Bill Text: NY A05372 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Grants members or officers of the state police credit for service as a deputy sheriff, county corrections officer, or state corrections officer; two years credit; cost borne by member.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-16 - held for consideration in governmental employees [A05372 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A05372-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5372
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 11, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  B. MILLER  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Governmental Employees
        AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
          granting members or officers of the state police credit for service as
          a  deputy  sheriff,  county  corrections officer, or state corrections
          officer
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Paragraph  1  of  subdivision  c  of section 381-b of the
     2  retirement and social security law, as amended by  chapter  581  of  the
     3  laws  of  2001,  is  amended  and  a new paragraph 3 is added to read as
     4  follows:
     5    (1) Police service. In computing the years of total creditable service
     6  in such division, full credit shall be given and full allowance shall be
     7  made for service rendered as a police officer  or  member  of  a  police
     8  force or department of a state park authority or commission or an organ-
     9  ized police force or department of a county, city, town, village, police
    10  district,  authority  or  other  participating employer or member of the
    11  capital police force in the office of general services while a member of
    12  the New York state and local police and fire retirement system,  of  the
    13  New York state and local employees' retirement system or of the New York
    14  city  police  pension fund and for all service for which full credit has
    15  been given and full allowance made pursuant to the provisions of section
    16  three hundred seventy-five-h of this [chapter] article provided,  howev-
    17  er,  that  full  credit pursuant to the provisions of such section shall
    18  mean only such service as would be creditable service  pursuant  to  the
    19  provisions  of  section  three  hundred  eighty-three  or  section three
    20  hundred eighty-three-a or three hundred eighty-three-b enacted by  chap-
    21  ter six hundred seventy-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six
    22  of  this [chapter] title or pursuant to the provisions of title thirteen
    23  of the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York  for  any  member
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05576-02-9
        A. 5372                             2
     1  contributing pursuant to this section who transferred to the division of
     2  state police.
     3    (3)  (a)  Deputy  sheriff,  county  corrections,  or state corrections
     4  service. Upon completion of more than seventeen years of  service,  each
     5  such  member  who was previously credited with service credit in the New
     6  York state and local employees' retirement system as a  deputy  sheriff,
     7  county  corrections  officer,  or  member  in the uniformed personnel in
     8  institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and
     9  community supervision as defined in subdivision i of section eighty-nine
    10  of this chapter and who was engaged directly in law  enforcement  activ-
    11  ities  while  performing such services shall receive one year of service
    12  credit for each such year of previous service,  up  to  a  total  of  no
    13  greater than three years of previous service credit.
    14    (b)  To obtain such credit, a member shall pay such retirement system,
    15  for deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum
    16  equal to the product of the number of  years  of  police  service  being
    17  claimed  and  three  percent of such member's compensation earned during
    18  the twelve months of credited service  immediately  preceding  the  date
    19  that the member made application for credit pursuant to this section. If
    20  permitted by rule or regulation of the retirement system, the member may
    21  pay  such member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not
    22  exceed the time period of police service to be credited pursuant to this
    23  section. In the event the member leaves the employer  payroll  prior  to
    24  completion  of  payment,  he or she shall forward all remaining required
    25  payments to the appropriate retirement system  prior  to  the  effective
    26  date  of retirement. If the full amount of such member costs is not paid
    27  to the appropriate retirement system prior to the  member's  retirement,
    28  the amount of service credited shall be proportional to the total amount
    29  of the payments made prior to retirement.
    30    (c)  In  no event shall the credit granted pursuant to this paragraph,
    31  when added to credit granted for  police  service  with  any  retirement
    32  system  of  this  state  pursuant to this or any other provision of law,
    33  exceed a total of three years.
    34    (d) To be eligible to receive credit for  police  service  under  this
    35  paragraph,  a  member  must  make application for such credit before the
    36  effective date of retirement.
    37    (e) All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to this  para-
    38  graph, other than the member costs set forth in subparagraph (b) of this
    39  paragraph, shall be paid by the state.
    40    (f)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death
    41  prior to retirement, amounts paid by the  member  for  the  purchase  of
    42  police service credit pursuant to this paragraph shall be refunded, with
    43  interest,  to  the extent the police service purchased with such amounts
    44  does not produce a greater death benefit than would  have  been  payable
    45  had the member not purchased such credit.
    46    (g)  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  law,  in the event of
    47  retirement, amounts paid by  the  member  for  the  purchase  of  police
    48  service  credit  pursuant to this section shall be refunded, with inter-
    49  est, to the extent the police service purchased with such  amounts  does
    50  not  produce a greater retirement allowance than would have been payable
    51  had the member not purchased such credit.
    52    (h) In the event the service credit granted  pursuant  to  this  para-
    53  graph,  when  added to a member's current service credit, renders him or
    54  her eligible for service retirement, such member shall be deemed  eligi-
    55  ble  for such service retirement and may elect to retire under the rules
    56  set forth by the retirement system.
        A. 5372                             3
     1    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This  bill  would  allow  up  to three (3) years of service credit for
        service rendered as a deputy  sheriff,  county  corrections  officer  or
        state  corrections  officer  to  be creditable to State Police officers.
        Such officers must have at least seventeen years of credited service and
        would be required to make a payment  of  three  percent  of  their  most
        recent   compensation  per  year  of  additional  service  credit  being
        purchased under the provisions of this bill.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2019  legislative  session,  it  is
        estimated  that  the past service cost will average approximately 19% of
        an affected officers' compensation for each year of  additional  service
        credit  that is purchased. This cost will be borne entirely by the State
        of New York.
          Internal Revenue Service (IRS)  plan  qualification  issues:  granting
        service  credit  towards  retirement  in  a 20 year plan in the New York
        State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) for  employment
        that  was  not  rendered  in  the  PFRS  could jeopardize the Retirement
        System's governmental plan status and its exemption from the ERISA. This
        could result in the loss of qualified status, which would mean the  loss
        of tax benefits and would substantially impair the System's value to our
        more than one million participants.
          Prior to the enactment of this legislation, we recommend that a favor-
        able ruling be obtained from the IRS stating that these provisions would
        not  harm  the  qualification status of the System. It is estimated that
        the costs to obtain such a ruling would be $28,000 for the  services  of
        the IRS, and $800 per hour for legal consultants.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          The  membership  data  used  in  measuring  the impact of the proposed
        change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018  actuarial  valu-
        ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2018
        Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2018  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
        Report.
          The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
        2016, 2017 and 2018  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, 2018
        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  January  10,  2019,  and intended for use only
        during the  2019  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2019-25,
        prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
        System.