What's happening
This bill grants Christine Verkey retroactive Tier I status in the NY State and Local Employees' Retirement System.
Why it matters
Restores benefits lost due to administrative error. By granting Christine Verkey Tier I status retroactively, the bill addresses a situation where she missed out on more favorable retirement terms through no fault of her own, correcting a decades-old oversight.
Sets a precedent for individual legislative relief. This action highlights the legislature’s willingness to intervene on a case-by-case basis when procedural mistakes deny public employees benefits they would otherwise have received, potentially encouraging similar petitions.
Financial implications for the state. The bill assigns the full cost of this correction—including an immediate one-time payment of about $39,200 and increased annual contributions—to the state, rather than to the employee or the local employer, impacting state finances (albeit modestly) and illustrating how such retroactive changes are funded.
No refund of prior contributions. Despite the change in retirement tier (which typically comes with different contribution requirements), Christine Verkey will not receive a refund of contributions already made under her previous, less favorable retirement tier, which may affect her net retirement benefit calculations.
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Grant Tier 1 Retirement Status
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
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History
- Held for consideration in governmental employees
- Referred to governmental employees
- Referred to governmental employees
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Grant Tier 1 Retirement
In Senate Committee · Civil Service And Pensions · Sponsor Pamela Helming
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4765
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 5, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. MANKTELOW -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT in relation to granting Tier I status in the New York state and local employees' retirement system to Christine Verkey
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, Christine Verkey, who was an employee of the Newark central school district commencing in 1971 and was thereby eligible to participate in the New York state and local employees' retirement system, who through no fault of her own did not become a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system when she was first employed by the Newark central school district, shall be granted retroactive membership in the New York state and local employees' retirement system with Tier I status, if within one year from the effective date of this act she shall make a written application to that effect, duly executed and filed with such retirement system.
§ 2. No contributions made to the New York state and local employees' retirement system by Christine Verkey shall be returned or refunded to her pursuant to this act.
§ 3. All costs associated with the implementation of this act shall be borne by the state of New York.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will grant Tier 1 status in the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System to Christine L. Verkey, a current Tier 4
member employed by the State of New York, by changing her date of
membership to her first date of employment with the Newark Central
School District in 1971. There will be no refund of member contrib-
utions.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06554-01-9
A. 4765 2
If this legislation is enacted during the 2019 legislative session, we
anticipate that there will be an increase of approximately $4,000 in the
annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2020. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing rate
and salary of Christine L. Verkey change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $39,200 which will be
borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate is
based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2020.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2018
Report of the Actuary and the 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017, and 2018 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, 2018
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 fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for
the professional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated January 3, 2019, and intended for use only during
the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-11, 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.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.