Provides earnings limitations for retired police officers employed part-time by municipalities with a population of less than 25,000; permits such officer to work up to five hundred twenty hours in any consecutive six-month period, with no suspension or diminution of retirement allowance; establishes villages or towns shall report such hours and salary earned on a monthly basis.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5846B
SPONSOR: Burdick TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
calculating the earnings limitations for retired police officers
employed part-time by certain municipalities
PURPOSE OF BILL:
To enable police departments in certain municipalities reliant on the
employment of retired police officers to retain a sufficient number of
part-time police officers to adequately staff their departments, by
permitting retired part-time officers to work up to five hundred twenty
hours in any consecutive six-month period in a calendar year without
suspension or diminution of retirement allowance.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 212 of the retirement and social security law
by adding a new subdivision 4 exempting retired police officers working
as part-time police officers in certain municipalities from the earnings
limitation provisions in subdivisions one and two of section 212.
Section 2 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Certain municipal police departments in Westchester County, such as the
Pound Ridge Police Department, are staffed in whole or in substantial
part by part-time police officers. Many of these part-time officers are
retired police officers who face suspension or diminution of retirement
allowance should their earnings exceed a statutory cap. The Pound Ridge
Police Department and others have difficulty retaining sufficient
numbers of experienced officers to staff their departments, since these
officers can easily find employment across the border in Connecticut
where their earnings are not subject to the limitation. This bill will
enable police departments such as Pound Ridge to retain experienced
officers and to adequately staff their departments.
This bill will provide relief to these municipalities, allowing retired
police officers who work as active police officers in municipalities
with populations of less than 25,000 to work up to up to five hundred
twenty hours in any consecutive six-month period in a calendar year with
no suspension or diminution of retirement allowance, if at least seventy
per cent of such municipality's active duty police force, not including
civilian staff, consists of part-time officers.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5846--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BURDICK -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee --
recommitted to the Committee on Governmental Employees in accordance
with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
calculating the earnings limitations for retired police officers
employed part-time by certain municipalities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 212 of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
3 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions one and two of this
4 section, such earnings limitations shall not apply to a retired police
5 officer, who has retired after having twenty-five years of vested
6 service in a police pension system that fully vests at twenty years, who
7 is employed part-time as a police officer in a village or town with a
8 population of less than twenty-five thousand as determined by the most
9 recent federal decennial census, where at least seventy percent of such
10 village or town's active-duty police force, not including civilian
11 staff, consists of part-time officers. Such part-time police officer
12 shall be permitted to work up to five hundred twenty hours in any
13 consecutive six-month period in a calendar year based on hours worked as
14 reported by the village or town on a monthly basis, with no suspension
15 or diminution of retirement allowance. Any village or town that hires a
16 retired police officer pursuant to this subdivision shall report such
17 officer's days worked and salary earned to the New York state and local
18 police and fire retirement system on a monthly basis.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09569-09-4
A. 5846--B 2
Insofar as it would affect the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), this bill would allow retired police
officers to continue to receive their full retirement benefit when reem-
ployed as a police officer on a part-time basis for up to 520 hours in
any consecutive six-month period. Provided, however, that such employ-
ment is by a village or town where (1) the municipal population is less
than 25,000, and (2) at least 70% of the police force is employed on a
part-time basis. Such retired police officers must also have retired
with at least twenty-five years of service credit on a twenty-year
retirement plan to be eligible for this benefit. Currently, the post-re-
tirement earnings limit is $35,000.
If this bill were enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, the
direct cost incurred would be the retiree's pension benefit paid while
post-retirement earnings are greater than $35,000 each calendar year.
The pension benefit expected to be paid by the NYSLPFRS during that
7-month period is estimated to be $46,500 per person.
In addition to the direct cost quoted above, there would be additional
costs in the form of lost employer contributions due to non-billable
post-retirement earnings, which is estimated to be $14,000 per person.
Further, we anticipate additional administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
All costs will be shared by the State of New York and all participat-
ing employers in the NYSLPFRS and spread over future billing cycles.
The number of members and retirees who could be affected by this
legislation cannot be readily determined. For each retiree rehired
pursuant to this proposal, an annual cost of $60,500 is expected. If
large numbers of retirees are rehired into such positions, significant
annual costs would result.
Based on the 2020 census, approximately 95% of towns and villages in
New York State would satisfy the population requirement associated with
this proposal. These employers represent approximately 20% of the total
NYSLPFRS membership.
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. 2024-113, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
