S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9656
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              March 27, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. FRIEND -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Governmental Employees
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
   the retirement of traffic officers with the town of Elmira
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1. Subdivisions b, c, g, and h of section 89-q of the retire-
 ment and social security law, as added by chapter 158  of  the  laws  of
 1995, are amended and a new subdivision k is added to read as follows:
   b.  Such  member  shall  be  entitled to retire upon the completion of
 twenty-five years of total creditable service, OR TWENTY YEARS OF  TOTAL
 CREDITABLE  SERVICE IF SUCH MEMBER HAS SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION PURSUANT
 TO SUBDIVISION K OF THIS SECTION, by filing an application  therefor  in
 the manner provided for in section seventy of this article.
   c.  Upon  completion  of  twenty-five years of such service, OR TWENTY
 YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE IF SUCH MEMBER HAS SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION PURSU-
 ANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF THIS SECTION, and  upon  retirement,  each  such
 member  shall  receive  a  pension which, together with an annuity which
 shall be the actuarial equivalent of his  accumulated  contributions  at
 the  time of his retirement and an additional pension which is the actu-
 arial equivalent of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he
 may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide him with  a  retire-
 ment allowance equal to one-half of his final average salary.
   g.  A  member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
 retirement, may retire after the  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of
 total creditable service, OR TWENTY YEARS OF TOTAL CREDITABLE SERVICE IF
 SUCH  MEMBER  HAS  SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF
 THIS SECTION. Application therefor may be filed in a manner  similar  to
 that  provided  in  section  seventy of this article. Upon completion of
 twenty-five years of such service, OR TWENTY YEARS OF  SUCH  SERVICE  IF
 SUCH  MEMBER  HAS  SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF
 THIS SECTION, and upon retirement, each  such  member  shall  receive  a
 pension  which,  together  with  an annuity which shall be the actuarial
 equivalent of his accumulated contributions at the time of  his  retire-
 ment  and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the
 reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he may  then  be  entitled
 
              

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10053-04-4
 A. 9656                             2
 
