S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8788
I N S E N A T E
March 12, 2024
___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified
court system
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social
security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended
to read as follows:
a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five
hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other
than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements
upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a
general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court
system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without
reduction of [his or her] SUCH MEMBER'S retirement benefit upon attain-
ment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or
more years of service. For members who become members of the New York
state and local employees' retirement system on or after April first,
two thousand twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in
section five hundred four of this article shall be payable to general
members, other than elective members, who have met the minimum service
requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-three; PROVIDED
THAT, A MEMBER WHO IS A PEACE OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED COURT
SYSTEM MAY RETIRE WITHOUT REDUCTION OF SUCH MEMBER'S RETIREMENT BENEFIT
UPON ATTAINMENT OF AT LEAST FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE AND COMPLETION OF
THIRTY OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE.
§ 2. Subdivisions a and a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and
social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision a-1 as
added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini-
mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08385-03-4
S. 8788 2
two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement
pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of
section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred
four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
this article or subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this
article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
the New York state and local employees' retirement system who first
joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who
is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified
court system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve]
may retire without reduction of [his or her] SUCH MEMBER'S retirement
benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and
completion of thirty or more years of service, provided, however, that a
uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court
system who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
employees' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten
and retires without reduction of [his or her] SUCH MEMBER'S retirement
benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and
completion of thirty or more years of service pursuant to this section
shall be required to make the member contributions required by subdivi-
sion f of section six hundred thirteen of this article for all years of
credited and creditable service, provided further that the [the] preced-
ing provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a New York city
revised plan member.
a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement
system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, EXCEPT
FOR UNIFORMED COURT OFFICERS OR PEACE OFFICERS EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED
COURT SYSTEM, the service retirement benefit specified in section six
hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met
the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age
sixty-three.
§ 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and
social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as
added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a
member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than
twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York
state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thou-
sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final
average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age
for members who first become members of a public retirement system of
the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age
sixty-three; EXCEPT THAT THE NORMAL RETIREMENT AGE SHALL BE SIXTY-TWO
FOR A MEMBER WHO IS A PEACE OFFICER OR UNIFORMED COURT OFFICER EMPLOYED
BY THE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM.
b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years of
[credit] CREDITED service who first become a member of a public retire-
ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at
age sixty-three, OR AT AGE SIXTY-TWO FOR UNIFORMED COURT OFFICERS OR
PEACE OFFICERS EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM, shall be a pension
equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final
S. 8788 3
average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final
average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any
retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than
the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contrib-
utions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded
annually to the date of retirement.
§ 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and
social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is
amended to read as follows:
3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the
minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit
authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of
section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal
retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in
which event, the amount of [his or her] SUCH MEMBER'S retirement benefit
computed without optional modification shall be reduced by six and one-
half per centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age
sixty-three; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT FOR A MEMBER WHO IS A UNIFORMED
COURT OFFICER OR PEACE OFFICER EMPLOYED BY THE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM, THE
RETIREMENT BENEFIT COMPUTED WITHOUT OPTIONAL MODIFICATION SHALL BE
REDUCED IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH ONE OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
§ 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu-
rity law made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration
of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi-
cer or peace officer employed by the unified court system to retire
without early age reduction upon attaining 30 years of creditable
service and age 55. It would also reduce the normal retirement age from
63 to 62 and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire
prior to normal retirement age.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System (NYSLERS), the increased costs would be borne entirely
by the State of New York. If this bill were enacted during the 2024
Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of benefits would
be approximately $34.2 million.
In the NYSLERS, this benefit improvement will be funded by (1) billing
a past service cost to cover retrospective benefit increases and (2)
increasing the billing rates charged annually to cover prospective bene-
fit increases, as follows:
(1) To fund retrospective costs, the State of New York will be
required to pay $18.9 million as of March 1, 2025.
(2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of the
State of New York will include a separate itemized charge equal to 1.0%
of billable salary reported to the NYSLERS for the affected members, or
approximately $2.2 million beginning in fiscal year ending March 31,
2025. This PERMANENT ANNUAL COST WILL INCREASE as Tier 6 salary grows
and will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the billing
rate.
These estimated costs are based on 2,207 affected members employed by
New York State, with annual salary of approximately $166 million as of
March 31, 2023.
S. 8788 4
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 March 8, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-92, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
