LBD05861-02-1
S. 4859 2
I, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER II, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER III, OR TRAINING AND
SAFETY OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE DIVISION OF MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS.
E. CREDIT FOR SERVICE AS A PAID FIREFIGHTER OR OFFICER OF ANY ORGAN-
IZED FIRE DEPARTMENT SHALL ALSO BE DEEMED TO BE CREDITABLE SERVICE AND
SHALL BE INCLUDED IN COMPUTING YEARS OF TOTAL SERVICE FOR RETIREMENT
PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION.
F. A MEMBER CONTRIBUTING ON THE BASIS OF THIS SECTION AT THE TIME OF
RETIREMENT, MAY RETIRE AFTER THE COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF
TOTAL CREDITABLE SERVICE. APPLICATION THEREFOR MAY BE FILED IN A MANNER
SIMILAR TO THAT PROVIDED IN SECTION SEVENTY OF THIS ARTICLE. UPON
COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE AND UPON RETIREMENT,
EACH SUCH MEMBER SHALL RECEIVE A PENSION WHICH, TOGETHER WITH AN ANNUITY
WHICH SHALL BE THE ACTUARIAL EQUIVALENT OF HIS OR HER ACCUMULATED
CONTRIBUTIONS AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER RETIREMENT AND AN ADDITIONAL
PENSION WHICH IS THE ACTUARIAL EQUIVALENT OF THE RESERVED-FOR-IN-
CREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY TO WHICH HE OR SHE MAY THEN BE ENTITLED SHALL BE
SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE HIM OR HER WITH A RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO
ONE-HALF OF HIS OR HER FINAL AVERAGE SALARY; FOR SERVICE BEYOND TWENTY-
FIVE YEARS AND FOR NON-FIREFIGHTER SERVICE THE BENEFIT IS INCREASED BY
ONE-SIXTIETH OF FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF ADDITIONAL SERVICE
CREDIT.
G. IN COMPUTING THE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF TOTAL SERVICE OF A MEMBER
PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION FULL CREDIT SHALL BE GIVEN AND FULL ALLOWANCE
SHALL BE MADE FOR SERVICE OF SUCH MEMBER IN TIME OF WAR AFTER WORLD WAR
I 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 THE SERVICE OF
THE STATE.
H. NOTHING IN THIS SECTION SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO PREVENT A MEMBER, WHO
DOES NOT RETIRE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION, FROM UTILIZ-
ING SERVICE WHICH IS CREDITABLE SERVICE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF
THIS SECTION FOR SERVICE CREDIT PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF ANY OTHER
PLAN OF THIS ARTICLE TO WHICH SUCH MEMBER IS SUBJECT.
I. THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE CONTROLLING NOTWITHSTANDING
ANY OTHER PROVISION IN THIS ARTICLE TO THE CONTRARY.
J. ANY MEMBER WHO, ON OR BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, IS
A FIREFIGHTER APPRENTICE, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER I, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER II,
AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER III, OR TRAINING AND SAFETY OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE
DIVISION OF MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS MAY, BY FILING AN ELECTION WITHIN
ONE YEAR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, 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 IRRE-
VOCABLE.
§ 2. Subdivision a of section 445 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to
read as follows:
a. No member of a retirement system who is subject to the provisions
of this article shall retire without regard to age, exclusive of retire-
ment for disability, unless he or she is a police officer, an investi-
gator member of the New York city employees' retirement system, fire-
fighter, correction officer, a qualifying member as defined in section
eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred fifty-seven of the laws
of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, sanitation worker, a
special officer (including persons employed by the city of New York in
the title urban park ranger or associate urban park ranger), school
safety agent, campus peace officer or a taxi and limousine commission
inspector member of the New York city employees' retirement system or
S. 4859 3
the New York city board of education retirement system, a dispatcher
member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a police
communications member of the New York city employees' retirement system,
an EMT member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a depu-
ty sheriff member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a
correction officer of the Westchester county correction department as
defined in section eighty-nine-e of this chapter or employed in Suffolk
county as a peace officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added
by chapter five hundred eighty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred
ninety-seven, of this chapter, employed in Suffolk county as a
correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-f of this chapter,
or employed in Nassau county as a correction officer, uniformed
correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff,
as defined in section eighty-nine-g of this chapter, or employed in
Nassau county as an ambulance medical technician, an ambulance medical
technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance medical techni-
cian related services, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as amended
by chapter five hundred seventy-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred
ninety-eight, of this chapter, or employed in Nassau county as a peace
officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added by chapter five
hundred ninety-five of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-seven, of
this chapter, or employed in Albany county as a sheriff, undersheriff,
deputy sheriff, correction officer or identification officer, as defined
in section eighty-nine-h of this chapter or is employed in St. Lawrence
county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer,
as defined in section eighty-nine-i of this chapter or is employed in
Orleans county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction
officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-l of this chapter or is
employed in Jefferson county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff
or correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-j of this chap-
ter or is employed in Onondaga county as a deputy sheriff-jail division
competitively appointed or as a correction officer, as defined in
section eighty-nine-k of this chapter or is employed in a county which
makes an election under subdivision j of section eighty-nine-p of this
chapter as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer
as defined in such section eighty-nine-p or is employed in Broome County
as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as
defined in section eighty-nine-m of this chapter or is a Monroe county
deputy sheriff-court security, or deputy sheriff-jailor as defined in
section eighty-nine-n, as added by chapter five hundred ninety-seven of
the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, of this chapter or is employed
in Greene county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or
correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-o of this chapter
or is a traffic officer with the town of Elmira as defined in section
eighty-nine-q of this chapter or is employed by Suffolk county as a park
police officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-r of this chapter or
is a peace officer employed by a county probation department as defined
in section eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred three of the
laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter or is employed in
Rockland county as a deputy sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-
nine-v of this chapter as added by chapter four hundred forty-one of the
laws of two thousand one, or is employed in Rockland county as a superi-
or correction officer as defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chap-
ter as added by chapter five hundred fifty-six of the laws of two thou-
sand one or is a paramedic employed by the police department in the town
of Tonawanda and retires under the provisions of section eighty-nine-v
S. 4859 4
of this chapter, as added by chapter four hundred seventy-two of the
laws of two thousand one, or is a county fire marshal, supervising fire
marshal, fire marshal, assistant fire marshal, assistant chief fire
marshal or chief fire marshal employed by the county of Nassau as
defined in section eighty-nine-w of this chapter, OR IS A FIREFIGHTER
APPRENTICE, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER I, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER II, AIRPORT FIRE-
FIGHTER III, OR TRAINING AND SAFETY OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE DIVISION OF
MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS AS DEFINED IN SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-X OF THIS
CHAPTER and is in a plan which permits immediate retirement upon
completion of a specified period of service without regard to age.
