S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  7490

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              May 22, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  GUNTHER, COLTON, BENEDETTO, JAFFEE, SCHIMEL,
  RUSSELL, BARRON, DenDEKKER, WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.  of  A.
  ARROYO,  AUBRY, BARCLAY, BRENNAN, BROOK-KRASNY, BUTLER, CAHILL, CLARK,
  COOK, CORWIN, CROUCH, CUSICK,  CYMBROWITZ,  DINOWITZ,  DUPREY,  ENGLE-
  BRIGHT,  FINCH,  GABRYSZAK,  GALEF, GIBSON, GIGLIO, GOTTFRIED, HAWLEY,
  HEASTIE, HOOPER, JACOBS,  KAVANAGH,  KOLB,  LAVINE,  LIFTON,  LUPARDO,
  MAGEE,  MAISEL,  MARKEY,  McDONOUGH,  McKEVITT, MILLER, MILLMAN, OAKS,
  ORTIZ, PAULIN, PEOPLES-STOKES, PERRY, PRETLOW, RABBITT,  RAIA,  RAMOS,
  REILICH,  RIVERA,  ROBINSON, ROSENTHAL, SCARBOROUGH, SWEENEY, TEDISCO,
  THIELE, TITONE, TITUS, WEISENBERG, WRIGHT, ZEBROWSKI -- read once  and
  referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees

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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD03012-03-3
              

A. 7490                             2

(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
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, 2013 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 Tier 2 reti-
rees 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.
  In  addition,  this bill would also affect retirees who had a previous
ceased membership with a public employee retirement  system  other  than
the NYS&LERS or the NYS&LPFRS.
  If  this  bill  is  enacted, insofar as this bill affects the New York
State and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS), approximately  1,434
retirees  of  the  ERS will be affected. The estimated past service cost
would be approximately $15.1 million.   Pursuant to section  25  of  the
Retirement  and Social Security Law, this ERS past service cost would be
borne by the State of New York and would require an  itemized  appropri-
ation  by  the  State  of  New  York  sufficient  to pay the cost of the
provision. The State may amortize this past service cost over  a  period
of  5  years.  The first year cost, including interest would be approxi-
mately $3.5 million.

A. 7490                             3

  Insofar as this bill would affect employers in the New York State  and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the estimated additional
costs  would  be negligible. These costs would be shared by the State of
New York and the participating employers in the PFRS.
  Summary of relevant resources:
  Data:  March  31,  2012  Actuarial Year End File with distributions of
membership and other statistics displayed in  the  2012  Report  of  the
Actuary and 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
  Assumptions  and  Methods:  2010,  2011  and 2012 Annual Report to the
Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules and Regulations of the
State of New York: Audit and Control.
  Market Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2012 New York State  and
Local  Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Informa-
tion.
  Valuations of Benefits Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized in
the 2012 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 January 29, 2013 and intended for use only during
the 2013 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No.  2013-53,  prepared  by
the  Actuary  for  the  New  York  State and Local Employees' Retirement
System and the New York State  and  Local  Police  and  Fire  Retirement
System.
  FISCAL  NOTE.--This  bill  would amend subdivisions 2 and 4 of Section
645 of the Retirement and Social Security Law to extend the  tier  rein-
statement  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  eligible.  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 $6.0
million or .04% of payroll if this bill is enacted.
  The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2013-33 dated May  9,  2013
prepared  by  the  Actuary  of  the  New York State Teachers' Retirement
System and is intended for use only during the 2013 Legislative Session.
I, Richard A. Young, am the Actuary for the  New  York  State  Teachers'
Retirement System.
  I  am  a  member  of  the American Academy of Actuaries and I meet the
Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries  to  render
the actuarial opinion contained herein.