NY State Senate Bill 2025-S8006

Senate Bill S8006

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Authorizes the county of Dutchess to offer an optional twenty-five year retirement plan to certain deputy sheriffs employed by such county

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 15, 2025	referred to civil service and pensions

2025-S8006 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement

2025-S8006 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the county of Dutchess to offer an optional twenty-five year retirement plan to certain deputy sheriffs employed by such county.

2025-S8006 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8006

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act in relation to authorizing the county of Dutchess to offer an
optional twenty-five year retirement plan to certain deputy sheriffs
employed by such county

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To provide certain members employed by the Dutchess County Sheriff's
Department who did not timely receive the information necessary to elect
the benefits provided by section 551 of the Retirement and Social Secu-
rity Law the ability to make such an election.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of this bill provides that the named Dutchess County Sher-
iff's Department employees will be provided with the information neces-
sary to elect the benefits provided by Retirement and Social Security
Law section 551 as long as Dutchess County files an election to provide

such opportunity with the Comptroller within 180 days of the effective
date of this Act.

Section two of this bill provided that to the extent practicable, Dutch-
ess County will post the election form to its website and provide
assistance to Dutchess County Sheriff's Department employees qualified
to elect the benefits provided by Retirement and Social Security Law
section 551.

Section three of this bill provides that all of the implementation costs
associated with this Act shall be borne by Dutchess County and may be
amortized over 5 years.

Section four of this bill provides that this act shall take effect imme-
diately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

For more than twenty-five years, there has been a 60,4*on/lct when
advising eligible new Dutchess County Sheriff's Office employees of
their right to elect to be covered by the provisions of Retirement and
Social Security Law section 551 instead of being covered by the
provisions of Retirement and Social Security Law section 89-p. As
evidenced by the list of names and hire dates listed in this legis-
lation, this disconnect has been going on for years, depriving eligible
members in the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office of their right to elect
the provisions of section 551.

Deputies employed by the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office have a job
which often involves a certain level of risk to their safety.  Current-
ly, a substantial portion of Deputies are enrolled in the section 89-p
Retirement Plan rather than the section 551 Retirement Plan at no fault
of their own. While both plans' service retirement benefit provided by
both plans is almost identical, the "Line of Duty Disability" benefit
under section 89-p pales in comparison to the benefit provided under
section 551.

These Deputies risk their safety daily and if they suffer an injury on
the job that results in a permanent inability to perform their duties,
they will not be able to continue providing for their families. If
enacted, this bill would allow those deputies currently enrolled in this
section 89-p plan the opportunity to enroll in section 551 plan, thereby
making them eligible for this increased disability retirement benefit
and offering them some protection in the unfortunate event that this
occurs.

The failure of the employees listed in this legislation to elect the
section 551 benefits was not their fault. They simply were not notified
of the election and thus, could not act in a timely manner.  This legis-
lation would end the cycle of failed notification and lost election
opportunities that has continued for over twenty-five years.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

See fiscal note.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S8006 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8006
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 15, 2025
                                ___________
 
 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 in relation to authorizing the county of  Dutchess  to  offer  an
   optional  twenty-five  year retirement plan to certain deputy sheriffs
   employed by such county

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the
 county of Dutchess, a participating employer in the New York  state  and
 local  retirement  system  that  elected  to  make  the twenty-five year
 retirement plan provided in section 551 of  the  retirement  and  social
 security  law  available  to  deputy  sheriffs employed by the county of
 Dutchess is hereby authorized to make such  plan  available  to  certain
 deputy sheriffs who, for reasons not ascribable to their own negligence,
 failed  to  make a timely application to participate in such twenty-five
 year retirement plan. Such employees are Arthur Hart with a  start  date
 of  November 30, 1998, Stephen J Reverri Jr. with a start date of May 7,
 2001, Robert M Freer II with a start date of November 5,  2001,  Phillip
 Lemere  with  a start date of December 3, 2001, Corey Ritch with a start
 date of February 7, 2004, Dawn Bonds with a start date  of  February  9,
 2004,  Brian Wilber with a start date of October 12, 2004, Joel R Petrus
 with a start date of July 11, 2005, Stephen Slattery with a  start  date
 of  July  11, 2005, Dominick Marcello with a start date of September 23,
 2006, Ryan Griffin with a start date of May 7, 2007, Adam Harris with  a
 start  date  of May 7, 2007, Kate Capalbo with a start date of April 11,
 2009, Jared T Griffin with a start date of May 9,  2009,  Jeffrey  Cohen
 with  a  start date of March 31, 2012, Adrienne Licari with a start date
 of July 2, 2012, William Butler with a start  date  of  April  1,  2013,
 Christopher Sheridan with a start date of October 21, 2013, Paul Digiov-
 anni with a start date of April 28, 2014, Justin Hogan with a start date
 of  June 8, 2015, James Flanagan with a start date of February 29, 2016,
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11927-04-5

