Establishes alternative retirement benefits for peace officers in the department of motor vehicles

BILL NUMBER:A2435A

Title of bill

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to retirement benefits for certain employees

Purpose

Creates a new alternative plan for peace officers employed by the State Department of Motor Vehicles as investigators. Under this plan, an investigator who attains twenty-five years of service will be allowed to retire at 1/2 pay without regard to age.

Summary of provisions

Creates a new Section 89-y of the Retirement and Social Security Law. This section allows an alternative benefit to the existing benefits under Tiers 1-4. It would allow a member with 25 years of service as a peace officer or police officer to retire at any age with 25 years of service with a pension benefit of 50% of Final Average Salary. At the date of retirement, this benefit would automatically be compared to the benefit under current law for the member's tier, and the member would get whichever benefit is better.

Justification

The Department of Motor Vehicles is responsible for enforcing criminal laws that relate to motor vehicle theft and fraud. Cases they investigate include multi-jurisdictional cases involving organized crime.

The Department employs public safety professionals who are authorized under the Criminal Procedure Law to exercise the powers of peace offi- cers in enforcing these laws. Their duties include criminal investi- gations, interviewing suspects and witnesses, and making arrests. These duties expose them to the same risks as other law enforcement officers and they must maintain similar levels of physical fitness to perform their duties, They should therefore be granted the same type of pension plan as that offered to other law enforcement professionals.

Fiscal impact

If this bill is enacted we estimate that there would be an estimated increase in the annual contributions of the State of New York of approximately $170,000 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost to the State of New York of approximately $896,000. If the cost were amortized over a period of ten years, the cost for the first year including interest would be approxi- mately $124,000.

Legislative history

2007-2008: A.9965/S.6734 - Referred to A.WAM/ Referred to S.Rules

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately, provided, howev- er that the amendments to Sections 603 and 604 of the Retirement and Social Security Law made by Sections three and four of this act shall not affect the expiration of such sections and shall be deemed to expire therewith.