BILL NUMBER: S7021

SPONSOR: KAPLAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to defining the
terms "retiree" and "beneficiary" within the freedom of information law

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to clarify that the name of a retiree in a
public employees' retirement system is subject to disclosure under FOIL.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill would amend section 86 of the Public Officers Law to define
"retiree" as a former officer or employee of an agency, the state legis-
lature, or the judiciary who was a member of a public retirement system
of the state, as such term is defined in subdivision twenty-three of
section five hundred one of the retirement and social security law, and
is receiving, or entitled to receive, a benefit from such public retire-
              

ment system. The bill would also define "beneficiary" as a person desig-
nated by a member or retiree of a public retirement system of the state
to receive retirement or death benefits following the death of the
member or retiree. This bill clarifies that the names of retirees
receiving public employees' retirement benefits are subject to disclo-
sure pursuant to a FOIL request, while the names of beneficiaries are
not.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Subdivision 7 of section 89 of the Public Officers Law clearly states
that the identity of a retiree can be disclosed in response to a FOIL
request, but that the identity of a beneficiary is exempt. Despite this,
the First Department, Appellate Division interpreted this subdivision to
preclude access to the names of retirees who receive pension benefits
through the NYC Police Pension Fund (Empire Center for New York State
Policy v. New York City Police Pension Fund, 88 AD3d 520, 930 NYS2d 576,
(1st Dept, 2011)). However, in 2014, the Court of Appeals in the matter
of Empire Ctr. For N.Y. State Policy v. New York State Teachers' Retire-
ment Sys., 2014 NY Slip Op 03193, reversing the Appellate Division, held
that the Public Officers Law does not permit, pursuant to a FOIL
request, the withholding of the names of retirees who receive benefits
from public employees' retirement systems. The Court noted that the FOIL
request at issue in this case was not made for the purpose of fundrais-
ing or solicitation, which might raise privacy concerns; the Court stat-
ed that if a FOIL request was made for the purpose of solicitation, then
it would be time to consider the effect of a privacy exemption. By
adding the definitions of "retiree" and "beneficiary" to FOIL, this bill
will clarify that the intent of subdivision 7 of section 89 is to allow
for the release of retiree's names while protecting the names of benefi-
ciaries; which is also consistent with the Court of Appeals ruling.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2012 A9461-A referred to investigations and government operations

2013-14 A5171 referred to investigations and government operations

2015-16 A3149 referred to investigations and government operations

2017-18 A3306 referred to investigations and government operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.