Authorizes a thirty year retirement benefit for certain members in Nassau county, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7360
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              March 25, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
   authorizing  a  thirty  year retirement benefit for certain members in
   Nassau county

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivisions c, g and h of section 89-g of the retirement
 and social security law, as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1988 and
 such section as renumbered by chapter 771  of  the  laws  of  1988,  are
 amended to read as follows:
   c.  (1)  Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon
 retirement, each such member shall receive  a  pension  which,  together
 with  an  annuity  which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] SUCH
 MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the time of  [his]  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 retirement  and  an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which  [he]  SUCH  MEMBER
 may  then  be  entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] SUCH MEMBER
 with a retirement allowance equal to one-half  of  [his]  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 final average salary.
   (2)  FOR A MEMBER EMPLOYED BY NASSAU COUNTY WITH A TITLE OF CORRECTION
 RECRUIT, CORRECTION OFFICER, CORRECTION CORPORAL,  CORRECTION  SERGEANT,
 CORRECTION  LIEUTENANT, OR CORRECTION CAPTAIN, UPON COMPLETION OF THIRTY
 YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE  AND  UPON  RETIREMENT,  EACH  SUCH  MEMBER  SHALL
 RECEIVE  A  PENSION  WHICH,  TOGETHER WITH AN ANNUITY WHICH SHALL BE THE
 ACTUARIAL EQUIVALENT OF SUCH MEMBER'S ACCUMULATED CONTRIBUTIONS  AT  THE
 TIME  OF SUCH MEMBER'S RETIREMENT AND AN ADDITIONAL PENSION WHICH IS THE
 ACTUARIAL  EQUIVALENT  OF  THE  RESERVED-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY  TO
 WHICH  SUCH  MEMBER  MAY THEN BE ENTITLED SHALL BE SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE
 SUCH MEMBER WITH A RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO SIXTY PERCENT  OF  SUCH
 MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09321-03-5
 A. 7360                             2
 
   g.  A member, contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
 retirement, shall retire after the completion of  twenty-five  years  OR
 THIRTY  YEARS  of  total creditable service. Application therefor may be
 filed in a manner similar to that provided in section  seventy  of  this
 article.  Upon  completion  of twenty-five years OR THIRTY YEARS of such
 service and upon retirement, each such member shall  receive  a  pension
 which,  together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent
 of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the  time  of  [his]
 SUCH MEMBER'S retirement and an additional pension which is the actuari-
 al  equivalent  of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he]
 SUCH MEMBER may then be entitled shall be sufficient  to  provide  [him]
 SUCH  MEMBER with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] SUCH
 MEMBER'S final average salary FOR A MEMBER RETIRING AFTER THE COMPLETION
 OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE, OR A RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO
 SIXTY PERCENT OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR A MEMBER  RETIR-
 ING AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THIRTY YEARS OF SUCH SERVICE.
   h. In computing the twenty-five years OR THIRTY YEARS of total service
 of a member pursuant to 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] SUCH MEMBER'S entrance into the armed forces
 was in the service of the county of Nassau.
   § 2. Subdivision e of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty  law,  as  amended  by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
 read as follows:
   e. 1. The early service retirement for a member  who  is  employed  in
 Nassau  county  as  a  correction officer, uniformed correction division
 personnel, sheriff,  undersheriff  or  deputy  sheriff,  as  defined  in
 section  eighty-nine-g 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 correction officer,
 uniformed correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy
 sheriff, but not exceeding one-half of [his or her] SUCH MEMBER'S  final
 average salary.
   2. THE EARLY SERVICE RETIREMENT FOR A MEMBER WHO IS EMPLOYED BY NASSAU
 COUNTY   WITH   A  TITLE  OF  CORRECTION  RECRUIT,  CORRECTION  OFFICER,
 CORRECTION CORPORAL,  CORRECTION  SERGEANT,  CORRECTION  LIEUTENANT,  OR
 CORRECTION  CAPTAIN,  SHALL  BE A PENSION EQUAL TO ONE-FIFTIETH OF FINAL
 AVERAGE SALARY TIMES YEARS OF CREDITED  SERVICE  AT  THE  COMPLETION  OF
 THIRTY  YEARS  OF  SERVICE AS SUCH CORRECTION OFFICER, BUT NOT EXCEEDING
 SIXTY PERCENT OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY.
   §  3.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing   the
 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be
 amortized over a period of ten years.
   §  4. 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.
   §  5.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
 members who retire on or after such date.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would modify the service retirement benefit for  members  of
 the  New  York  State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed by
 Nassau County in certain correction officer titles. The modified service
 retirement benefit will be one-half of final average salary  (FAS)  upon
 completion  of twenty-five years of creditable service and sixty percent
 of FAS upon completion  of  thirty  years  of  creditable  service.  The
 A. 7360                             3
 
 current service retirement benefit is one-half of FAS upon completion of
 twenty-five years of creditable service.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $390,000 in the
 annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year  ending  March
 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average
 0.3% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.50 million which will
 be  borne  by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
 that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Nassau  County  elects
 to  amortize  this  cost  over  a 10-year period, the cost for each year
 including interest would be $703,000.
   These estimated costs are based on 713 affected  members  employed  by
 Nassau  County,  with annual salary of approximately $90.5 million as of
 March 31, 2024. Thirteen members currently covered  under  section  89-g
 under  a legacy title of uniformed correction division personnel are not
 expected to be covered under this legislation.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024  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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
 and Supplementary Information.
   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 12, 2025, and intended for use only  during
 the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-79. As Chief Actu-
 ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin
 Young,  hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
 arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional  Conduct
 and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
 al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.