S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  5165

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 13, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions

AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
  certain members who re-enter public service

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 4 of section 645 of the  retirement  and
social security law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 322 of the laws
of  2002  and  subdivision 4 as added by chapter 640 of the laws of 1998
and as renumbered by chapter 646 of the laws of  1999,  are  amended  to
read as follows:
  2.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person [other than
a retiree of a public retirement system,] who previously was a member of
a public retirement system and whose membership in such  public  retire-
ment  system  ceased  by reason of (i) insufficient service credit, (ii)
withdrawal of accumulated contributions, or (iii) withdrawal of  member-
ship,  upon  rejoining  such  public retirement system or another public
retirement system, shall be deemed to have been a member of his  or  her
current  retirement  system  during the entire period of time commencing
with and subsequent to the original date of such previous ceased member-
ship, provided that such person (a) makes application  therefor  to  the
administrative  head of his or her current public retirement system, and
(b) repays the amount refunded,  if  any,  at  the  time  such  previous
membership  ceased,  together  with interest at the rate of five percent
per annum compounded annually from the date of such refund  through  the
date  of  repayment. Upon such reinstatement of date of membership, such
member shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and  privileges  to
which  he or she would have been entitled had his or her current member-
ship begun on such original date of membership except that,  solely  for
the  purposes  of  granting  retirement  credit  to  members of a public
retirement system other than the  New  York  city  teachers'  retirement

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD03012-02-3
              

S. 5165                             2

system for service credited during such previous ceased membership where
such  was  in a public retirement system other than the member's current
retirement system, such previously credited service shall be  deemed  to
be  prior service, not subsequent service.  Furthermore, any such member
whose original date of membership was  prior  to  July  first,  nineteen
hundred  seventy-three shall be entitled to all the rights, benefits and
privileges to which he or she would have been entitled  had  he  or  she
been  in  active  service  on  June thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-
three. Any contribution made to the public retirement system pursuant to
article fourteen or fifteen of this chapter by a member who rejoined his
or her current system on or after July twenty-seventh, nineteen  hundred
seventy-six shall not be refunded.
  4.  The provisions of this article shall be applicable to a person who
[is, on the date this article becomes effective]  WAS  A  MEMBER  ON  OR
BEFORE JANUARY FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-NINE, or who subsequent to
such date becomes, a member of a public retirement system.
  S  2.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to
all persons who are alive as of the effective date of this act and shall
apply to payments made on or after the effective date of this  act;  and
provided further, that any retirees qualifying under this act shall have
their retirement allowance recalculated from July 1, 2013 or the date of
reinstatement, whichever is later.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This  bill  would  amend  subdivisions  2  and 4 of Section 645 of the
Retirement and Social Security Law  to  extend  the  tier  reinstatement
provisions  to  any  retiree  of a public retirement system. The retiree
must be alive as of the effective date of the bill in order to be eligi-
ble.  This bill only applies to payments made on or after the  effective
date of this act.
  The  annual  cost  to  the  employers of members of the New York State
Teachers' Retirement System for this benefit is  estimated  to  be  $6.0
million or .04% of payroll if this bill is enacted.
  The  source  of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2013-30 dated May 9, 2013
prepared by the Actuary of  the  New  York  State  Teachers'  Retirement
System and is intended for use only during the 2013 Legislative Session.
I,  Richard  A.  Young,  am the Actuary for the New York State Teachers'
Retirement System. I am a member of the American  Academy  of  Actuaries
and  I meet the Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actu-
aries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This bill would allow certain  living  retirees  of  New  York  public
retirement systems who retired prior to December 16, 1999 and who previ-
ously  were  members of a New York public retirement system to be deemed
to have become members of the systems from which they retired as of  the
original  date of such previous ceased membership. Tier 3 and 4 retirees
of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System or the  New
York  State  Teachers' Retirement System who become Tier 1 or 2 retirees
and who have already purchased their previous service  would  receive  a
refund  of  these  contributions.  No  benefits  will  be deemed to have
accrued prior to the effective date of this act.
  In addition, this bill would also affect retirees who had  a  previous
ceased  membership  with  a public employee retirement system other than
the NYS&LERS or the NYS&LPFRS.
  If this bill is enacted, insofar as this bill  affects  the  New  York
State  and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS), approximately 1,434

S. 5165                             3

retirees of the ERS will be affected. The estimated  past  service  cost
would be approximately $15.1 million.
  Pursuant to section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, this
ERS  past service cost would be borne by the State of New York and would
require an itemized appropriation by the State of New York sufficient to
pay the cost of the provision. The State may amortize this past  service
cost  over  a period of 5 years. The first year cost, including interest
would be approximately $3.5 million.
  Insofar as this bill would affect employers in the New York State  and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the estimated additional
costs  would  be negligible. These costs would be shared by the State of
New York and the participating employers in the PFRS.
  Summary of relevant resources:
  Data: March 31, 2012 Actuarial Year End  File  with  distributions  of
membership  and  other  statistics  displayed  in the 2012 Report of the
Actuary and 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
  Assumptions and Methods: 2010, 2011 and  2012  Annual  Report  to  the
Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules and Regulations of the
State of New York: Audit and Control.
  Market  Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2012 New York State and
Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary  Informa-
tion.
  Valuations  of Benefit Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized in
the 2012 Actuarial Valuations report.
  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 January 29, 2013 and intended for use only during
the 2013 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No.  2013-53,  prepared  by
the  Actuary  for  the  New  York  State and Local Employees' Retirement
System and the New York State  and  Local  Police  and  Fire  Retirement
System.