S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7797--A
I N S E N A T E
February 26, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law and the workers'
compensation law, in relation to participants in the World Trade
Center rescue
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 36 of section 2 of the
retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 326 of the
laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
(a) "Qualifying World Trade Center condition" shall mean a qualifying
condition or impairment of health resulting in disability to a member
who participated in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup oper-
ations for a qualifying period, as those terms are defined below,
provided the following conditions have been met: (i) such member, or
eligible beneficiary in the case of the member's death, must have filed
a written and sworn statement with the member's retirement system on a
form provided by such system indicating the underlying dates and
locations of employment not later than September eleventh, two thousand
[eighteen] TWENTY-TWO, and (ii) such member has either successfully
passed a physical examination for entry into public service, or author-
ized release of all relevant medical records, if the member did not
undergo a physical examination for entry into public service; and (iii)
there is no evidence of the qualifying condition or impairment of health
that formed the basis for the disability in such physical examination
for entry into public service or in the relevant medical records, prior
to September eleventh, two thousand one except for such member, or
eligible beneficiary in the case of the member's death, of a local
retirement system of a city with a population of one million or more
that is covered by section 13-551 of the administrative code of the city
of New York, or by section twenty-five hundred seventy-five of the
education law and for such member who separated from service with vested
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14551-04-8
S. 7797--A 2
rights, or eligible beneficiary of such member who separated from
service with vested rights in the case of the member's death, of a local
retirement system of a city with a population of one million or more who
are covered by sections 13-168, 13-252.1 or 13-353.1 of the administra-
tive code of the city of New York or sections five hundred seven-c, six
hundred five-b, six hundred five-c, or six hundred seven-b of this chap-
ter. The deadline for filing a written and sworn statement required by
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall be September eleventh, two
thousand [eighteen] TWENTY-TWO for such member, or eligible beneficiary
in the case of the member's death, of a local retirement system of a
city with a population of one million or more that is covered by section
13-551 of the administrative code of the city of New York, or by section
twenty-five hundred seventy-five of the education law and for such
member who separated from service with vested rights, or eligible bene-
ficiary of such member who separated from service with vested rights in
the case of the member's death, of a local retirement system of a city
with a population of one million or more who are covered by sections
13-168, 13-252.1 or 13-353.1 of the administrative code of the city of
New York and sections five hundred seven-c, six hundred five-b, six
hundred five-c, or six hundred seven-b of this chapter. Every retirement
system shall keep a copy of every written and sworn statement that is
presented for filing not later than September eleventh, two thousand
[eighteen] TWENTY-TWO, including those that are rejected for filing as
untimely.
§ 2. Section 162 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by chap-
ter 326 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
§ 162. Registration of participation in World Trade Center rescue,
recovery and clean-up operations. In order for the claim of a partic-
ipant in World Trade Center rescue, recovery and clean-up operations to
come within the application of this article, such participant must file
a written and sworn statement with the board on a form promulgated by
the chair indicating the dates and locations of such participation and
the name of such participant's employer during the period of partic-
ipation. Such statement must be filed not later than September eleventh,
two thousand [eighteen] TWENTY-TWO. The board shall transmit a copy of
such statement to the employer or carrier named therein. The filing of
such a statement shall not be considered the filing of a claim for bene-
fits under this chapter.
§ 3. Section 168 of the workers' compensation law is amended by adding
a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
4. A CLAIM BY A PARTICIPANT IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RESCUE, RECOVERY
OR CLEANUP OPERATIONS WHOSE DISABLEMENT OCCURRED BETWEEN SEPTEMBER ELEV-
ENTH, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN, AND SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND SEVEN-
TEEN, SHALL NOT BE DISALLOWED AS BARRED BY SECTION EIGHTEEN OR SECTION
TWENTY-EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER IF SUCH CLAIM IS FILED ON OR BEFORE SEPTEM-
BER ELEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-TWO. ANY SUCH CLAIM BY A PARTICIPANT
IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RESCUE, RECOVERY OR CLEANUP OPERATIONS WHOSE
DISABLEMENT OCCURRED BETWEEN SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
AND SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND SEVENTEEN, AND WAS DISALLOWED BY
SECTION EIGHTEEN OR TWENTY-EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL BE RECONSIDERED
BY THE BOARD.
§ 4. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, none of the
provisions of this act shall be subject to section 25 of the retirement
and social security law.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to
have been in full force and effect on and after September 11, 2001;
S. 7797--A 3
provided, however, that the amendments to sections 162 and 168 of the
workers' compensation law made by sections two and three of this act,
respectively, shall apply to all open and closed claims coming within
its purview.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would amend chapter 93 of the Laws of 2005 and chapter 445
of the Laws of 2006, which provided members of public retirement systems
who contract any form of disease or disability related to exposure to
any elements in connection with the World Trade Center (WTC) attack of
September 11, 2001 to be presumptive evidence that such disability, or
death as a result of such disability was the result of an accident and
was sustained in the performance of duty. The provisions of this act
will not be subject to Section 25 of the Retirement and Social Security
Law.
