Provides credit to members of public retirement systems of the state for military service rendered during certain periods; appropriation

Summary of provisions

Section one amends section 1000 of the retirement and social security law, as added by chapter 548 of the laws of 2000 and subdivision 9 as added by chapter 547 of the laws of 2002, by deleting the specified periods of time in which military service would had to have been rendered in order to receive up to three years of service credit. Such specified periods currently prevent a person who served in the military, outside such periods, from obtaining service credit when applying to a public retirement system of the state. This section also deletes other restricting dates.

Section two provides an appropriation.

Section three provides the effective date.

Justification

The goal of this bill is simple: to honor those who have bravely served our country and to encourage them to return to New York and continue their public service as teachers, firefighters, police officers, municipal and state employees. After five years of service to New York, these men and women would become eligible to buy additional pension credit.

This is a small price to pay to recognize the training and leadership skills that our veterans received during their honorable military service.

1. New York's military service credit law leads to arbitrary and inconsistent results.

Under the existing law, whether or not a veteran is eligible for the military service credit program depends entirely upon when and where he or she served, leading to arbitrary and inconsistent results.

A. Limiting service credit to specific dates of war leaves out veterans who performed the same duties at other times. Currently, military service credit is available to anyone who served during World War 11 (12/7/1941 to 12/31/1946), the Korean War (6/27/1950 to 1/31/1955) and the War in Vietnam (2/28/1961 to 5/7/1975). While all of these periods of conflict did involve massive amounts of troops in combat, 30% of troops during the Vietnam Era served outside of Vietnam and the surrounding Southeast Asian theater*. It makes little sense that the approximately three million troops that served outside of the Vietnam region during that era are eligible for this pension credit when men and women who are currently in the line of fire are not eligible. All veterans, regardless of when they served should have the same pension opportunities as those that served in these eras.

B. Limiting service credit to those who received an expeditionary medal discriminates against women veterans.

Those who received an expeditionary medal for service in the military conflicts in Lebanon (6/1/1983 to 12/1/1987), Grenada (10/23/1983 to 11/21/1983), and Panama (12/20/1989 to 1/31/1990) are also eligible to purchase pension credit. Because the expeditionary medal is awarded for participation in a military conflict, women who served during these conflicts were not awarded the medal since they were not eligible for deployment into the theater of operations at that time. The women who served during these conflicts are unfairly excluded from buying back military service credit, simply because they were not permitted to be deployed.

A 1994 Pentagon ruling permitted women to serve in the theater of combat to assist with contingency operations, but prohibited them from serving in direct combat roles including serving in the infantry.** Therefore, men and women who served in the theater of operations in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea since August 2, 1990 are eligible to buy back military service credit In 2013, the Pentagon lifted the ban on women serving in direct combat roles and more positions are now available for women.*** However, since it is still uncommon for women to serve in combat roles, they are disproportionately excluded from buying back military service credit when eligibility for the credit is based on combat service

C. Limiting service credit to service in a specific country or conflict leaves out veterans who served in active combat or performed critical operations in other locations.

*See National Vietnam Veterans Foundation Statistics

http://ww-w,nationalvietnam veterans foundation. orgaistatistics.htm

** See New York Times "Pentagon Is Set to Lift Combat Ban for Women " January 3, 2013 http://vvww.nytimes com/2013/01/24/us/ pentagon-says-it-is- lifting-banon-women-incombat.html,?pagewanted=all& r+0.

***Id.

Many veterans who served in active combat are ineligible for the mill- tary service credit, Troops that have participated in active combat in Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Korean DMZ are not eligible for the military service credit, There should be no distinction between service in one of these operations or one of the many other operations that are currently eligible for the military service credit.

Additionally, military personnel aiding in any of these operations from other locations, such as Israel, Turkey, and Germany are also ineligible to access this credit buyback. Further, the veterans who served around the world in dangerous situations during the Cold War are also excluded. All of these troops have played and continue to play a critical role in our nation's defense and should be permitted to buy back the military service credit.

II. The New York State pension system is one of the least generous to veterans.

The New York State pension system is one of only six state pension systems to limit credit based on dates and/or combat service, States that allow for the purchasing of credit based on any military service include Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia and encompass nine of the ten largest cities in the country, Currently, New York has one of the least comprehensive military service credit programs in the nation when considering who is eligible and the number of years available for purchase. By comparison, New Jersey**** allows any veteran to buy up to ten years of service credit and California***** allows four; the current structure under our laws is one of the least veteran friendly in the nation. The great State of New York should be a leader in supporting our returning veterans and passage of this bill will be a positive step in making this a reality.

III. It is impossible to accurately determine the cost of this bill,

Although the Governor's veto message (Veto 484 of 2014) indicates that this bill would cost local governments an estimated $57 million per year in near-term obligations, it is impossible to accurately determine the cost of this bill,

In fact, the fiscal notes produced by the New York State and Local Retirement System (ERS), and New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) state that it is impossible to determine the number of individuals impacted by this bill as there are no records of the number of veterans who are members of these retirement systems. Additionally, even if there was a record of the total number of veterans, it would not indicate how many additional veterans would be covered by this expansion nor would it be possible to predict the number of veterans who would opt to buy pension credit. Such a record would also include veterans who are not yet vested in the retirement system. Due to the cost to purchase credits, it is unlikely that these veterans would buy back credit until they are fully vested and closer to retirement.

The New York City Retirement Systems (NYCRS) fiscal note also acknowledges that it is impossible to determine the exact number of individuals impacted by this bill. However, the Office of the Actuary did estimate the number of veterans in the NYCRS who could, potentially become eligible for the military service credit pursuant to this legislation by using publicly available census data,. Under this estimate, if every veteran were to purchase the full three years of service credit, it would cost New York City approximately $15.7 million annually, which is less than two tenths of one percent more than the approximately $9 billion that New York City currently contributes to the NYCRS annually.

**** See The New Jersey Division of Pension and Benefits

http://www.state.nj us/treasury/pensions/pdf/ factsheets/factOl.pdf

*****See Ca1PERS "A Guide to Your Ca1PERS Service Credit Purchase Options"

http//www.calpers.ca.gov/eip-docsiabout/pubs/member/ guidecalpers-service- credit-options.pdf

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:Ö

S.4124, 2015: Passed Senate S 7839/A,6974-A, 2014 Veto #484 S.4714-A, 2013-2014 Passed Senate S 6904-A, 2012 referred to civil service and pensions A 6663-A, 2010 referred to ways and means Same as S.4316-A, 2010 referred to civil service and pensions. A 6663, 2009 referred to governmental employees. Same as SA316, 2009 referred to civil service and pensions A 6318-C 2008, passed assembly. A.6318-C 2007, referred to governmental employees committee, Same as S.5495 (Leibell).

Fiscal implications

See fiscal notes included at the end of the bill,

EFFECTIVE DATE:,: This act shall take effect immediately,