The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  1091--A
     Cal. No. 158
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. GAUGHRAN, BROOKS, COMRIE, HINCHEY, MANNION -- read
   twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to  the
   Committee  on Local Government -- reported favorably from said commit-
   tee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a  third  reading,
   amended  and  ordered  reprinted,  retaining its place in the order of
   third reading
 
 AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to authorizing  a
   municipality to increase the number of years of service that a partic-
   ipant  in  a  defined  contribution  plan  service  award program or a
   defined benefit plan service award program may receive a contribution
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  (b)  of section 218 of the general municipal
 law, as amended by chapter 474 of the laws of 2019, is amended  to  read
 as follows:
   (b) The sponsor of a defined contribution plan shall contribute to the
 plan a fixed amount of money, as determined by the sponsor, on behalf of
 each participant who is credited with a year of service. The minimum and
 maximum  contribution  requirements  for  a defined contribution service
 award program shall be as follows. The minimum contribution shall be one
 hundred twenty dollars per year of  service.  The  maximum  contribution
 shall  be twelve hundred dollars per year of service. The maximum number
 of years of service for which a participant may receive  a  contribution
 shall  be  forty years. The sponsor shall appropriate annually an amount
 sufficient to pay the contributions.  THE GOVERNING BOARD OF A POLITICAL
 SUBDIVISION MAY EXTEND THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF YEARS OF SERVICE FOR  WHICH
 A  PARTICIPANT  MAY  RECEIVE  A CONTRIBUTION FOR UP TO AN ADDITIONAL TEN
 YEARS, TO A MAXIMUM OF FIFTY YEARS, AND SUCH INCREASES IN THE NUMBER  OF
 YEARS  MAY BE ADDED IN MULTIPLE INCREMENTS OR IN A SINGLE ACTION, PURSU-
 ANT TO THE ADOPTION OF THE REQUIRED RESOLUTION  OR  RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE
 GOVERNING  BOARD,  RECEIVING  THE  AFFIRMATIVE  VOTE  OF  AT LEAST SIXTY
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04001-02-1

 S. 1091--A                          2
 
 PERCENT OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE  POLITICAL  SUBDIVISION,  AND  THE
 APPROVAL OF ANY MANDATORY REFERENDUM OR REFERENDA AUTHORIZING THE EXTEN-
 SION  OF BENEFITS UNDER THE PROGRAM BY ELIGIBLE VOTERS WITHIN SUCH POLI-
 TICAL SUBDIVISION.
   §  2.  Subdivision (b) of section 219 of the general municipal law, as
 amended by chapter 452 of the laws  of  2004,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   (b)  The  minimum  and  maximum  retirement benefit requirements for a
 service award program that is a defined benefit plan shall be defined as
 follows. Each participating active volunteer firefighter shall be  enti-
 tled  to  a  minimum service award benefit of five dollars per month for
 each  year  of  firefighting  service  completed  after  satisfying  the
 program's   eligibility  requirement  and  after  establishment  of  the
 program. The maximum benefit amount payable to  a  participating  active
 volunteer  firefighter  entitled to a benefit shall be determined on the
 basis of an actuarial valuation. The valuation shall take  into  account
 the age, and such other factors as the actuary deems appropriate, of the
 eligible  participating  active volunteer firefighters and the amount of
 available financing available per active covered volunteer  firefighter.
 The  maximum  service  award  under  a  service award program shall be a
 monthly payment, payable for life, that does not exceed an amount  equal
 to  thirty  dollars for each year of firefighting service credited under
 the terms of the program to a maximum of  forty  years  of  firefighting
 service.   THE GOVERNING BOARD OF A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION MAY EXTEND THE
 MAXIMUM NUMBER OF YEARS OF SERVICE FOR WHICH A PARTICIPANT MAY RECEIVE A
 CONTRIBUTION FOR UP TO AN ADDITIONAL TEN YEARS, TO A  MAXIMUM  OF  FIFTY
 YEARS,  AND SUCH INCREASES IN THE NUMBER OF YEARS MAY BE ADDED IN MULTI-
 PLE INCREMENTS OR IN A SINGLE ACTION, PURSUANT TO THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE
 REQUIRED RESOLUTION OR RESOLUTIONS OF THE GOVERNING BOARD, RECEIVING THE
 AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF AT LEAST SIXTY PERCENT OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE
 POLITICAL  SUBDIVISION,  AND THE APPROVAL OF ANY MANDATORY REFERENDUM OR
 REFERENDA AUTHORIZING THE EXTENSION OF BENEFITS  UNDER  THE  PROGRAM  BY
 ELIGIBLE VOTERS WITHIN SUCH POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.
   §  3.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
 current and future participants.