S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
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6646--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
June 9, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. AKSHAR -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules -- recommitted to
the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
granting members or officers of the state police credit for service as
a deputy sheriff, county corrections officer, or state corrections
officer
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision c of section 381-b of the
retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 581 of the
laws of 2001, is amended and a new paragraph 3 is added to read as
follows:
(1) Police service. In computing the years of total creditable service
in such division, full credit shall be given and full allowance shall be
made for service rendered as a police officer or member of a police
force or department of a state park authority or commission or an organ-
ized police force or department of a county, city, town, village, police
district, authority or other participating employer or member of the
capital police force in the office of general services while a member of
the New York state and local police and fire retirement system, of the
New York state and local employees' retirement system or of the New York
city police pension fund and for all service for which full credit has
been given and full allowance made pursuant to the provisions of section
three hundred seventy-five-h of this [chapter] ARTICLE provided, howev-
er, that full credit pursuant to the provisions of such section shall
mean only such service as would be creditable service pursuant to the
provisions of section three hundred eighty-three or section three
hundred eighty-three-a or three hundred eighty-three-b enacted by chap-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11792-06-8
S. 6646--A 2
ter six hundred seventy-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six
of this [chapter] TITLE or pursuant to the provisions of title thirteen
of the administrative code of the city of New York for any member
contributing pursuant to this section who transferred to the division of
state police.
(3) (A) DEPUTY SHERIFF, COUNTY CORRECTIONS, OR STATE CORRECTIONS
SERVICE. UPON COMPLETION OF MORE THAN SEVENTEEN YEARS OF SERVICE, EACH
SUCH MEMBER WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY CREDITED WITH SERVICE CREDIT IN THE NEW
YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM AS A DEPUTY SHERIFF,
COUNTY CORRECTIONS OFFICER, OR MEMBER IN THE UNIFORMED PERSONNEL IN
INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND
COMMUNITY SUPERVISION AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE
OF THIS CHAPTER AND WHO WAS ENGAGED DIRECTLY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIV-
ITIES WHILE PERFORMING SUCH SERVICES SHALL RECEIVE ONE YEAR OF SERVICE
CREDIT FOR EACH SUCH YEAR OF PREVIOUS SERVICE, UP TO A TOTAL OF NO
GREATER THAN THREE YEARS OF PREVIOUS SERVICE CREDIT.
(B) TO OBTAIN SUCH CREDIT, A MEMBER SHALL PAY SUCH RETIREMENT SYSTEM,
FOR DEPOSIT IN THE FUND USED TO ACCUMULATE EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS, A SUM
EQUAL TO THE PRODUCT OF THE NUMBER OF YEARS OF POLICE SERVICE BEING
CLAIMED AND THREE PERCENT OF SUCH MEMBER'S COMPENSATION EARNED DURING
THE TWELVE MONTHS OF CREDITED SERVICE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE
THAT THE MEMBER MADE APPLICATION FOR CREDIT PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION. IF
PERMITTED BY RULE OR REGULATION OF THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM, THE MEMBER MAY
PAY SUCH MEMBER COSTS BY PAYROLL DEDUCTION FOR A PERIOD WHICH SHALL NOT
EXCEED THE TIME PERIOD OF POLICE SERVICE TO BE CREDITED PURSUANT TO THIS
SECTION. IN THE EVENT THE MEMBER LEAVES THE EMPLOYER PAYROLL PRIOR TO
COMPLETION OF PAYMENT, HE OR SHE SHALL FORWARD ALL REMAINING REQUIRED
PAYMENTS TO THE APPROPRIATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM PRIOR TO THE EFFECTIVE
DATE OF RETIREMENT. IF THE FULL AMOUNT OF SUCH MEMBER COSTS IS NOT PAID
TO THE APPROPRIATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM PRIOR TO THE MEMBER'S RETIREMENT,
THE AMOUNT OF SERVICE CREDITED SHALL BE PROPORTIONAL TO THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF THE PAYMENTS MADE PRIOR TO RETIREMENT.
(C) IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CREDIT GRANTED PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH,
WHEN ADDED TO CREDIT GRANTED FOR POLICE SERVICE WITH ANY RETIREMENT
SYSTEM OF THIS STATE PURSUANT TO THIS OR ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW,
EXCEED A TOTAL OF THREE YEARS.
(D) TO BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE CREDIT FOR POLICE SERVICE UNDER THIS
PARAGRAPH, A MEMBER MUST MAKE APPLICATION FOR SUCH CREDIT BEFORE THE
EFFECTIVE DATE OF RETIREMENT.
(E) ALL COSTS FOR SERVICE CREDITED TO A MEMBER PURSUANT TO THIS PARA-
GRAPH, OTHER THAN THE MEMBER COSTS SET FORTH IN SUBPARAGRAPH (B) OF THIS
PARAGRAPH, SHALL BE PAID BY THE STATE.
(F) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, IN THE EVENT OF DEATH
PRIOR TO RETIREMENT, AMOUNTS PAID BY THE MEMBER FOR THE PURCHASE OF
POLICE SERVICE CREDIT PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE REFUNDED, WITH
INTEREST, TO THE EXTENT THE POLICE SERVICE PURCHASED WITH SUCH AMOUNTS
DOES NOT PRODUCE A GREATER DEATH BENEFIT THAN WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYABLE
HAD THE MEMBER NOT PURCHASED SUCH CREDIT.
(G) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, IN THE EVENT OF
RETIREMENT, AMOUNTS PAID BY THE MEMBER FOR THE PURCHASE OF POLICE
SERVICE CREDIT PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL BE REFUNDED, WITH INTER-
EST, TO THE EXTENT THE POLICE SERVICE PURCHASED WITH SUCH AMOUNTS DOES
NOT PRODUCE A GREATER RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE THAN WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYABLE
HAD THE MEMBER NOT PURCHASED SUCH CREDIT.
(H) IN THE EVENT THE SERVICE CREDIT GRANTED PURSUANT TO THIS PARA-
GRAPH, WHEN ADDED TO A MEMBER'S CURRENT SERVICE CREDIT, RENDERS HIM OR
S. 6646--A 3
HER ELIGIBLE FOR SERVICE RETIREMENT, SUCH MEMBER SHALL BE DEEMED ELIGI-
BLE FOR SUCH SERVICE RETIREMENT AND MAY ELECT TO RETIRE UNDER THE RULES
SET FORTH BY THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow up to three (3) years of service credit for
service rendered as a deputy sheriff, county correction or state
correction to be creditable to State Police officers. Such officers must
have at least seventeen years of credited service and would be required
to make a payment of three percent of their most recent compensation per
year of additional service credit being purchased under the provisions
of this bill.
If this bill is enacted during the 2018 legislative session, it is
estimated that the past service cost will average approximately 19% of
an affected officers' compensation for each year of additional service
credit that is purchased. This cost will be borne entirely by the State
of New York.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plan qualification issues: granting
service credit towards retirement in a 20 year plan in the New York
State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) for employment
that was not rendered in the PFRS could jeopardize the Retirement
System's governmental plan status and its exemption from ERISA. This
could result in the loss of qualified status, which would mean the loss
of tax benefits and would substantially impair the System's value to our
more than one million participants.
Prior to the enactment of this legislation, we recommend that a favor-
able ruling be obtained from the IRS stating that these provisions would
not harm the qualification status of the System. It is estimated that
the costs to obtain such a ruling would be $28,000 for the services of
the IRS, and $800 per hour for legal consultants.
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, 2017 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2017
Report of the Actuary and the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, and 2017 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, 2017
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 May 1, 2018, and intended for use only during the
2018 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2018-66, prepared by the
Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
