Provides for a line of duty disability presumption for any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of the lung, resulting in total or partial disability or death of certain deputy sheriff members of a retirement system in certain cities.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9391
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to disabilities
of deputy sheriff members of a retirement system in certain cities
PURPOSE:
This bill creates a rebuttable presumption that any lung diseases which
cause health issues for New York City deputy sheriffs were incurred
during the course and discharge of their duties.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 creates a new Section 207-r of the General Municipal Law to
provide that any lung disease that impairs the health of a New York City
deputy sheriff is presumptive evidence that the illness was acquired
during the performance and discharge of their duties. The deputy sheriff
will be entitled to retire on a pension equal to three-quarters of their
final average salary.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, the lung disease presumption exists for New York City Police
Officers and Firefighters. As with these professions, the nature of the
New York Deputy Sheriffs' law enforcement duties are both stressful and
physically strenuous. This bill recognizes that the New York City Deputy
Sheriffs should have presumption parity with New York City Police Offi-
cers and Firefighters.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: A6749 - Veto 104 of 2023
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9391
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to disabilities
of deputy sheriff members of a retirement system in certain cities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new
2 section 207-r to read as follows:
3 § 207-r. Disabilities of deputy sheriff members of a retirement system
4 in certain cities. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general,
5 special or local law or administrative code to the contrary, but except
6 for the purposes of the workers' compensation law and the labor law, any
7 condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of the lung,
8 resulting in total or partial disability or death to a paid employee
9 performing the duties of a deputy sheriff in the sheriff's department of
10 a city with a population of one million or more where such employee is
11 drawn from competitive civil service lists, or any retired member of
12 such department who retired from a title whose duties are those of a
13 deputy sheriff and has been retired for five or less years, who success-
14 fully passed a physical examination on entry into the service of such
15 department, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such
16 condition, shall be presumptive evidence that it was incurred in the
17 performance and discharge of duty, unless the contrary be proved by
18 competent evidence.
19 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a deputy sheriff member
20 retiring pursuant to the provisions of subdivision one of this section
21 shall receive a pension equal to three-fourths of such member's final
22 average salary, and a retired member who has been retired for five years
23 or less and would have been able to retire pursuant to the provisions of
24 subdivision one of this section if such subdivision had been in force at
25 the time of such retired member's retirement, shall be entitled to
26 receive a pension equal to three-fourths of such member's final average
27 salary and have their pension recalculated commencing with the later of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10216-03-4
A. 9391 2
1 the effective date of this section or the first day that diseases of the
2 lung resulted in the full or partial disability of such retired member.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: The proposed legislation would provide certain Deputy Sheriff
members or retirees (within five years of their respective retirement
date) of the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) a
rebuttable statutory presumption that a qualifying partial or total
disability or death related to a lung disease was incurred in the
performance of duty.
ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands)
One Incident One Incident Per Year
Year Disability Death Disability Death
2025 55 167 55 167
2026 55 167 113 340
2027 55 167 171 518
2028 55 167 232 701
2029 55 167 294 889
2030 55 167 359 1,083
2031 55 167 425 1,283
2032 55 167 493 1,489
2033 55 167 563 1,701
2034 55 167 636 1,920
2035 55 167 710 2,145
2036 55 167 787 2,377
2037 55 167 866 2,615
2038 55 167 947 2,861
2039 0 0 976 2,947
2040 0 0 1,005 3,035
2041 0 0 1,035 3,126
2042 0 0 1,066 3,220
2043 0 0 1,098 3,317
2044 0 0 1,131 3,416
2045 0 0 1,165 3,519
2046 0 0 1,200 3,624
2047 0 0 1,236 3,733
2048 0 0 1,273 3,845
2049 0 0 1,312 3,961
Employer contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2049 is not shown.
The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to
New York City.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL LIABILITIES
as of June 30, 2023 ($ in Thousands)
Present Value (PV) Per Disability Per Death
PV of Benefits: 429 1,416
PV of Employee Contributions: (40) 0
PV of Employer Contributions: 469 1,416
Unfunded Accrued Liabilities: 469 1,416
A. 9391 3
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
Recognized as Ongoing Gain/Loss Per Disabilty Per Death
Number of Payments: 14 14
Amortization Payment: 55 K 167 K
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: 150
- Average Age: 42.3
- Average Service: 11.2
- Average Salary: 81,500
IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Currently, a New York City Deputy Sheriff
who becomes disabled due to lung disease would be eligible for an appli-
cable ordinary disability retirement, generally a lifetime payment of
1/3 of salary. The ordinary death benefit is a lump sum payment gener-
ally equal to three times the member's salary.
Under the proposed legislation, the performance of duty disability
benefit for NYCERS Deputy Sheriff members who are disabled from lung
disease would be equal to:
* 75% of Final Average Salary (FAS), where
* FAS is defined as 3-Year FAS for Tier 4 and 5-Year FAS for Tier 6,
without
* an explicit Workers' Compensation offset.
Under the proposed legislation, the performance of duty death benefit
would generally be equal to a lifetime benefit of 50% of a member's
wages earned during the last year of service, plus, if applicable, the
Special Accidental Death Benefit (SADB) payable under General Municipal
Law section 208-f.
SADB for Deputy Sheriffs was enacted by Chapter 720 of the Laws of
2023 and all accidental deaths are assumed to qualify for SADB.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems.
The number of members and eligible retirees who will benefit in the
future from this fiscal note is unknown. The cost of this proposed
legislation could vary greatly depending on the number of future members
who benefit and on their length of service, age, and salary history. In
particular, the increase would be greater for a member who is not yet
eligible for an ODR benefit when the disabling lung disease is diag-
nosed.
The estimated financial impact for disabled members has been calcu-
lated assuming 50% would have retired under an Ordinary Disability bene-
fit, and 50% would have continued working if the proposed legislation
were not passed.
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
A. 9391 4
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 2024-11 dated February 7,
2024 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement
Systems and Pension Funds. This estimate is intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session.
