What's happening
This bill allows Jeffrey E. Graham to receive full-time pension credit for his 2004-2008 employment with Watertown.
Why it matters
Addresses a specific error in pension service credit. , granting Jeffrey E. Graham full-time credit for a period previously recognized as part-time, due to circumstances not caused by his own negligence. This corrects a potential gap in his retirement benefits.
Establishes a precedent for individualized pension adjustments. through legislative means, which could encourage similar requests from others who believe their service credit was misclassified.
Places financial responsibility on the city of Watertown. for the additional pension liability (approximately $15,700), meaning local taxpayers, not the state, will bear the cost of correcting this individual's pension record.
Highlights the importance of accurate employment records for pension calculations. , underscoring the long-term personal and municipal implications of administrative errors in public employee benefits systems.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Grant Full Retirement Credit
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to civil service and pensions
- Referred to civil service and pensions
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2777
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 17, 2017
Introduced by Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT in relation to granting Jeffrey E. Graham full time service credit in the New York state and local employees' retirement system for his employment with the city of Watertown, county of Jefferson
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Jeffrey E. Graham, who is a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system, and who, for the period beginning April 1, 2004 and ending March 31, 2008 was employed by the city of Watertown, county of Jefferson, and who, for reasons not ascribable to his own negligence, was credited with part-time service in such retirement system for such period rather than for full time service, shall be granted full time service credit in the New York state and local employees' retirement system for his employment with the city of Watertown for the period beginning April 1, 2004 and ending March 31, 2008 if, on or before December 31, 2017, he shall file a written request to that effect with the state comptroller.
§ 2. All past service costs associated with the implementation of this act shall be borne by the city of Watertown.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will provide full time service credit to Jeffrey E. Graham,
a former employee of the city of Watertown, for the period beginning
April 1, 2004 and ending March 31, 2008.
If this bill is enacted, there will be an immediate past service cost
of approximately $15,700 which will be borne by the city of Watertown as
a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the assumption that
payment will be made on February 1, 2018.
Summary of relevant resources:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07091-02-7
S. 2777 2
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2016 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2016
Report of the Actuary and the 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015
and 2016 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, 2016
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 estimate, dated January 12, 2017, and intended for use only
during the 2017 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Not No. 2017-14, prepared
by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act in relation to granting Jeffrey E. Graham full time service credit in the New York state and local employees' retirement system for his employment with the city of Watertown, county of Jefferson
Purpose
This bill will increase the amount of time that Jeffrey E. Graham was in the pension system by approximately 3 years.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 states that Jeffrey E. Graham will be granted full time service credit for his employment with the city of Watertown for the period from April 1, 2004 and ending March 31, 2008, if he files a written request for that purpose to the state comptroller by December 31 of this year.
Section 2 states that all past service costs associated with the implementation of this act will be borne by the city of Watertown.
Section 3 states that this act will take effect immediately
Justification
Jeffrey Graham worked for the City of Watertown for many years. Due to a Period when his salary fell below the minimum wage, as a result of a minimum wage increase, in 2004, he was credited with partial credits for a four year period, despite the fact that the work he was performing for that four year period was identical to the work he was performing prior to 2004.
Providing him with credit for full time employment for the period covered by this legislation will enable him to retire with the 20 years he actually worked.
Legislative history
None. This is a new bill.
Effective date
Immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.