NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6342A
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the disability retirement for safety and security officers
PURPOSE:
To provide safety and security officers with a 3/4 disability retirement
benefit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 607-a of the Retirement and Social Security Law
to provide safety and security officers with a 3/4 disability retirement
benefit.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Safety and Security Officers (SS0s) work in the same institutions and
encounter the same job hazards as their Security. Hospital Treatment
Assistant (SHTA) coworkers. Yet, unlike SHTAs who are eligible for a 3/4
accidental disability benefit as a result of certain job-
related'injuries, SSOs are not eligible to obtain this benefit. This
legislation recognizes this inequality by ensuring that SSOs are simi-
larly protected.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: A.7833-A-Amend and Recommit to Governmental Employees
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This, act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6342--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 5, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on
Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the disability retirement for safety and security officers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 607-a of the retirement and social security law, as
2 added by chapter 722 of the laws of 1996, subdivision b as amended by
3 chapter 322 of the laws of 2021, and subdivision c as added by chapter
4 653 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
5 § 607-a. Performance of duty disability retirement. a. Any security
6 hospital treatment assistant, as that term is defined in subdivision i
7 of section eighty-nine of this chapter, or any qualifying member, as
8 such term is defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of section eight-
9 y-nine-t of this chapter, as amended by chapter four hundred seventy-six
10 of the laws of two thousand eighteen, who becomes physically or mentally
11 incapacitated for the performance of duties as the natural and proximate
12 result, of an injury, sustained in the performance or discharge of his
13 or her duties by, or as the natural and proximate result of, an act of
14 any person confined in an institution under the jurisdiction of the
15 office of mental health, or by any person who has been committed to such
16 institution by any court shall be paid a performance of duty disability
17 retirement allowance equal to that which is provided in section sixty-
18 three of this chapter, subject to the provisions of section sixty-four
19 of this chapter.
20 b. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
21 special law to the contrary, a member covered by this section who
22 contracts HIV (where there may have been an exposure to a bodily fluid
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08429-03-4
A. 6342--A 2
1 of an incarcerated individual or a person described in subdivision a of
2 this section as a natural and proximate result of an act of any incar-
3 cerated individual or person described in such subdivision a that may
4 have involved transmission of a specified transmissible disease from an
5 incarcerated individual or such person described in such subdivision a
6 to the retirement system member), tuberculosis or hepatitis will be
7 presumed to have contracted such disease in the performance or discharge
8 of his or her duties, and will be presumed to be disabled from the
9 performance of his or her duties, unless the contrary be proved by
10 competent evidence.
11 c. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general or
12 special law to the contrary, any condition of impairment of health
13 caused by diseases of the heart, resulting in disability or death to a
14 member covered by this section, presently employed and who shall have
15 sustained such disability while so employed, who successfully passed a
16 physical examination on entry into service as a security hospital treat-
17 ment assistant or a qualifying member as set forth in this section,
18 which examination failed to disclose evidence of any disease or other
19 impairment of the heart, shall be presumptive evidence that it was
20 incurred in the performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary
21 be proved by competent evidence.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow members of the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement System employed as safety officers to be eligible for a
performance of duty (POD) disability benefit if they become disabled as
a result of an injury inflicted by any person confined in an institution
under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Mental Health.
The benefit will be 75 percent of final average salary, less workers'
compensation. Currently, these affected members do not have a POD disa-
bility benefit.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $1.10 million in
the annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is
expected to average 1.7% of salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.78 million which will
be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate
assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2025.
These estimated costs are based on 611 affected members employed by
the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $54 million
as of March 31, 2023.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
A. 6342--A 3
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 22, 2024, and intended for use only
during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-39,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
