The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6141
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 30, 2023
                                ___________
 
 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
   providing  additional  benefits  for certain retirement system members
   with credited service in excess of twenty-five years

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Subdivisions c and g of section 89-f of the retirement and
 social security law, as added by chapter 591 of the laws of  1988,  such
 section  as  renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, and subdivi-
 sion g as relettered by chapter 543 of the laws of 1992, are amended  to
 read as follows:
   c.  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] SUCH
 MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the time of  [his]  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 retirement  and  an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which  [he]  SUCH  MEMBER
 may  then  be entitled shall be sufficient to provide him with a retire-
 ment allowance equal to one-half of [his] SUCH  MEMBER'S  final  average
 salary,  PROVIDED  HOWEVER THAT A MEMBER WITH CREDITED SERVICE IN EXCESS
 OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS SHALL RECEIVE AN  ADDITIONAL  RETIREMENT  ALLOWANCE
 EQUAL  TO  ONE-SIXTIETH  OF  SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH
 YEAR OF CREDITABLE SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE  YEARS  BUT  NOT  IN
 EXCESS OF THIRTY YEARS.
   g.  A  member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
 retirement, [shall] 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  AT  LEAST  twenty-five  years  of  such service and upon
 retirement, each such member shall receive  a  pension  which,  together
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10296-02-3

 S. 6141                             2
 
 with  an  annuity  which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] SUCH
 MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the time of  [his]  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 retirement  and  an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
 of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] SUCH MEMBER may
 then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] SUCH MEMBER with a
 retirement  allowance  equal  to  one-half  of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S final
 average salary PLUS AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO ONE-SIX-
 TIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF  CREDITABLE
 SERVICE  IN  EXCESS  OF  TWENTY-FIVE  YEARS  BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF THIRTY
 YEARS.
   § 2. Subdivision d of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of  1988,  is  amended  to
 read as follows:
   d.  The  early  service  retirement  for  a  member who is employed in
 Suffolk county as a correction officer as  defined  in  section  eighty-
 nine-f  of  this  chapter,  shall  be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of
 final average salary times years of credited service at  the  completion
 of  twenty-five  years  of  service as such correction officer[, but not
 exceeding one-half of his or her] PLUS AN ADDITIONAL  RETIREMENT  ALLOW-
 ANCE  EQUAL  TO  ONE-SIXTIETH  OF SUCH MEMBER'S final average salary FOR
 EACH YEAR OF CREDITED SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BUT NOT  IN
 EXCESS OF THIRTY YEARS.
   §   3.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing  the
 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk  and  may
 be amortized over a period of ten years.
   §  4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
 of the provisions of this act shall  be  subject  to  the  appropriation
 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
   §  5.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
 members that retire on or after such date.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would modify the service retirement benefit for  members  of
 the  New  York  State and Local EmployeesÆ Retirement System employed by
 Suffolk County as correction officers. The modified  service  retirement
 benefit  will  be one-half of final average salary (FAS) upon completion
 of twenty-five years of creditable service with additional sixtieths for
 each year of creditable service in excess of twenty-five years  but  not
 in  excess  of  thirty  years. The current service retirement benefit is
 one-half of FAS upon  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of  creditable
 service.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $1.0 million in
 the annual contributions of Suffolk County for the  fiscal  year  ending
 March  31,  2024.  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 $13.6 million which will
 be borne by Suffolk County as a one-time payment. This estimate  assumes
 that  payment will be made on February 1, 2024. If Suffolk County elects
 to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
 including interest would be $1.74 million.
   These estimated costs are based on 814 affected  members  employed  by
 Suffolk  County,  with annual salary of approximately $123 million as of
 March 31, 2022.
   Summary of relevant resources:
 S. 6141                             3
 
   Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.
   The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
 2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the  Comptroller  on  Actuarial  Assump-
 tions,  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, 2022
 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 March 30, 2023, and intended for use only during
 the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-124,  prepared  by
 the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.