NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7693A
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
permitting certain twenty-five year retirement program dispatcher
members to file elections not to participate
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to provide fire alarm dispatchers an option
to opt-out of a retirement system.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new subdivision f to Section 604-E of the Retirement
and Social Security Law that a fire alarm dispatcher over the age of 30
that failed to file an election not to participate in their retirement
system within 180 days of becoming a dispatcher may file an election to
opt-out of the retirement system within 180 days of the effective date
of this bill.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Upon being appointed as a fire alarm dispatcher, all members are auto-
matically enrolled in the dispatcher 25 and out plan. However, if an
individual has exceeded the age of 30 upon being appointed, per the
NYCERS dispatcher 25 and out brochure, they will be mailed a letter
detailing their pension options with an opt out form to switch plans.
Individuals are given 180 days to submit an opt out form.
There is a small group of approximately 15-20 members that exceeded the
age of 30 upon being appointed to fire alarm dispatcher that never
received such notification from NYCERS. Therefore, they are in a pension
plan paying, individually, in excess of $125,000 throughout their
careers to a plan they do not benefit from. Such members would have been
better suited in a 57/5 plan.
Allowing fire alarm dispatchers to elect a plan they would have been
eligible for upon being appointed, will stop unnecessary depletion for
these members.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note attached.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7693--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 6, 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
permitting certain twenty-five year retirement program dispatcher
members to file elections not to participate
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 604-e of the retirement and social security law, as
2 added by chapter 576 of the laws of 2000, is amended by adding a new
3 subdivision f to read as follows:
4 f. 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a
5 dispatcher member who exceeded age thirty upon employment as a dispatch-
6 er member and failed to file their election not to participate with the
7 retirement system within one hundred eighty days of becoming a dispatch-
8 er member, as required by paragraph three of subdivision b of this
9 section, may file such an election with the retirement system within one
10 hundred eighty days of the effective date of this subdivision.
11 2. The retirement system shall post, and announce on its homepage the
12 posting of, the form and corresponding instructions for dispatcher
13 members to elect not to participate on its website no later than thirty
14 days after the effective date of this subdivision.
15 3. If the retirement system fails to post and announce the form and
16 corresponding instructions no later than thirty days after the effective
17 date of this subdivision, as prescribed by paragraph two of this subdi-
18 vision, the period for a dispatcher member to elect not to participate
19 prescribed by paragraph one of this subdivision shall be extended by
20 sixty days for each month or part thereof that such form and
21 instructions are not posted to the retirement system's website.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11083-05-4
A. 7693--A 2
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would allow New York City Employees'
Retirement System (NYCERS) Tier 4 and Tier 6 members who are members of
a Dispatcher 25-Year Retirement Plan and were older than age 30 when
they joined the plan, another 180-day period to opt out of the plan.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($)
Year NYCERS
2025 516,000
2026 521,000
2027 524,000
2028 528,000
2029 530,000
2030 531,000
2031 532,000
2032 530,000
2033 527,000
2034 523,000
2035 518,000
2036 512,000
2037 505,000
2038 172,000
2039 164,000
2040 154,000
2041 145,000
2042 135,000
2043 126,000
2044 116,000
2045 106,000
2046 96,000
2047 88,000
2048 78,000
2049 69,000
Employer Contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2049 is not shown.
The entire increase in employer contributions will be allocated to New
York City.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL LIABILITIES
as of June 30, 2023 ($ in Millions)
Present Value (PV) NYCERS
PV of Benefits: 2.8
PV of Employee Contributions: (1.9)
PV of Employer Contributions: 4.7
Unfunded Accrued Liabilities: 2.6
PV of Benefits includes the assumed refund of AMC balances.
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
NYCERS
Number of Payments: 13
Fiscal Year of Last Payment: 2037
Amortization Payment: 325,000
A. 7693--A 3
Unfunded Accrued Liability (UAL) increases for actives were amortized
over the expected remaining working lifetime of those impacted by the
benefit changes using level dollar payments.
CENSUS DATA: The estimates presented herein are based on preliminary
census data collected as of June 30, 2023. The census data for the
impacted population is summarized below.
NYCERS
Active Members
- Number Count: 54
- Average Age: 46.3
- Average Service: 13.1
- Average Salary: 79,400
BACKGROUND: Currently, Tier 4 or Tier 6 NYCERS members who exceed age
30 upon being mandated into a Dispatcher 25-Year Plan, have the option
to irrevocably opt out of the plan within 180 days. Members who opt out
of the plan are generally placed into one of the Tier 4 or Tier 6 under-
lying plans.
Under the proposed legislation, such members who failed to opt out of
the Dispatcher 25-Year Plan in the original 180 days would have another
180-day period in which to opt out of the Plan.
For the purposes of this Fiscal Note, it is assumed that members who
opt out of the Dispatcher 25-Year Plan under the proposed legislation
would be entitled to an immediate refund of excess Additional Member
Contributions (AMC), with interest.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the actuarial assumptions and methods to be used for
the Preliminary Fiscal Year 2025 employer contributions of the impacted
retirement systems.
To determine the impact of the elective nature of the proposed legis-
lation, a subgroup of members was developed based on who is assumed to
benefit actuarially by comparing the net present value of future employ-
er costs of each member’s benefit under their current plan and under
their applicable underlying plan.
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods, and models used, demo-
graphics of the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates from
actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from those
presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this
Fiscal Note.
This Fiscal Note is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative and Other
Postemployment Benefits).
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of
Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS but do not believe it impairs our
objectivity and we meet the Qualification Standards of the American
Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
To the best of our knowledge, the results contained herein have been
prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and
procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the
Actuarial Standards Board.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2024-09 dated January 25,
2024 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement
A. 7693--A 4
Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session.