Except as provided in subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-a
of this article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-b of
this article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-c of this
article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-d of this
article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-e of this
article, subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-f of this
article and subdivision c of section four hundred forty-five-h of this
article, a member in such a plan and such an occupation, other than a
police officer or investigator member of the New York city employees'
retirement system or a firefighter, shall not be permitted to retire
prior to the completion of twenty-five years of credited service;
provided, however, if such a member in such an occupation is in a plan
which permits retirement upon completion of twenty years of service
regardless of age, he or she may retire upon completion of twenty years
of credited service and prior to the completion of twenty-five years of
service, but in such event the benefit provided from funds other than
those based on such a member's own contributions shall not exceed two
per centum of final average salary per each year of credited service.
§ 3. Section 603 of the retirement and social security law is amended
by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows:
U. THE SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT SPECIFIED IN SECTION SIX HUNDRED
FOUR OF THIS ARTICLE SHALL BE PAYABLE TO MEMBERS WITH TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
OF CREDITABLE SERVICE, WITHOUT REGARD TO AGE, WHO ARE EMPLOYED BY THE
DIVISION OF MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS AS A FIREFIGHTER APPRENTICE,
AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER I, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER II, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER III,
OR TRAINING AND SAFETY OFFICER AS DEFINED IN SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-X OF
THIS CHAPTER IF: (I) SUCH MEMBERS HAVE MET THE MINIMUM SERVICE REQUIRE-
MENTS UPON RETIREMENT; AND (II) IN THE CASE OF A MEMBER SUBJECT TO THE
PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE FOURTEEN OF THIS CHAPTER, SUCH MEMBER FILES AN
ELECTION THEREFOR WHICH PROVIDES THAT HE OR SHE WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE
PROVISIONS OF THIS ARTICLE AND TO NONE OF THE PROVISIONS OF SUCH ARTICLE
FOURTEEN. SUCH ELECTION, WHICH SHALL BE IRREVOCABLE, SHALL BE IN WRIT-
ING, DULY EXECUTED AND SHALL BE FILED WITH THE COMPTROLLER WITHIN ONE
YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION OR WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER
ENTERING THE EMPLOYMENT WITH THE DIVISION OF MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS
UPON WHICH ELIGIBILITY IS BASED, WHICHEVER COMES LATER. FOR THE PURPOSES
OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE TERM "CREDITABLE SERVICE" SHALL HAVE THE MEAN-
ING AS SO DEFINED IN BOTH SECTIONS EIGHTY-NINE-X AND SIX HUNDRED ONE OF
THIS CHAPTER.
§ 4. Section 604 of the retirement and social security law is amended
by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows:
U. THE EARLY SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT FOR A MEMBER WHO IS EMPLOYED
IN THE DIVISION OF MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS AS A FIREFIGHTER APPREN-
TICE, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER I, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER II, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER
III, OR TRAINING AND SAFETY OFFICER EMPLOYED AS DEFINED IN SECTION
EIGHTY-NINE-X OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL BE A PENSION EQUAL TO ONE-FIFTIETH
S. 4859 5
OF FINAL AVERAGE SALARY TIMES YEARS OF CREDITED SERVICE AT THE
COMPLETION OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE AS SUCH DIVISION OF MILITARY
AND NAVAL AFFAIRS FIREFIGHTER APPRENTICE, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER I, AIRPORT
FIREFIGHTER II, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER III, OR TRAINING AND SAFETY OFFICER,
BUT NOT EXCEEDING ONE-HALF OF HIS OR HER FINAL AVERAGE SALARY.
§ 5. This act shall take effect January 1, 2022.
FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will allow airport firefighters employed by the division of
military and naval affairs to retire to become covered by the provisions
of a special 25 year retirement plan, which will provide a benefit of
one-half of final average salary upon retirement for all tiers and an
additional benefit of one-sixtieth of final average salary for each year
of service, including non-firefighter service in excess of 25 years for
tiers 1 and 2 only.
If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session there will
be an increase of approximately $240,000 in the annual contributions of
the State of New York for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. In
future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and salaries of
the affected firefighters change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of $2.13 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, 2021.
This estimate is based on 65 airport firefighters employed by the
division of military and naval affairs with an annual salary of approxi-
mately $4.9 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.
Summary of relevant resources:
The identities of the members who are affected by this legislation are
not obtainable from our database. Job title code data provided by the
Civil Service Employees Association was relied upon to identify affected
members.
Membership data as of March 31, 2020 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2020 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2020 Report of the Actuary and the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
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, 2020
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 February 9, 2021, and intended for use only
during the 2021 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2021-46,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
