S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7573--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
May 23, 2013
___________
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
the membership of warrant and transfer officers and senior warrant and
transfer officers
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The section heading of section 89 of the retirement and
social security law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of
chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
Retirement of members in the uniformed personnel in institutions under
the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community super-
vision or who are security hospital treatment assistants, OR WHO ARE
WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS OR SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS;
new plan.
S 2. Subdivision a of section 89 of the retirement and social security
law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of
the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
a. Any member in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the
jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision,
as hereinafter defined, who enters or re-enters service on or after the
effective date of this section, or who is a security hospital treatment
assistant who enters or [reenters] RE-ENTERS service on or after the
effective date of the amendment permitting security hospital treatment
assistants to be covered by this section, OR WHO IS A WARRANT AND TRANS-
FER OFFICER OR A SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER WHO ENTERS OR
RE-ENTERS SERVICE ON OR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE AMENDMENT
PERMITTING WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS AND SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11108-02-4
A. 7573--A 2
OFFICERS TO BE COVERED BY THIS SECTION, shall contribute on the basis
provided for by this section.
S 3. Paragraph 2 of subdivision e of section 89 of the retirement and
social security law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of
chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
2. A pension which, together with such annuity and a pension which is
the actuarial equivalent of the reserves for-increased-take-home pay to
which he or she may then be entitled, if any, shall equal one-fiftieth
of his or her final average salary for each year of creditable service
in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the jurisdiction of the
department of corrections and community supervision or for each year of
creditable service as a security hospital treatment assistant under the
jurisdiction of the office of mental health, OR FOR EACH YEAR OF CREDIT-
ABLE SERVICE AS A WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER OR SENIOR WARRANT AND
TRANSFER OFFICER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, as hereinafter defined. This pension shall
not exceed the amount needed to make the total amount of the benefits
provided under paragraphs one and two of this subdivision e equal to
one-half of his or her final average salary.
S 4. The opening paragraph of paragraph 3 of subdivision e of section
89 of the retirement and social security law, as amended by section 139
of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to
read as follows:
An additional pension equal to the pension for any creditable service
rendered while not in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the
jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision
and rendered while not serving as a security hospital treatment assist-
ant under the jurisdiction of the office of mental health, AND RENDERED
WHILE NOT SERVING AS A WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER OR SENIOR WARRANT
AND TRANSFER OFFICER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, as hereinafter defined, as
provided under paragraphs two and three of subdivision a of section
seventy-five of this article. This pension shall:
S 5. Subdivision f of section 89 of the retirement and social security
law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of
the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
f. The increased pensions to members of the uniformed personnel in
institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and
community supervision or to members who are security hospital treatment
assistants under the jurisdiction of the office of mental health, OR TO
MEMBERS WHO ARE WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS OR SENIOR WARRANT AND
TRANSFER OFFICERS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, as provided by this section,
shall be paid from additional contributions made by the state on account
of such member. The actuary of the retirement system shall compute the
additional contribution of each member who elects to receive the special
benefits provided under this section. Such additional contributions
shall be computed on the basis of contributions during the prospective
service of such member which will cover the liability of the retirement
system for such extra pensions.
S 6. Subdivision g of section 89 of the retirement and social security
law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of
the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
g. In computing the twenty-five years of completed service of a member
in the uniformed personnel in institutions under the jurisdiction of the
department of corrections and community supervision or of a member who
A. 7573--A 3
is a security hospital treatment assistant under the jurisdiction of the
office of mental health, OR OF A MEMBER WHO IS A WARRANT AND TRANSFER
OFFICER OR SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, as hereinafter
defined, full credit shall be given and full allowance shall be made for
service of such member in war after world war 1 as defined in section
two of this chapter, provided such member at the time of his or her
entrance into the armed forces was in state service.
