Provides peace officers of the unified court system an allowance of two percent of final average salary upon completion of thirty years of service

BILL NUMBER:A4099A

Title of bill

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

Purpose

This legislation would provide that the peace officers of the unified court system who are retirement benefit system members who retire after completion of more than 30 years of service would receive an allowance based on 2% of final average salary for each year of service. Thus stopping the decrease in benefits which currently takes place after thirty years of credited service.

Summary of provisions

Amends Subdivision b of section 604 of the retirement and social security law.

Justification

This legislation provides New York State with the incen- tive necessary to maintain a well-trained, experienced workforce. With the current decrease in benefits, seasoned employees are presented with a disincentive to remain in the public sector.

Legislative history

2005 Session: A7245 - new bill - referred to governmental employees 2006 Session: A7245 - reported to ways and mean 2007 Session: A6313 - referred to Governmental Employees 2008 Session: A6313a - referred to Governmental Employees

Fiscal implications

If this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there will be an increase of approximately $436,000 in the annual contrib- utions of the State of New York, on behalf of the Unified Court System.

In addition to the annual contribution discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $22.8 Million which would be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment.

Effective date

Immediately.