 shall  be sufficient to provide him with a retirement allowance equal to
 one-half of his final average salary.
   h.  In  computing  the  twenty-five years of total service of a member
 pursuant to this section, OR TWENTY YEARS OF TOTAL SERVICE OF  A  MEMBER
 PURSUANT  TO  THIS  SECTION  IF SUCH MEMBER HAS SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION
 PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF THIS SECTION, full credit  shall  be  given
 and  full  allowance shall be made for service of such member in time of
 war after World War I  as  defined  in  section  two  of  this  chapter,
 provided  such  member at the time of his entrance into the armed forces
 was in the service of the town of Elmira.
   K. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION OF THIS SECTION TO  THE  CONTRARY,  A
 MEMBER  EMPLOYED  AS  A  TRAFFIC OFFICER WITH THE TOWN OF ELMIRA TRAFFIC
 DISTRICT NUMBER ONE SHALL HAVE THE OPTION  TO  OPT  INTO  A  TWENTY-YEAR
 RETIREMENT PLAN UNDER THIS SECTION, INSTEAD OF THE STANDARD TWENTY-FIVE-
 YEAR  RETIREMENT  PLAN  UNDER THIS SECTION; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT SUCH
 TRAFFIC OFFICER SUBMITS AN APPLICATION THEREFORE WITHIN ONE  YEAR  AFTER
 THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SUBDIVISION, OR WITHIN ONE YEAR OF SUCH OFFI-
 CER'S  FIRST  DAY  OF  EMPLOYMENT  AS A TRAFFIC OFFICER WITH THE TOWN OF
 ELMIRA TRAFFIC DISTRICT NUMBER ONE.  NO PERSON SHALL  BE  AUTHORIZED  TO
 OPT  INTO  A  TWENTY-YEAR  RETIREMENT PLAN UNDER THIS SECTION UNLESS THE
 TOWN OF ELMIRA HAS FIRST PASSED A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING  TRAFFIC  OFFI-
 CERS EMPLOYED WITH THE TOWN OF ELMIRA TRAFFIC DISTRICT NUMBER ONE TO OPT
 INTO  SUCH TWENTY-YEAR RETIREMENT PLAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS
 OF THIS SECTION.
   § 2. Subdivision m of section 603 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty law, as added by chapter 158 of the laws of 1995, is amended to  read
 as follows:
   m.  The  service  retirement  benefit specified in section six hundred
 four of this article shall be payable to members with twenty-five  years
 of creditable service, OR TWENTY YEARS OF CREDITABLE SERVICE FOR MEMBERS
 WHO  HAVE  SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF SECTION
 EIGHTY-NINE-Q OF THIS CHAPTER, without regard to age,  who  are  traffic
 officers  with the town of Elmira as defined in section eighty-nine-q of
 this chapter if: (i) such members have met the minimum service  require-
 ments  upon  retirement, and (ii) in the case of a member subject to the
 provisions of article fourteen of this chapter,  such  member  files  an
 election  therefor  which provides that he or she will be subject to the
 provisions of this article and to none of the provisions of such article
 fourteen.  Such election, which shall be irrevocable, shall be in  writ-
 ing,  duly executed and shall be filed with the comptroller on or before
 September first, nineteen hundred ninety-six. For the purposes  of  this
 subdivision,  the term "creditable service" shall have the meaning as so
 defined in both sections eighty-nine-q and six hundred one of this chap-
 ter.
   § 3. Subdivision n of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty law, as added by chapter 158 of the laws of 1995, is amended to  read
 as follows:
   n.  The early service retirement benefit for a member who is a traffic
 officer with the town of Elmira as defined in section  eighty-nine-q  of
 this  chapter  shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of final average
 salary times years of credited service at the completion of  twenty-five
 years  of service as such traffic officer, OR TWENTY YEARS OF SERVICE AS
 SUCH TRAFFIC OFFICER IF SUCH TRAFFIC OFFICER HAS SUBMITTED  AN  APPLICA-
 TION PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION K OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE-Q OF THIS CHAPTER,
 but not exceeding one-half of his or her final average salary.
 A. 9656                             3
 
   §  4.   All costs associated with the implementation of this act shall
 be borne by the town of Elmira.
   §  5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
 ing the date upon which it shall have become a  law.    Effective  imme-
 diately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
 necessary  for  the implementation of this act on its effective date are
 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would modify section 89-q of the Retirement and Social Secu-
 rity Law to allow members of the New York  State  and  Local  Employees'
 Retirement  System  employed  as  traffic officers by the Town of Elmira
 Traffic District Number 1 to  elect  to  be  covered  by  a  twenty-year
 retirement  plan providing a benefit of one-half of final average salary
 (FAS), without regard to age. Currently, such members are  permitted  to
 retire upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service with a
 benefit of one-half of FAS.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $15,000 in the
 annual contributions of the Town of Elmira for the  fiscal  year  ending
 March  31,  2025. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to
 average 4.3% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $141,000 which  will  be
 borne by the Town of Elmira as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
 that payment will be made on February 1, 2025.
   To  opt  into  the twenty-year retirement plan, members must submit an
 application within one year of the effective date of this bill or within
 one year of entering employment with the Town of Elmira Traffic District
 Number 1 as a traffic officer. The bill will not be effective until  the
 first of January next succeeding the date it becomes law.
   These  estimated costs are based on 6 affected members employed by the
 Town of Elmira, with annual salary of approximately $300,000 as of March
 31, 2023. `
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.
   The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
 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, 2023
 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  fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
 of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a  substitute  for
 the professional judgment of an attorney.
   This  estimate,  dated  February  21,  2024, and intended for use only
 during the 2024 Legislative Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.    2024-100,
 prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.