S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                   7986
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 15, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. C. RYAN -- 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
   authorizing members or officers of the state police who were previous-
   ly  firefighters  to  count  such  firefighter  service  towards  such
   member's or officer's retirement plan
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The subdivision heading of subdivision c of section 381-b
 of the retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 581  of
 the  laws  of 2001, is amended and a new paragraph 3 is added to read as
 follows:
   Credit for previous [police] service.
   (3) CAREER FIREFIGHTER SERVICE. IN COMPUTING THE YEARS OF TOTAL  CRED-
 ITABLE  SERVICE  IN SUCH DIVISION EACH MEMBER WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY A FIRE-
 FIGHTER OF ANY COUNTY, CITY, TOWN, VILLAGE OR FIRE DISTRICT AND A MEMBER
 OF THE NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM  SHALL
 RECEIVE  FULL  CREDIT AND BE GIVEN FULL ALLOWANCE FOR SERVICE PREVIOUSLY
 RENDERED AS A FIREFIGHTER.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would allow service rendered as a firefighter to be credita-
 ble under § 381-b of the Retirement and Social Security  Law.  A  member
 would be eligible to receive credit for service previously rendered as a
 firefighter  of  any  county,  city,  town,  village  or  fire district,
 provided they were a member of the New York State and Local  Police  and
 Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS) at the time of such employment.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate that there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately
 $2  million  which  will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10354-02-5
 S. 7986                             2
              

 
 payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be  made  on  March  1,
 2026.
   This  bill is not expected to increase the future annual contributions
 of the State of New York.  These estimated costs are based on nine known
 affected members employed by the State of New York, with  annual  salary
 of approximately $1.50 million 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 2, 2025, and intended for use only during the
 2025  Legislative  Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-97. 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.