STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 10400 IN ASSEMBLY May 25, 2016 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to including assistant wardens as eligible members for performance of duty disability retirement benefits The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions a, b and paragraph 2 of subdivision d of 2 section 63-b of the retirement and social security law, as added by 3 chapter 639 of the laws of 1999, are amended to read as follows: 4 a. A member employed by a county shall be eligible for a performance 5 of duty disability retirement if the county elects to make the benefits 6 provided herein available, as provided for in subdivision d of this 7 section, and such member is a sheriff, deputy sheriff, undersheriff, 8 assistant warden or correction officer. 9 b. Any sheriff, deputy sheriff, undersheriff, assistant warden or 10 correction officer as defined in subdivision a of this section, who 11 becomes physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of 12 duties as the natural and proximate result of an injury, sustained in 13 the performance or discharge of his or her duties by, or as the natural 14 and proximate result of an act of any inmate or any person confined in 15 an institution under the jurisdiction of such county, shall be paid a 16 performance of duty disability retirement allowance equal to that which 17 is provided in section sixty-three of this title, subject to the 18 provisions of section sixty-four of this title. 19 2. The performance of duty disability retirement as defined in subdi- 20 visions b and c of this section shall be available only to sheriffs, 21 deputy sheriffs, undersheriffs, assistant wardens and correction offi- 22 cers whose employer elects to provide such benefits by adopting a resol- 23 ution to such effect and filing a certified copy thereof with the comp- 24 troller. Such resolution shall be accompanied by the affidavit of the 25 chief executive officer of the county that the county has received an 26 estimate from the retirement system of the cost of the benefit provided 27 by this section. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15490-02-6A. 10400 2 1 § 2. Subdivisions a and f of section 607-c of the retirement and 2 social security law, subdivision a as added by chapter 639 of the laws 3 of 1999 and subdivision f as added by chapter 521 of the laws of 2014, 4 are amended to read as follows: 5 a. Any sheriff, deputy sheriff, undersheriff, assistant warden or 6 correction officer as defined in subdivision a of section sixty-three-b 7 of this chapter, and who are employed in a county which makes an 8 election pursuant to subdivision d of such section sixty-three-b, who 9 becomes physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of 10 duties as the natural and proximate result of an injury, sustained in 11 the performance or discharge of his or her duties by, or as the natural 12 and proximate result of any act of any inmate or any person confined in 13 an institution under the jurisdiction of such county, shall be paid a 14 performance of duty disability retirement allowance equal to that which 15 is provided in section sixty-three of this chapter, subject to the 16 provisions of section sixty-four of this chapter. 17 f. Any sheriff, deputy sheriff, undersheriff, assistant warden or 18 correction officer as defined in subdivision a of section sixty-three-b 19 of this chapter, and who are employed in Westchester county, who becomes 20 physically or mentally incapacitated for the performance of duties as 21 the natural and proximate result of an injury, sustained in the perform- 22 ance or discharge of his or her duties by, or as the natural and proxi- 23 mate result of an intentional or reckless act of any civilian visiting, 24 or otherwise present at, an institution under the jurisdiction of such 25 county, shall be paid a performance of duty disability retirement allow- 26 ance equal to that which is provided in section sixty-three of this 27 chapter, subject to the provisions of section sixty-four of this chap- 28 ter. 29 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE. -- This bill will grant coverage under a 75% of pay performance of duty disability benefit for assistant wardens whose employers already have elected to provide this benefit for their sher- iff, undersheriff, deputy sheriffs and correction officers. If this bill is enacted, the increase in the annual contributions of such affected counties will depend on the current salary and plan cover- age of the affected members in its employ. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, the additional annual cost for members in tiers 3, 4 and 5, and tier 6 will be 2.1% and 1.9% of the affected wardens' salaries, respectively. In future years, this annual cost will vary as the billing rates of these plans change. There would also be a one-time past service cost of 12.9% of the affected wardens' annual salaries. This cost would be shared by the State of New York and the participating employers in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System. 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, 2015 actuarial valu- ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2015 Report of the Actuary and the 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015 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, 2015 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Information.A. 10400 3 I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali- fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein. This estimate, dated May 24, 2016, and intended for use only during the 2016 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2016-102, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.