NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4727

Senate Bill S4727

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to normal retirement age for police/fire members of the New York city fire department pension fund

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 12, 2025	referred to civil service and pensions

2025-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement and Social Security Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§501 & 503, R & SS L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S8818

2025-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides that the normal service retirement benefit for police/fire members who are members of the New York city fire department pension fund shall be paid to such members of the New York city fire department pension fund without regard to age upon retirement after twenty years of service.

2025-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4727

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
normal retirement age for police/fire members of the New York city fire
department pension fund

 
PURPOSE:

To provide a twenty-year service retirement benefit for Tier 3 plan
members in the NYC Fire Department Pension Fund to align with Tier 2
members who are receiving that benefit.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill would amend subdivision 17 of Section 501 of the
Retirement and Social Security Law, and subdivision d of Section 503 of
the Retirement and Social Security Law, to provide that members in the
New York City Fire Department Pension Fund will receive a service
retirement benefit after 20 years of service, regardless of age, and

further provides that the bill shall take effect immediately.

Section 2 of the bill amends section 503 subdivision d of the Retirement
and Social Security Law to provide that members in the New York City
Fire Department Pension Fund will receive a service retirement benefit
after 20 years of service, regardless of age, and further provides that
the bill shall take effect immediately.

Section 3 is a notwithstanding section 13-379 of the administrative code
clarification.

Section 4 is the enactment clause.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The existing statute provides for a normal service retirement benefit
for Tier 3 plan members after serving twenty-two years of service.
However, members of the NYC Fire Department Pension Fund in Tier 3 work
alongside Tier 2 members who must only serve twenty years to receive the
same service retirement benefit.

This bill seeks to align the service retirement benefit for Tier 3
members of the NYC Fire Department Pension Fund with their Tier 2 coun-
terparts so that there is equity amongst Tier 3 and Tier 2 employees who
work in the same profession.

The current disparity in service retirement eligibility must be
addressed by this legislation because it creates the same 20-year
retirement benefit eligibility Tier 3 members within the NYC Department
Pension Fund as Tier 2 members within the same Fund. This measure would
ensure fairness amongst Tier 3 and Tier 2 employees in the same work-
force by creating a uniform normal service retirement benefit.

This legislative amendment would also improve the recruitment and
retention of experienced employees by creating an incentive for our
dedicated employees based upon equality under the retirement laws.
These statutory changes would demonstrate that we value the commitment
of these employees regardless of when they were hired, and regardless of
their age or tier classification, which will ensure the continued deliv-
ery of high-quality public service to our citizens.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024- S.8818 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill would take effect immediately.

2025-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4727
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 12, 2025
                                ___________
 
 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
   normal  retirement  age  for  police/fire members of the New York city
   fire department pension fund

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Subdivision 17 of section 501 of the retirement and social
 security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012,  is  amended
 to read as follows:
   17.  "Normal  retirement  age"  shall  be  age  sixty-two, for general
 members, [and] the age  at  which  a  member  completes  or  would  have
 completed twenty-two years of service, for police/fire members, New York
 city  uniformed  correction/sanitation revised plan members and investi-
 gator revised plan members, AND THE AGE  AT  WHICH  A  MEMBER  COMPLETES
 TWENTY  YEARS  OF SERVICE FOR POLICE/FIRE MEMBERS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE
 NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION FUND.
   § 2. Subdivision d of section 503 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
 as follows:
   d. The normal service retirement benefit  specified  in  section  five
 hundred  five  of this article shall be paid to police/fire members, New
 York city  uniformed  correction/sanitation  revised  plan  members  and
 investigator  revised plan members without regard to age upon retirement
 after twenty-two years of service; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT  SUCH  NORMAL
 SERVICE  RETIREMENT  BENEFIT  FOR POLICE/FIRE MEMBERS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF
 THE NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION FUND SHALL  BE  PAID  TO  SUCH
 MEMBERS OF THE NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION FUND WITHOUT REGARD
 TO  AGE  UPON  RETIREMENT  AFTER TWENTY YEARS OF SERVICE.  Early service
 retirement shall be permitted upon  retirement  after  twenty  years  of
 credited service or attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, that
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01279-02-5

 S. 4727                             2
 
 New  York city police/fire revised plan members, New York city uniformed
 correction/sanitation revised plan members and investigator revised plan
 members shall not be eligible to retire for service prior to the attain-
 ment of twenty years of credited service.
   §  3. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 13-379 of the adminis-
 trative code of the city of New York, the provisions of this act  amend-
 ing sections 501 and 503 of the retirement and social security law shall
 apply  to  chapter three of title thirteen of the administrative code of
 the city of New York.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would reduce the Normal  Retirement
 Age  for Tier 3 members of the New York City Fire Pension Fund (FIRE) to
 be the age at which a member completes twenty years of service.
 
          EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
           by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Millions)
 
                   Year                                 FIRE
                   2026                                 3.9
                   2027                                 4.2
                   2028                                 4.4
                   2029                                 4.7
                   2030                                 5.0
                   2031                                 5.3
                   2032                                 5.6
                   2033                                 6.1
                   2034                                 6.5
                   2035                                 6.9
                   2036                                 7.3
                   2037                                 7.9
                   2038                                 8.4
                   2039                                 8.8
                   2040                                 9.1
                   2041                                 9.6
                   2042                                 9.9
                   2043                                 8.7
                   2044                                 9.0
                   2045                                 9.4
                   2046                                 9.6
                   2047                                 9.8
                   2048                                 10.0
                   2049                                 10.2
                   2050                                 10.4
 Projected contributions include future new hires that may be impacted.
 For Fiscal Year 2051 and beyond, the expected increase in normal cost as
 a level percent of pay for impacted new entrants is approximately 0.28%.
   The entire increase in employer contributions will be allocated to New
 York City.
   PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS:  The  Present  Value  of  Benefits  is  the
 discounted  expected  value  of  benefits paid to current members if all
 assumptions are met, including future service accrual and pay increases.
 Future new hires are not included in this present value.
 
          INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
                    as of June 30, 2024 ($ in Millions)
 S. 4727                             3
 
                Present Value (PV)                      FIRE
                (1) PV of Employer Contributions:       25.9
                (2) PV of Employee Contributions:       (3.5)
                Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2):         22.4
 
   UNFUNDED  ACCRUED  LIABILITY  (UAL): Actuarial Accrued Liabilities are
 the portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past  service.
 Changes  in UAL were amortized over the expected remaining working life-
 time of those impacted using level dollar payments.
 
                AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
 
                                                        FIRE
                Increase (Decrease) in UAL:             14.1 M
                Number of Payments:                     17
                Amortization Payment:                   1.5 M
 
   CENSUS DATA: The estimates presented herein are based  on  preliminary
 census  data  collected  as  of  June  30, 2024. The census data for the
 impacted population is summarized below.
 
                                                        FIRE
                Active Members
                - Number Count:                         5,572
                - Average Age:                          34.1
                - Average Service:                      6.2
                - Average Salary:                       118,600

   IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Currently, Tier 3 FIRE members  who  retire
 with  at  least  20  years  of service are eligible to receive an annual
 benefit that is equal to 42% of Final Average Salary  (FAS),  increasing
 to a maximum benefit of 50% of FAS after 22 years of service.
   Under the proposed legislation, Tier 3 FIRE members who retire with at
 least 20 years of service would be eligible to receive an annual benefit
 that is equal to 50% of FAS.
   ASSUMPTIONS  AND  METHODS:  The  estimates  presented herein have been
 calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions  and  Methods
 of the impacted retirement systems. In addition:
         * Retirement rates were adjusted to reflect the earlier payabil-
         ity  of  the  service  retirement  benefit  associated  with the
         proposed legislation.
         * New entrants were assumed to replace exiting members  so  that
         total payroll increases by 3% each year for impacted groups. New
         entrant demographics were developed based on data for recent new
         hires and actuarial judgement.
   RISK  AND  UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
 highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods,  and  models  used,  demo-
 graphics  of  the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
 ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates  from
 actuarial   assumptions,  the  actual  costs  could  differ  from  those
 presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the  scope  of  this
 Fiscal Note.
   This  Fiscal  Note  is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
 does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative  and  Other
 Postemployment  Benefits). This Fiscal Note does not reflect any chapter
 laws that may have been enacted during the current legislative session.
 S. 4727                             4
 
   STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
 sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy  of
 Actuaries.  We  are members of NYCERS, but do not believe it impairs our
 objectivity, and we meet the Qualification  Standards  of  the  American
 Academy  of  Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
 To the best of our 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 2025-11 dated February
 11, 2025 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retire-
 ment Systems and Pension Funds and is intended for use only  during  the
 2025 Legislative Session.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Assem_El_Ghaziri

1 week ago

Thank you

Chris_Bailey

1 week ago

Lower the age

Fabian_E_Zaval…

6 days ago

Yes

Chris_Bailey

6 days ago

This bill should be passed.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.