S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
272--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
(PREFILED)
January 9, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
-- 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 commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, the education
law, and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation
to requiring boards of trustees of public retirement systems to post
board meeting minutes on their websites
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
a new section 805-a to read as follows:
§ 805-A. MINUTES OF PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEM BOARD MEETINGS. IT SHALL
BE THE POLICY OF THE BOARDS OF TRUSTEES OF ALL PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEMS
TO MAKE A COPY OF MINUTES OF ANY OFFICIAL MEETING, SUBJECT TO THE
PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW, ELECTRONICALLY
AVAILABLE ON SUCH PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEM'S WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT PRAC-
TICABLE OR OTHERWISE REQUIRED BY LAW.
§ 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 506-a to
read as follows:
§ 506-A. BOARD MEETINGS; MINUTES AND RECORDS. THE BOARD SHALL KEEP
MINUTES OF ITS OWN PROCEEDINGS AND RECORDS OF ITS OTHER OFFICIAL
ACTIONS, AND SHALL MAKE A COPY OF SUCH MINUTES ELECTRONICALLY AVAILABLE
ON ITS WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PROVIDED THAT ANY INFORMATION
DEEMED CONFIDENTIAL OR SUBJECT TO THE EXCEPTIONS PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE
SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW MAY BE REDACTED OR OMITTED FROM SUCH
PUBLIC POSTINGS.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01761-03-0
S. 272--A 2
§ 3. Section 13-103 of the administrative code of the city of New York
is amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows:
H. THE BOARD SHALL KEEP MINUTES OF ITS OWN PROCEEDINGS AND RECORDS OF
ITS OTHER OFFICIAL ACTIONS, AND SHALL MAKE A COPY OF SUCH MINUTES ELEC-
TRONICALLY AVAILABLE ON ITS WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PROVIDED
THAT ANY INFORMATION DEEMED CONFIDENTIAL OR SUBJECT TO THE EXCEPTIONS
PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW MAY BE REDACTED
OR OMITTED FROM SUCH PUBLIC POSTINGS.
§ 4. Section 13-202 of the administrative code of the city of New York
is amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows:
H. THE BOARD SHALL KEEP MINUTES OF ITS OWN PROCEEDINGS AND RECORDS OF
ITS OTHER OFFICIAL ACTIONS, AND SHALL MAKE A COPY OF SUCH MINUTES ELEC-
TRONICALLY AVAILABLE ON ITS WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PROVIDED
THAT ANY INFORMATION DEEMED CONFIDENTIAL OR SUBJECT TO THE EXCEPTIONS
PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW MAY BE REDACTED
OR OMITTED FROM SUCH PUBLIC POSTINGS.
§ 5. Section 13-302 of the administrative code of the city of New York
is amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows:
H. THE BOARD SHALL KEEP MINUTES OF ITS OWN PROCEEDINGS AND RECORDS OF
ITS OTHER OFFICIAL ACTIONS, AND SHALL MAKE A COPY OF SUCH MINUTES ELEC-
TRONICALLY AVAILABLE ON ITS WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PROVIDED
THAT ANY INFORMATION DEEMED CONFIDENTIAL OR SUBJECT TO THE EXCEPTIONS
PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW MAY BE REDACTED
OR OMITTED FROM SUCH PUBLIC POSTINGS.
§ 6. Section 13-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York
is amended to read as follows:
§ 13-516 Retirement board; MINUTES AND records. The retirement board
shall keep [a record] MINUTES AND RECORDS of all its proceedings AND ITS
OTHER OFFICIAL ACTIONS open to public inspection AND SHALL MAKE A COPY
OF SUCH MINUTES ELECTRONICALLY AVAILABLE ON ITS WEBSITE TO THE EXTENT
PRACTICABLE, PROVIDED THAT ANY INFORMATION DEEMED CONFIDENTIAL OR
SUBJECT TO THE EXCEPTIONS PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC
OFFICERS LAW MAY BE REDACTED OR OMITTED FROM SUCH PUBLIC POSTINGS.
§ 7. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would add Section 805-a to the Retirement and Social Securi-
ty Law and Section 506-a to the Education Law to require the Retirement
Board of the New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) to make
a copy of minutes of any official meeting and records of other official
actions electronically available on NYSTRS's website. Such meeting
minutes and records of official actions made electronically available on
NYSTRS's website will be subject to the provisions of Article 7 of the
Public Officers Law.
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 2020-16 dated March 2, 2020
prepared by the Actuary of the New York State Teachers' Retirement
S. 272--A 3
System and is intended for use only during the 2020 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.
SUMMARY OF BILL: This proposed legislation, as it relates to the New
York City Pension Funds and Retirement Systems (NYCRS), would require
applicable public retirement systems within the State to post public
portions of Board of Trustees' meeting minutes on their respective
websites.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective on the 60th day following enactment.
BACKGROUND: Currently, public portions of Board of Trustees meetings
are generally publicly webcasted, but written meeting minutes are gener-
ally only available via request.
The proposed legislation provides that it shall be the policy of all
NYCRS Boards of Trustees to post public portions of Board meetings on
their respective websites. It thereafter specifically makes the posting
a requirement, to the extent practicable, only for the New York City
Employees' Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System of the
City of New York, the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New
York City Fire Pension Fund. For purposes of this Fiscal Note, it has
been assumed that the policy of publicly posting minutes would also
apply to the New York City Board of Education Retirement System.
IMPACT ON BENEFITS: If enacted, this proposed legislation would have
no impact on benefits paid to members.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - ANNUAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS: The Employer
Contribution for a fiscal year includes the amount of administrative
expenses paid during the second prior fiscal year adjusted with interest
to the current date. If enacted, this proposed legislation would
increase the amount of administrative expenses and therefore, increase
the annual Employer Contribution.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - SUMMARY: It is estimated, based on information
provided by certain NYCRS and the Office of the Actuary's experience
with Board of Trustees meetings and minutes of such meetings, that if
this proposed legislation is passed, the increase in administrative
expenses paid from NYCRS, and therefore, the increase in the Employer
Contribution, would be de minimis.
ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The interest rate for adjusting the
administrative expenses from the date paid out of NYCRS to the date the
Employer Contribution is received is 7%.
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
highly on the realization of the actuarial assumptions used, as well as
certain demographic characteristics of NYCRS and other exogenous factors
such as investment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience
deviates from actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from
those presented herein. Costs are also dependent on the actuarial meth-
ods used, and therefore different actuarial methods could produce
different results. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this
Fiscal Note.
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, a
Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow of the Confer-
ence of Consulting Actuaries. I meet the Qualification Standards of the
American Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained
S. 272--A 4
herein. To the best of my knowledge, the results contained herein have
been prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles
and procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by
the Actuarial Standards Board.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2020-24 dated April 2,
2020 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the five New York City
Retirement Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use
only during the 2020 Legislative Session.
