S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8918
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 28, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
   the disability retirement for safety and security officers
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Section 607-a of the retirement and social security law, as
 added by chapter 722 of the laws of 1996, subdivision b  as  amended  by
 chapter  322  of the laws of 2021, and subdivision c as added by chapter
 653 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
   § 607-a. Performance of duty disability retirement.  a.  Any  security
 hospital  treatment  assistant, as that term is defined in subdivision i
 of section eighty-nine of this chapter, OR  ANY  QUALIFYING  MEMBER,  AS
 SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH ONE OF SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION EIGHT-
 Y-NINE-T OF THIS CHAPTER, AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX
 OF THE LAWS OF TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN, who becomes physically or mentally
 incapacitated for the performance of duties as the natural and proximate
 result,  of  an injury, sustained in the performance or discharge of his
 or her duties by, or as the natural and proximate result of, an  act  of
 any  person  confined  in  an  institution under the jurisdiction of the
 office of mental health, or by any person who has been committed to such
 institution by any court shall be paid a performance of duty  disability
 retirement  allowance  equal to that which is provided in section sixty-
 three of this chapter, subject to the provisions of  section  sixty-four
 of this chapter.
   b.  Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
 special law to the contrary,  a  member  covered  by  this  section  who
 contracts  HIV  (where there may have been an exposure to a bodily fluid
 of an incarcerated individual or a person described in subdivision a  of
 this  section  as a natural and proximate result of an act of any incar-
 cerated individual or person described in such subdivision  a  that  may
 have  involved transmission of a specified transmissible disease from an
 incarcerated individual or such person described in such  subdivision  a
 to  the  retirement  system  member),  tuberculosis or hepatitis will be
 presumed to have contracted such disease in the performance or discharge
 of his or her duties, and will be  presumed  to  be  disabled  from  the
 
              

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11195-04-2
 S. 8918                             2
 
 performance  of  his  or  her  duties,  unless the contrary be proved by
 competent evidence.
   c.  Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
 special law to the contrary,  any  condition  of  impairment  of  health
 caused  by  diseases of the heart, resulting in disability or death to a
 member covered by this section, presently employed and  who  shall  have
 sustained  such  disability while so employed, who successfully passed a
 physical examination on entry into service as a security hospital treat-
 ment assistant OR A QUALIFYING MEMBER AS  SET  FORTH  IN  THIS  SECTION,
 which  examination  failed  to disclose evidence of any disease or other
 impairment of the heart, shall  be  presumptive  evidence  that  it  was
 incurred  in  the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
 be proved by competent evidence.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would allow safety officers who are members of the New  York
 State  and  Local  Employees'  Retirement  System  to  be eligible for a
 performance of duty (POD) disability benefit if they become disabled  as
 a result of an injury inflicted by any person confined in an institution
 under  the  jurisdiction  of the New York State Office of Mental Health.
 The benefit will be 75 percent of final average  salary,  less  workers'
 compensation. Currently, the affected members do not have a POD disabil-
 ity benefit.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2022 legislative session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $510,000 in the
 annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending
 March 31, 2023. In future years, this cost  will  vary  as  the  billing
 rates and salary of the affected members change.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $4.12 million which will
 be  borne  by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate
 is based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2023.
   These estimated costs are based on 541 affected  members  with  annual
 salary of approximately $39.5 million as of March 31, 2021.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership  data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-
 al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
 2021  Report  of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial
 Report.
   The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2020
 and  2021 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, 2021
 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 fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the  viability
 of  the  proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for
 the professional judgment of an attorney.
   This estimate, dated January 11,  2022,  and  intended  for  use  only
 during  the  2022  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2022-34,
 prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement
 System.