 S. 8006                             2
 
 Kyle Esposito with a start date of September 19, 2016,  Paul  Reinheimer
 with  a  start  date  of October 11, 2016, Justin Bogdanffy with a start
 date of October 31, 2016, Christian Robillard with a start date  of  May
 1, 2017, Ryan Duval with a start date of January 2, 2018, Michael Derosa
 with  a  start  date  of  July 2, 2018, Scott Haire with a start date of
 April 15, 2019, Timothy Stabell with a start date  of  April  15,  2019,
 Seth  Thomas  with  a start date of February 24, 2020, Carl Short with a
 start date of March 2, 2020, Brendan Harriott with a start date of April
 13, 2020, Amber Perrotta with a start date of October  5,  2020,  Ashley
 Stroka  with  a  start date of March 22, 2021, Travis Beyea with a start
 date of September 7, 2021, John Andersen with a start date of March  21,
 2022,  Crystal  Burnett with a start date of May 23, 2022, Matthew Staf-
 ford with a start date of May 23, 2022, Phillip  Vallone  with  a  start
 date of May 23, 2022, Gabrielle Rocco with a start date of June 6, 2022,
 Tyler  Conley  with  a start date of June 27, 2022, Hosanna Santo with a
 start date of June 27, 2022, Conner Carey with a start date of  July  5,
 2022,  D'Andre Barr with a start date of February 27, 2023, Ryan Kozlow-
 ski with a start date of February 27, 2023, Daniel Ramsey with  a  start
 date  of  March  27, 2023, Dylan Merritt with a start date of August 28,
 2023, Emily Abbatantuono with a start date  of  August  28,  2023,  John
 Carney  with  a  start  date of December 30, 2023, Brian Santiago with a
 start date of January 16, 2024, and Raymond Sherrer with a start date of
 March 4, 2024. The county of Dutchess may so elect by  filing  with  the
 state  comptroller,  on or before one hundred eighty days after this act
 shall have become law, a resolution of its governing body together  with
 certification  that  such  deputy  sheriffs  did not bar themselves from
 participating in  the  twenty-five  year  retirement  plan  provided  in
 section  551  of  the  retirement and social security law as a result of
 their own negligence. Thereafter, such deputy sheriffs may  individually
 elect to be covered by the provisions of the twenty-five year retirement
 plan  provided in section 551 of the retirement and social security law,
 and shall be entitled to the full rights and  benefits  associated  with
 coverage  under  such  section,  by filing an election with the New York
 state and local retirement system within one year of the effective  date
 of this act.
   § 2. To the extent practicable, the county of Dutchess shall provide a
 link  to  an  electronic  version of the election form that can be down-
 loaded and shall assist with outreach to ensure that  the  members  have
 been notified of their election option.
   §  3. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Dutchess and  may
 be amortized over a five-year period.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill  would  allow  Dutchess  County to reopen the provisions of
 Article 14-B of the Retirement and Social Security  Law  (RSSL)  to  all
 individuals named therein.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $68,000 in the
 annual contributions of Dutchess County for the fiscal year ending March
 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average
 1.1% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $60,000  which  will  be
 borne  by  Dutchess  County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
 that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Dutchess County elects
 S. 8006                             3

 to amortize this cost over a 5-year  period,  the  cost  for  each  year
 including interest would be $13,400.
   These  estimates are based on 51 affected members employed by Dutchess
 County, with annual salary of approximately $4.97 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 14, 2025, and intended for use only during
 the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-172.  As  Chief
 Actuary  of  the  New  York  State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
 Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
 ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of  Professional
 Conduct  and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of
 Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am  a
 member.

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