Bill Text: NY A06303 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Authorizes the county of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue, in the county of Suffolk, to offer the 20-year retirement option to Bridget Topping, a police officer employed by such county and village.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-03-03 - referred to governmental employees [A06303 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A06303-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6303

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      March 3, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. GIGLIO -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees

        AN ACT to authorize the county of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue
          to  offer  an  optional  twenty-year retirement plan to police officer
          Bridget Topping

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
     2  the  county  of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue, in the county of
     3  Suffolk, participating employers in the New York state and local  police
     4  and  fire  retirement  system,  which  previously  elected  to offer the
     5  optional twenty-year retirement plan, established  pursuant  to  section
     6  384-d  of  the  retirement  and  social security law, to police officers
     7  employed by such county and  village,  are  hereby  authorized  to  make
     8  participation  in such plan available to Bridget Topping, a police offi-
     9  cer employed full-time by the county of Suffolk  and  part-time  by  the
    10  village  of  Nissequogue,  who,  for  reasons  not ascribable to her own
    11  negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate  in  such
    12  optional  twenty-year  retirement  plan.  The  county of Suffolk and the
    13  village of Nissequogue may so elect by separately filing with the  state
    14  comptroller,  within  nine  months  of  the  effective date of this act,
    15  resolutions of its own county legislature and the village board of trus-
    16  tees together with certification that such police officer  did  not  bar
    17  herself  from  participation  in such retirement plan as a result of her
    18  own negligence. Thereafter, such police officer may elect to be  covered
    19  by the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement and social security
    20  law  and  shall  be  entitled to the full rights and benefits associated
    21  with coverage under such section as well as section 384-e of  such  law,
    22  by filing a request to that effect with the state comptroller within one
    23  year of the effective date of this act.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04419-02-5
        A. 6303                             2

     1    §  2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
     2  provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk  and  may
     3  be amortized over a ten-year period.
     4    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This bill would allow Suffolk County and the Village of Nissequogue to
        reopen  the provisions of section 384-d, together with section 384-e, of
        the Retirement and  Social  Security  Law  for  police  officer  Bridget
        Topping.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
        ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $20,000 in the
        annual contributions of Suffolk County and $1,400 in the annual contrib-
        utions of the Village of Nissequogue for the fiscal  year  ending  March
        31,  2026.  In future years this cost will vary as the billing rates and
        salary of Bridget Topping change.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $726,000 which  will  be
        borne  by  Suffolk  County  as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
        that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Suffolk County  elects
        to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
        including interest would be $92,700.
          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  February  26,  2025, and intended for use only
        during the 2025 Legislative Session, is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-81.  As
        Chief  Actuary  of  the  New  York State and Local Retirement System, I,
        Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this  analysis  complies  with
        applicable  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.