Insofar as this bill would affect the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement and the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retire-
ment System, this bill would extend the deadline for filing notice
regarding the eligibility for benefits for certain members who partic-
ipated in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operation
to September 11, 2022.
If this bill is enacted, it would reclassify certain current and
future retirement benefits. The cost of the revised benefit will depend
upon the applicant's age, service, salary, plan, and benefit type other-
wise payable.
Benefit None Ordinary In Performance Service
without Disability of Duty
enactment: Disability
Cost for WTC 9 times 5 times 2.5 times 2 times
benefit: salary salary salary salary
This bill would also lead to more deaths being classified as "acci-
dental". For each death classified as accidental due to this bill, the
cost would depend on the age, service, salary, plan, and status at time
of death. It is estimated that the cost for each ERS and PFRS individual
affected would average approximately 3.5 times final average salary and
8 times final average salary, respectively.
These cost would be shared by the State of New York and the partic-
ipating employers in the ERS and 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, 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 February 8, 2018 and intended for use only during
the 2018 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2018-55, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
S. 7797--A 4
This bill would amend Subdivision 36 of Section 2 of the Retirement
and Social Security Law to extend the deadline to September 11, 2022 for
filing notice of having participated in the World Trade Center rescue,
recover or cleanup operations during the qualifying period. Members who
become disabled or die as a result of a "qualifying World Trade Center
condition" are assumed to have become disabled or died as a result of an
accidental or on-the-job disability or death. This act shall take effect
immediately and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on
and after September 11, 2001.
The annual cost to the employers of members of the New York State
Teachers' Retirement System is estimated to be negligible if this bill
is enacted.
Member 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 2018-12 dated March 9, 2018
prepared by the Actuary of the New York State Teachers' Retirement
System and is intended for use only during the 2018 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:
SUMMARY OF BILL: With respect to the New York City Retirement Systems
and Pension Funds (NYCRS), the proposed legislation would amend Retire-
ment and Social Security Law (RSSL) Section 2, to extend, for certain
members who participated in the Rescue, Recovery or Cleanup operations
related to the World Trade Center (WTC) attack on September 11, 2001
(Covered Groups), the deadline for filing a Notice of Participation
under the WTC Disability Law.
The NYCRS include: New York City Employees' Retirement System
(NYCERS), New York City Teachers' Retirement System (NYCTRS), New York
City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS), New York City Police
Pension Fund (POLICE) and New York City Fire Pension Fund (FIRE).
The proposed legislation would also amend provisions of the Workers'
Compensation Law (WCL). However, because such provisions do not directly
impact the NYCRS, the financial impact of amendments to the WCL are not
reflected in this fiscal note.
None of the provisions of the proposed legislation would be subject to
Retirement and Social Security Law Section 25, and therefore, State
appropriation would not be required.
Effective Date for this proposed legislation: Upon enactment, and
would, as it relates to the NYCERS, be deemed retroactive to September
11, 2001.
DEADLINES UNDER EXISTING PROVISIONS: Under current law, as enacted by
Chapter 326 of the Laws of 2016, the deadline to file a Notice of
Participation for Covered Groups is September 11, 2018.
DEADLINES UNDER PROPOSED LEGISLATION: With respect to the NYCRS, the
proposed legislation would extend the deadline for filing a Notice of
Participation under the WTC Disability Law for Covered Groups from
September 11, 2018 to September 11, 2022.
S. 7797--A 5
ADDITIONAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS: The increase in employer contrib-
utions resulting from the proposed legislation would depend on the
number of additional members who timely file the required form, meet the
requirements of the WTC Disability Law, and ultimately benefit from such
Law.
Most members eligible for the benefits provided under the WTC Disabil-
ity Law have already filed the required form to register for partic-
ipation. Therefore, for the purpose of this Fiscal Note it has been
assumed that only a minimal number of NYCRS members would benefit from
the proposed legislation and that the increase in employer contributions
would likely be de minimis.
ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The additional employer contrib-
utions presented herein have been calculated based on the same actuarial
assumptions and methods in effect for the June 30, 2016 (Lag) actuarial
valuations used to determine the Preliminary Fiscal Year 2018 employer
contributions of NYCRS. Please note these assumptions and methods are
subject to change as this valuation is not considered final until the
end of the Fiscal Year 2018.
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Sherry S. Chan, am the Chief Actu-
ary for, and independent of, the New York City Retirement Systems and
Pension Funds. I am a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled
Actuary under the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974
(ERISA), a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow of
the Conference of Consulting Actuaries. I meet the Qualification Stand-
ards of the American Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opin-
ion contained herein. To the best of my knowledge, the results contained
herein have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuari-
al principles and procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Prac-
tice issued by the Actuarial Standards Board.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2018-07 dated March 9,
2018, was prepared by the Chief Actuary for New York City Employees'
Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System, the
New York City Board of Education Retirement System, the New York City
Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Fire Pension Fund. This esti-
mate is intended for use only during the 2018 Legislative Session.
