The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6159
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 31, 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
   retirement  of  county correction officers, uniformed correction divi-
   sion personnel, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and undersheriffs in  Nassau
   county
 
   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-g of the retirement  and
 social  security  law, as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1988, such
 section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is 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] SUCH MEMBER
 with a retirement 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 AVER-
 AGE 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.
                                                            LBD10387-02-3

 S. 6159                             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 e 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:
   e. The early service retirement for a member who is 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, 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,  uniformed
 correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff[,
 but  not exceeding one-half of his or her] PLUS AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT
 ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO ONE-SIXTIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S  final  average  salary
 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 Nassau 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 Employees' Retirement System employed by
 Nassau County as (1) sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, or undersheriffs engaged
 directly in criminal law enforcement activities, or (2) correction offi-
 cers or uniformed correction division personnel.  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 cred-
 itable service.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $740,000 in the
 annual contributions of Nassau 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 $10.6 million which will
 be borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This  estimate  assumes
 that  payment  will be made on February 1, 2024. If Nassau County elects
 to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
 including interest would be $1.35 million.
 S. 6159                             3
 
   These estimated costs are based on 738 affected  members  employed  by
 Nassau  County,  with annual salary of approximately $96.3 million as of
 March 31, 2022.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   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. 2023-127, prepared by
 the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.