STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6702 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 5, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BURKE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to authorize James Unger to receive certain credit under section 384-d of the retirement and social security law 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, James Unger, 2 currently a town of West Seneca police officer and member of the New 3 York state and local police and fire retirement system covered by 4 section 384-d of the retirement and social security law, who between 5 January 21, 2003 and September 6, 2006 was employed by the Erie county 6 sheriff's department where he was a member of the New York state and 7 local employees' retirement system, and who, for reasons not ascribable 8 to his own negligence, was not granted service credit under section 9 384-d of the retirement and social security law for his period of 10 employment with the Erie county sheriff's department, shall be granted 11 such service credit under section 384-d of the retirement and social 12 security law and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits asso- 13 ciated with coverage under such section, provided a request to that 14 effect is filed with the state comptroller within one year from the 15 effective date of this act. Prior to James Unger submitting such 16 request, he must first file an application for tier reinstatement with 17 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system, as he 18 has previously withdrawn his membership with the New York state and 19 local employees' retirement system. Once any costs associated with James 20 Unger's tier reinstatement to his prior membership are paid in full by 21 him, he may be granted the service credit and such service credit will 22 be creditable service under section 384-d of the retirement and social 23 security law for James Unger. 24 § 2. All past service costs incurred in implementing the provisions of 25 this act shall be borne by the town of West Seneca. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00565-03-3A. 6702 2 1 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would grant service credit under section 384-d together with 384-e of the Retirement and Social Security Law to James Unger, a current member of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retire- ment System (NYSLPFRS) employed by the Town of West Seneca, for the period of January 21, 2003, through September 6, 2006, during which time they were employed as deputy sheriff in Erie County. Currently, deputy sheriff service is not creditable in a NYSLPFRS twenty-year police retirement plan. If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $219,000 which will be borne by the Town of West Seneca as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2024. This bill will not increase the future annual contributions of the Town of West Seneca. James Unger must complete and file an application for tier rein- statement with the NYSLPFRS for service credit to be granted. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari- al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump- tions, 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, 2022 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 January 18, 2023, and intended for use only during the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-10, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.