Lower Court Officer Retirement Age

Section 1. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:

a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without reduction of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of service. For members who become members of the New York state and local employees' retirement system on or after April first, two thousand twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in section five hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-three; provided that, a member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court system may retire without reduction of such member's retirement benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more years of service.

§ 2. Subdivision a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:

a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD07851-06-6

for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified court system, the service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age sixty-three.

§ 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:

a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thousand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age for members who first become members of a public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age sixty-three; except that the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer employed by the unified court system.

b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years of [credit] credited service who first become a member of a public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contributions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded annually to the date of retirement.

§ 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:

3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in which event, the amount of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit computed without optional modification shall be reduced by six and onehalf per centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age sixty-three; provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system, the retirement benefit computed without optional modification shall be reduced in accordance with paragraph one of this subdivision.

§ 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.

§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately.

FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:

This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi-

cer or peace officer employed by the unified court system to retire

without an early age reduction upon attaining age 55 with 30 years of

creditable service. It would also reduce the normal retirement age from

63 to 62 and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire

prior to normal retirement age.

We estimate that the state of New York's annual contributions will

increase $5.5 million beginning FYE 2027, with near-term costs increas-

ing 1.7% of salary for the affected participants, from 13.9% to 15.6%.

Subsequent costs will vary annually but are expected to average 1.4% of

salary, long-term.

In addition, there will be an immediate past service cost of $41.7

million borne by the state of New York as a one-time payment. This cost

assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2027.

These estimated costs are based on 3,515 affected members employed by

the state of New York, with annual salary of approximately $265 million

as of March 31, 2025.

Summary of relevant resources:

Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of

the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,

2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report

of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The

actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual

Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules

and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair

value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial

Statements and Supplementary Information.

Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been

modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit

change(s).

This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability

of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-

sional judgment of an attorney.

This estimate, dated March 10, 2026, and intended for use only during

the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-137. As Chief

Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), I,

Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with

applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of

Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing

Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of

which I am a member. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not believe it

impairs my objectivity.