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

                                  5596

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 27, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  GUNTHER, COLTON, BENEDETTO, JAFFEE, SCHIMEL,
  RUSSELL, DenDEKKER, WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of  A.  ARROYO,
  AUBRY,  BARCLAY,  BRENNAN,  BROOK-KRASNY, BUTLER, CAHILL, CLARK, COOK,
  CORWIN, CROUCH, CUSICK,  CYMBROWITZ,  DINOWITZ,  DUPREY,  ENGLEBRIGHT,
  FINCH,  GALEF,  GIGLIO,  GOTTFRIED,  HAWLEY, HOOPER, KAVANAGH, KEARNS,
  KOLB, LAVINE, LIFTON, LOPEZ, LUPARDO, MAGEE, MARKEY, McDONOUGH, McKEV-
  ITT, MILLER, OAKS,  ORTIZ,  PAULIN,  PEOPLES-STOKES,  PERRY,  PRETLOW,
  RAIA,   RAMOS,  RIVERA,  ROBINSON,  ROSENTHAL,  SCARBOROUGH,  TEDISCO,
  THIELE, TITONE, TITUS, WALTER, WRIGHT,  ZEBROWSKI  --  read  once  and
  referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees

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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02015-02-5
              

A. 5596                             2

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
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 January 1, 2015 or the date
of reinstatement, whichever is later.
  FISCAL NOTE.--This bill would allow certain  living  retirees  of  New
York  public  retirement  systems who retired prior to December 16, 1999
and who previously 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  1,320
retirees  of  the  ERS will be affected. The estimated past service cost
would be approximately $13.9 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 $3.2 million.
  Insofar  as this bill would affect employers in the New York State and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the estimated additional

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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:
  The  membership  data  used  in  measuring  the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2014  actuarial  valu-
ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2014
Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2014  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
Report.
  The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2010,
2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 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, 2014
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 estimate, dated January 20, 2015 and intended for use only during
the  2015  Legislative  Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2015-31, 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.
  FISCAL NOTE.--This bill would amend subdivisions 2 and  4  of  Section
645  of  the Retirement and Social Security Law to extend the tier rein-
statement 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 eligible. 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  $5.9
million or .04% of payroll if this bill is enacted.
  Employee  data  is  from  the System's most recent actuarial valuation
files, consisting of data provided by the employers  to  the  Retirement
System.  Data  distributions and statistics can be found in the System's
Comprehensive Annual Financial  Report  (CAFR).  System  assets  are  as
reported  in the System's financial statements, and can also be found in
the CAFR. Actuarial assumptions and methods are provided in the System's
Actuarial Valuation Report.
  The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2015-8 dated  February  24,
2015  prepared by the Actuary of the New York State Teachers' Retirement
System and is intended for use only during the 2015 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.