Senate Bill S8159

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8159--A
 
                        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
   -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered  reprinted  as  amended
   and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
   the disability retirement for safety and security officers
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 607-a of the retirement and social security law, as
 added  by  chapter  722 of the laws of 1996, subdivision b as amended by
 chapter 322 of the laws of 2021, and subdivision c as added  by  chapter
 653 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
   §  607-a.  Performance  of duty disability retirement. a. Any security
 hospital treatment assistant, as that term is defined in  subdivision  i
 of  section  eighty-nine  of  this chapter, OR ANY QUALIFYING MEMBER, AS
 SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH ONE OF SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION EIGHT-
 Y-NINE-T OF THIS CHAPTER, AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX
 OF THE LAWS OF TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN, who becomes physically or mentally
 incapacitated for the performance of duties as the natural and proximate
 result, of an injury, sustained in the performance or discharge of  [his
 or  her]  THEIR duties by, or as the natural and proximate result of, an
 act of any person confined in an institution under the  jurisdiction  of
 the  office of mental health, or by any person who has been committed to
 such institution by any court shall be paid a performance of duty  disa-
 bility  retirement  allowance equal to that which is provided in section
 sixty-three of this  chapter,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  section
 sixty-four of this chapter.
   b.  Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
 special law to the contrary,  a  member  covered  by  this  section  who
 contracts  HIV  (where there may have been an exposure to a bodily fluid
 of an incarcerated individual or a person described in subdivision a  of
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11232-02-5
              

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 this  section  as a natural and proximate result of an act of any incar-
 cerated individual or person described in such subdivision  a  that  may
 have  involved transmission of a specified transmissible disease from an
 incarcerated  individual  or such person described in such subdivision a
 to the retirement system member),  tuberculosis  or  hepatitis  will  be
 presumed to have contracted such disease in the performance or discharge
 of  [his  or her] THEIR duties, and will be presumed to be disabled from
 the performance of [his or her] THEIR duties,  unless  the  contrary  be
 proved by competent evidence.
   c.  Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
 special law to the contrary,  any  condition  of  impairment  of  health
 caused  by  diseases of the heart, resulting in disability or death to a
 member covered by this section, presently employed and  who  shall  have
 sustained  such  disability while so employed, who successfully passed a
 physical examination on entry into service as a security hospital treat-
 ment assistant OR A QUALIFYING MEMBER AS  SET  FORTH  IN  THIS  SECTION,
 which  examination  failed  to disclose evidence of any disease or other
 impairment of the heart, shall  be  presumptive  evidence  that  it  was
 incurred  in  the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
 be proved by competent evidence.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would allow members of the New York State and Local  Employ-
 ees'  Retirement System employed as safety officers to be eligible for a
 performance of duty (POD) disability benefit if they become disabled  as
 a result of an injury inflicted by any person confined in an institution
 under  the  jurisdiction  of the New York State Office of Mental Health.
 The benefit will be 75 percent of final average  salary,  less  workers'
 compensation.  Currently, these affected members do not have a POD disa-
 bility benefit.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate that there will be an increase of approximately  $1.1  million  in
 the  annual  contributions  of the State of New York for the fiscal year
 ending March 31, 2026. In future  years  this  cost  will  vary  but  is
 expected to average 1.6% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.55 million which will
 be  borne  by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate
 assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
   These estimated costs are based on 667 affected  members  employed  by
 the  State  of New York, with annual salary of approximately $52 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.
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   This estimate, dated May 16, 2025, and intended for  use  only  during
 the  2025  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal Note No. 2025-146. 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.