Assembly Bill A5094A

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

                                 5094--A

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 11, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
  on  Governmental  Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on Govern-
  mental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- commit-
  tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and  recom-
  mitted to said committee

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 THIRTEEN.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD07894-02-2

              

A. 5094--A                          2

  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.
  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 THIRTEEN 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  memberships  in  the Optional Retirement
Program and to be deemed to be members of the New York State  and  Local
Employees'  Retirement  System (NYSLERS) with a date of membership as of
the date of first employment by SUNY. Affected members will have to  pay
the  entire  past service cost as determined by the 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 18.6% of salary for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.
  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 be 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.
  Summary of relevant resources:

A. 5094--A                          3

  Data:  March  31,  2011  Actuarial Year End File with distributions of
membership and other statistics displayed in  the  2011  Report  of  the
Actuary and 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
  Assumptions  and  Methods:  2010  and  2011 Annual Report to the Comp-
troller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules  and  Regulations  of  the
State of New York: Audit and Control.
  Market  Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2011 New York State and
Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary  informa-
tion.
  Valuations  of Benefit Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized in
the 2011 Actuarial Valuations report.
  I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
  This estimate, dated November 14, 2011,  and  intended  for  use  only
during  the  2012  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2012-12,
prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Employees'
Retirement System.