Authorizes the county of Rockland to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to John F. Leonard, Jr., a deputy sheriff employed by such county, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8164
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 16, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  WEBER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT in relation to authorizing the county of  Rockland  to  offer  an
   optional twenty year retirement plan to John F. Leonard, Jr., a deputy
   sheriff employed by such county

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
 the county of Rockland, a participating employer in the New  York  state
 employees'  retirement  system,  which has elected to offer the optional
 twenty year retirement plan, established pursuant to article 14-B of the
 retirement and social security law, to deputy sheriffs employed by  such
 county,  is  hereby authorized to make participation in such plan avail-
 able to John F. Leonard, Jr., a deputy sheriff employed by the county of
 Rockland with a start date of August 1, 2020, who, through no  fault  of
 his  own,  was  not enrolled to participate in such optional twenty year
 plan contained in article 14-B of the  retirement  and  social  security
 law.  The county of Rockland may so elect by filing with the state comp-
 troller, on or before 180 days after this act shall have become a law, a
 resolution  of  its governing body together with certification that such
 deputy sheriff did not bar themself from participation in the retirement
 plan as a result of their own negligence. Thereafter, such deputy  sher-
 iff  may  individually elect to be covered by the provisions of sections
 552 and 553 of the retirement and social security law, and  the  retire-
 ment  system  shall  credit service from August 1, 2020 to present under
 sections 552 and 553 of the retirement and  social  security  law.  Such
 member  may  effectuate by filing an election with the retirement system
 within one year of the effective date of this act.
   § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing  the
 provisions  of this act shall be borne by the county of Rockland and may
 be amortized over a five-year period.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11930-02-5
 S. 8164                             2
 
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill  would  allow John F. Leonard, Jr., a current member of the
 New York State and Local Employees'  Retirement  System  employed  as  a
 deputy  sheriff by Rockland County and covered under the 25-year retire-
 ment plan of Section 89-p of the  Retirement  and  Social  Security  Law
 (RSSL), to elect to be covered under the 20-year plan of Section 552 and
 Section 553 of the RSSL.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $13,000 in the
 annual contributions of Rockland County for the fiscal year ending March
 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the billing  rates  and
 salary of John F. Leonard, Jr. change.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an  immediate  past service cost of approximately $199,000 which will be
 borne by Rockland County as a one-time payment.  This  estimate  assumes
 that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Rockland County elects
 to  amortize  this  cost  over  a  5-year period, the cost for each year
 including interest would be $44,500.
   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 May 14, 2025, and intended for  use  only  during
 the  2025  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal Note No. 2025-175. As Chief
 Actuary of the New York State and  Local  Retirement  System,  I,  Aaron
 Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
 ble  Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional
 Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements  of
 Actuarial  Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a
 member.