S 7. Subdivision i of section 89 of the retirement and social security
law, as amended by section 139 of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of
the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
i. As used in this section, "uniformed persons" or "uniformed person-
nel" in institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of
corrections and community supervision or "security hospital treatment
assistants" under the jurisdiction of the office of mental health OR
"WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS OR SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS"
UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY
SUPERVISION mean officers or employees holding the titles hereinafter
set forth in institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of
corrections and community supervision or under the jurisdiction of the
office of mental health, namely: correction officers, prison guards,
correction sergeants, correction lieutenants, correction captains, depu-
ty assistant superintendent or warden, deputy warden or deputy super-
intendent, superintendents and wardens, assistant director and director
of correction reception center, director of correctional program,
assistant director of correctional program, director of community
correctional center, community correctional center assistant, correction
hospital officers, male or female, correction hospital senior officers,
correction hospital charge officer, correction hospital supervising
officer, correction hospital security supervisor, correction hospital
chief officer, correction youth camp officer, correction youth camp
supervisor, assistant supervisor, correctional camp superintendent,
assistant correctional camp superintendent, director of crisis inter-
vention unit, assistant director of crisis intervention unit, security
hospital treatment assistants, security hospital treatment assistants
(Spanish speaking), security hospital senior treatment assistants, secu-
rity hospital supervising treatment assistants [and], security hospital
treatment chiefs, AND WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICERS AND SENIOR WARRANT
AND TRANSFER OFFICERS. Previous service rendered under the titles by
which such positions were formerly designated and previous service
rendered as a narcotic addiction control commission officer shall
constitute creditable service. PREVIOUS SERVICE RENDERED UNDER THE
TITLES WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER AND SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER
OFFICER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE FORMER DIVISION OF PAROLE SHALL
CONSTITUTE CREDITABLE SERVICE. Notwithstanding any provision of law to
the contrary, any employee of the department of corrections and communi-
ty supervision who became enrolled under this section by reason of
employment as a uniformed person in an institution under the jurisdic-
tion of the department of corrections and community supervision shall be
entitled to full retirement credit for, and full allowance shall be made
under this section for the service of such employee, not to exceed
twelve years, while assigned to the training academy or central office,
in the following titles, namely: correction officer, correction
sergeant, correction lieutenant, correction captain, correctional
services investigator, senior correctional services employee investi-
gator, correctional services fire and safety coordinator, director of
A. 7573--A 4
special housing and inmate disciplinary program, assistant director of
special housing and inmate disciplinary program, assistant chief of
investigations, director of CERT operations, correctional facility oper-
ations specialist, director of security staffing project, correctional
security technical services specialist, assistant commissioner and depu-
ty commissioner.
S 8. Section 89 of the retirement and social security law is amended
by adding a new subdivision l to read as follows:
L. ANY MEMBER WHO, ON OR BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVI-
SION, IS A WARRANT AND TRANSFER OFFICER OR SENIOR WARRANT AND TRANSFER
OFFICER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND
COMMUNITY SUPERVISION MAY, BY FILING AN ELECTION WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER
THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION, ELECT TO BE SUBJECT TO THE
PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION. SUCH ELECTION SHALL BE IN WRITING, SHALL BE
DULY EXECUTED AND FILED WITH THE COMPTROLLER AND SHALL BE IRREVOCABLE.
S 9. All past service costs shall be borne by the state of New York as
a one-time payment.
S 10. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow warrant and transfer officers under the juris-
diction of the department of corrections to be covered by the provisions
of section 89 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, a twenty-five
(25) year half pay retirement plan. In addition this will allow all
service as a warrant and transfer officer to be creditable towards
retirement for all officers subject to the provisions of such plan.
If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there will be an increase
of approximately $119,000 in the annual contributions of the State of
New York for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $463,000 which would be
borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment, assuming a payment
date of March 1, 2015.
These estimated costs are based on 24 known affected officers having a
total estimated annual salary for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014
approximately $2.3 million.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2013 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2013
Report of the Actuary and the 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2010,
2011, 2012 and 2013 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial
Assumptions, and the Codes Rules and Regulations of the State of New
York: Audit and Control.
The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2013
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
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 February 13, 2014 and intended for use only
during the 2104 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2014-80,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System.