S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6917
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 5, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TENNEY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize members of the New York state and New York city
teachers' retirement systems and the New York state and local employ-
ees' retirement system to claim retirement credit for certain private
school teaching service
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a member of the
New York state teachers' retirement system or the New York city teach-
ers' retirement system, or any member of the New York state and local
employees' retirement system who is employed by a school district, a
board of cooperative educational services, a vocational education and
extension board, an institution for the instruction of the deaf and
blind as enumerated in section 4201 of the education law or a school
district as enumerated in section 1 of chapter 566 of the laws of 1967,
or who is employed by the state of New York as an institutional teacher
as defined by section 136 of the civil service law, shall be entitled to
obtain credit for up to five years of service rendered as a teacher
employed by a private elementary or secondary school within the state of
New York chartered by or registered with the board of regents, or in a
private college within the state of New York authorized by the board of
regents to grant degrees, which would constitute service as a teacher,
had it been performed within New York state for an employer subject to
the applicable provisions of law governing such retirement system.
S 2. The crediting of service pursuant to this act shall be in accord-
ance with such rules and regulations as shall be adopted by the retire-
ment board of the New York state teachers' retirement system, the
retirement board of the New York city teachers' retirement system or the
state comptroller, as appropriate, provided that such rules and regu-
lations shall be substantially equivalent to the rules and regulations
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10058-02-1
A. 6917 2
otherwise applicable for the crediting of service pursuant to applicable
provisions of law governing each such retirement system, and provided
further that if such provisions have not expired such member makes the
applicable payments required pursuant to the provisions of sections 517
and 613, and paragraph 2 of subdivision b of section 609 of the retire-
ment and social security law.
S 3. The service credit granted pursuant to this act shall constitute
service for the sole purpose of computing the pension payable upon
retirement for service and under no circumstances shall the service
credit granted pursuant to this act be used either in determining the
total length of service credit for purposes of eligibility for a service
retirement benefit or in computing final average salary. Provided
further, no such credit shall be allowed for any service for which the
person is receiving a benefit or will be entitled to receive a benefit
at any future time from any other public or private retirement system or
plan in this state, any other state or from the federal government.
S 4. This act shall take effect June 30, 2012, except that any rule or
regulation necessary for the timely implementation of the provisions of
this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be promul-
gated on or before such date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will allow teachers in certain educational institutions,
employed by the State of New York to receive up to five years of service
credit in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System for
previous service as teachers in private schools in New York State. Such
additional service shall be used solely for the purpose of computing the
pension payable upon retirement for service and will not be used to
determine eligibility for benefits.
The number of members who could be affected by this legislation cannot
be readily determined.
As far as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System, if this bill is enacted, there would be costs to the
Tier 3, 4 and 5 members of the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System who would purchase such previous service. This cost
would be calculated as 3% of the salary that they earned as teachers in
private schools, and could include interest to the date of payment at
5%. In addition, there would be an immediate past service cost, which
would depend on the current salary, plan, age and length of service of
the affected teachers. It is estimated that the past service cost will
average approximately 12% of an affected members' compensation for each
year of additional service. This cost would be shared by the State of
New York and all the participating employers in the New York State and
Local Employees' Retirement System.
This estimate intended for use only during the 2011 Legislative
Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2011-11, prepared by the Actuary for the New
York State and Local Employees' Retirement System.