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- Referred to civil service and pensions
- Referred to civil service and pensions
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Title of bill
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to forfeiture of pension rights or retirement benefits upon conviction of a felony related to public employment
Purpose
Prohibits the receipt of pension benefits when any elected official engages in criminal conduct in relation to that office while earning the pension. If the public officer is convicted of a crime involved with the performance of his or her public duties, then those pension benefits are ill-gotten gains. The taxpayers must not bear any costs of illegal activities, let alone from a person held to the highest standard of trust.
Summary of provisions
* Adds a new Article 3-B to the retirement and social security law.
* Defines "Defendant", "Designated Felony Offense", "Comptroller", "Member", "Retired member", "Retirement system".
* A member or retired member who is convicted of a designated felony offense related to the performance or failure to perform official duties and responsibilities may have an action commenced in supreme court by the district attorney for the forfeiture of all or a portion of those rights and benefits to which such person is entitled.
* The district attorney may consider mitigating factors when determining whether to seek forfeiture of a portion rather than all of member's retirement benefits.
* A final determination that reverses or vacates the conviction of a member shall direct that such rights and benefits be retroactively restored.
* Returns any pension contributions made by the convicted held by the public retirement system.
Justification
Criminal behavior by elected officials cannot be tolerated. To help restore public confidence in elected officials in state government, steps must be initiated that will hold elected officials to the highest degree of accountability. It is the responsibility of this Legislature, in conjunction with the Executive, to enact laws that strongly discourage illegal behavior by those persons elected to hold the public trust.
When an elected official is sworn into office, he or she must sign a solemn Oath, stating that they will uphold the laws and the Constitutions that govern us. This Oath sets the highest standard for integrity, the public's trust. A violation of that trust, while in office, demands pecuniary as well as criminal costs.
An elected public officer who abuses the power and influence of his or her position should face significant sanctions. In addition to any criminal penalty imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction, any elected official who is convicted of a felony shall forfeit the pension credits earned during the commission of the crime to which he or she is convicted.
Fiscal implications
There could be a resulting decrease in the fiscal obligations of the New York State and Local Employee's Retirement System. The amount of the decrease would be the,present value of all such forfeited benefit payments.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.