system to  be  deemed
to  have become members of the systems from which they retired as of the
original date of such previous ceased membership. Tier 3 and 4  retirees
of  the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System or the New
York State Teachers' Retirement System who become Tier 1 or  2  retirees
and  who  have  already purchased their previous service would receive a
refund of these contributions.  No  benefits  will  be  deemed  to  have
accrued prior to the effective date of this act.
  If  this  bill  is  enacted, insofar as this bill affects the New York
State and Local Employees' Retirement System  (NYS&LERS),  approximately
1,630  retirees  of  the  NYS&LERS will be affected. The estimated addi-
tional annual increase in  contributions  would  be  approximately  $2.2
million.    This  cost  will  be shared by the State of New York and all
participating employers in the NYS&LERS.
  Insofar as this bill would affect employers in the New York State  and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYS&LPFRS), the estimated addi-
tional costs would be negligible.
  In  addition there will be cost for retirees who had a previous ceased
membership with a public  employee  retirement  system  other  than  the
NYS&LERS  or  the NYS&LPFRS. These costs would depend upon the number of
retirees affected and upon each retiree's age, salary, credited service,
plan coverage and tier. The number of retirees with such previous ceased
membership with another  public  retirement  system  cannot  be  readily
determined.  These  additional costs would be shared by the State of New
York and all participating employers in their respective systems.
  This estimate, dated February 3, 2009 and intended for use only during
the 2009 Legislative Session is Fiscal Note No.  2009-101,  prepared  by
the Actuary for the NYS&LERS and the NYS&LPFRS.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:

S. 3634                             3

  If  this  bill were to be enacted in the 2009 Legislative Session, the
cost  to  the  City  in  fiscal  year  2009-10  would  be  approximately
$750,000.00  and  would  remain  constant.  This  cost is apportioned by
retirement system as follows:
  System     Cost
  NYCERS     $370,000
  TRS        $285,000
  BERS       $95,000
  POLICE     Negligible
  FIRE       Negligible
  Total:     $750,000
  The  source of this estimate, dated February 12, 2009, was prepared by
John Black, pension consultant.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This bill would amend subdivisions 2 and  4  of  section  645  of  the
Retirement  and  Social  Security  Law  to extend the tier reinstatement
provisions to any retiree of a public  retirement  system.  The  retiree
must be alive as of the effective date of the bill in order to be eligi-
ble.  This  bill only applies to payments made on or after the effective
date of this act.
  The annual cost to the employers of members  of  the  New  York  State
Teachers'  Retirement  System  for  this benefit is estimated to be $7.6
million or .05% of payroll of this bill if enacted.
  The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note  2009-35  dated  March  20,
2009  prepared by the Actuary of the New York State Teachers' Retirement
System and is intended for use only during the 2009 Legislative Session.