Bill Text: NY A09689 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emergency service.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 19-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-28 - referred to governmental employees [A09689 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A09689-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9689 IN ASSEMBLY March 28, 2022 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DeSTEFANO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to establishing a retirement service credit for volunteer fire or emer- gency service The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding 2 a new article 20-A to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 20-A 4 CREDIT FOR NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEER FIRE OR EMERGENCY SERVICE 5 Section 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit. 6 § 1050. New York state volunteer fire or emergency service credit. 1. 7 For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the follow- 8 ing meanings: 9 (a) "Public retirement system of the state" shall have the same mean- 10 ing as such term is defined pursuant to subdivision twenty-three of 11 section five hundred one of this chapter. 12 (b) "Member" shall mean a member of a public retirement system of the 13 state. 14 2. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a member shall be eligible 15 for credit for volunteer fire or emergency service as provided pursuant 16 to this section. 17 3. A member, upon application to a public retirement system of the 18 state, may obtain one year of service credit for every five years of 19 volunteer fire or emergency service provided in the state. A member 20 shall be limited under this section to obtain not more than three years 21 of service credit for a total of fifteen years of volunteer fire or 22 emergency service provided. Proof of volunteer fire or emergency 23 service shall be certified by the volunteer agency for which such member 24 volunteered his or her time. 25 4. A member shall have at least five years of credited service, not 26 including service granted hereunder, to be eligible to receive credit 27 pursuant to this section. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13482-05-2A. 9689 2 1 5. To obtain credit pursuant to this section, a member shall pay the 2 appropriate retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to accumu- 3 late employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the number of 4 years of volunteer fire or emergency service being claimed and three 5 percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of 6 credited service immediately preceding the date that such member made 7 application for credit pursuant to this section. If permitted by rule or 8 regulation of the applicable retirement system, a member may pay such 9 member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not exceed 10 the time period of volunteer fire or emergency service to be credited 11 pursuant to this section. In the event such member leaves the employer 12 payroll prior to completion of payment, he or she shall forward all 13 remaining required payments to the appropriate retirement system prior 14 to the effective date of retirement. If the full amount of such member 15 costs is not paid to the appropriate retirement system prior to the 16 member's retirement, the amount of service credited shall be propor- 17 tional to the total amount of the payments made prior to retirement. 18 6. In no event shall the credit granted pursuant to this section, when 19 added to credit granted for volunteer fire or emergency service with any 20 retirement system of this state pursuant to any other provision of law, 21 exceed a total of three years. 22 7. To be eligible to receive credit for volunteer fire or emergency 23 service under this section, a member shall make application for such 24 credit before the effective date of retirement. 25 8. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to this 26 section, other than the member costs set forth in subdivision five of 27 this section, shall be paid by the state and all employers which partic- 28 ipate in the retirement system in which such member is granted credit. 29 9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death 30 prior to retirement, amounts paid by a member for the purchase of volun- 31 teer fire or emergency service credit pursuant to this section shall be 32 refunded, with interest, to the extent the volunteer fire or emergency 33 service purchased with such amounts does not produce a greater death 34 benefit than would have been payable had such member not purchased such 35 credit. 36 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would allow members of any New York State retirement system to purchase service credit for time rendered in volunteer fire or emer- gency service. A member may obtain one year of service credit for every five years of volunteer fire or emergency service, not to exceed three years of total credit. Members must have at least five years of credit- ed service (not including volunteer service). Members would be required to make a payment of three percent of their most recent compensation per year of additional service credit granted by this bill. Service credit would be creditable on regular age-based and special service-based plans. Members may not be credited more than one year for all service obtained in a calendar year. This bill would not be consistent with the Retirement System's policy that service credit may only be granted for service for which a salary has been paid. If this bill is enacted, insofar as this proposal affects the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS), it is estimated that the past service cost will be 18% of an affected member's compen- sation for each year of service credit that is purchased. For theA. 9689 3 NYSLERS, this cost would be shared by the State of New York and the participating employers in the NYSLERS. Insofar as this proposal affects the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), it is estimated that the past service cost will be 22% of an affected member's compensation for each year of service credit that is purchased. For the NYSLPFRS, this cost would be shared by the State of New York and the participating employers in the NYSLPFRS. The exact number of current members as well as future members who could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari- al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020 and 2021 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, 2021 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 March 2, 2022, and intended for use only during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-5, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
