Senate Bill S7825

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7825
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 9, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. MARTINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT granting retroactive tier IV membership in the New York state and
   local retirement system to members hired on or  after  January  first,
   two thousand ten

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
 any state or local employee who is a member of the New  York  state  and
 local  employees' retirement system, and whose date of membership was on
 or after January 1, 2010 shall be granted benefits as if their  date  of
 membership  was  December 31, 2009, thereby granting Tier IV benefits of
 such retirement system, unless, within one year of the effective date of
 this act, such employee shall file a written opt-out  request  with  the
 state comptroller.
   §  2. No contributions made to the New York state and local employees'
 retirement system by a member hired on or after January 1, 2010 shall be
 refunded or returned to such member pursuant to this act.
   § 3.   Notwithstanding any other 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.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
 it shall have become a law.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill would grant members of the New York State and Local Employ-
 ees' Retirement System (NYSLERS) whose date of membership is on or after
 January 1, 2010 (commonly called Tier 5 and Tier 6 members) the  retire-
 ment  benefits of a member whose date of membership is December 31, 2009
 (commonly called Tier 4). The members'  dates  of  membership  will  not
 change. There will be no refund of member contributions.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10872-03-5
 S. 7825                             2
              

 
   The provisions of Section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
 shall not apply.
   Insofar  as  this  bill  affects NYSLERS, the increased costs would be
 shared by the State of New York and the local participating employers in
 the NYSLERS. If this bill  were  enacted  during  the  2025  Legislative
 Session,  the  increase  in employer costs, equal to the increase in the
 present value of benefits and decrease in the present value of  employee
 contributions, would be approximately $13.3 billion.
 
 NYSLERS                       Increase in net     Increase in required
                               present value of    contributions
                               employer benefits
 
 Tiers 1-4                     $  0.0 bn           $  4.4 bn
 Tiers 5-6 (becoming Tier 4)   $  $13.3 bn         $  8.9 bn
   Total                       $  13.3 bn          $  13.3 bn
 
   In  the NYSLERS, this benefit improvement will be funded by increasing
 the billing rates charged  annually  to  cover  both  retrospective  and
 prospective  benefit increases.  The annual contribution required of all
 participating employers in  NYSLERS  is  4.9%  of  billable  salary,  or
 approximately  $644  million  to the State of New York and approximately
 $979 million to the local participating employers. This PERMANENT ANNUAL
 COST will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the  billing
 rate and salary of the affected members.
   These  estimated costs are based on 317,854 affected Tier 5-6 members,
 with annual salary of approximately $15.7 billion as of March 31, 2024.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
 and Supplementary Information.
   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 May 5, 2025, and intended for use only during the
 2025  Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-115. As Chief Actuary
 of the New York State and Local Retirement  System,  I,  Aaron  Schottin
 Young,  hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
 arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional  Conduct
 and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
 al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.