Relates to the determination of salary base for members of the New York city police pension fund; provides that the salary base for members of the New York city police pension fund whose employment with the police department of the city of New York commenced on or after July 1, 2000 shall be determined in the same manner as members whose employment commenced prior to such date.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8322A
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
determination of salary base for members of the New York city police
pension fund
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide parity amongst all of the Tier 2 members of the New York City
Police Department Pension Fund in the calculation of their salary bases
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 443 of the retirement and social security law
by adding a new subdivision h to provide that the salary base for
members of the New York City police department pension fund hired on or
after July 1st, 2000 covered under this article of law shall be calcu-
lated in the same manner as those members hired prior to July 1st, 2000.
Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York City Police Department Pension Fund system breaks its
members into different tiers that are subject to different benefits and
service requirements based on the date of the member's hire. For all
Tier 1 and Tier 2 members, pensions are equal to 50% of their final
average salary (FAS) when they go to retire after a certain amount of
years of service.
Within Tier 2, which encompasses hires from July 1st, 1973 until June
30th, 2009, there is a single and significant disparity in member bene-
fits: those who commenced service before July 1st, 2000 (the "original"
Tier 2 members) have their final average salary based on their most
recent 12 months or a 3-year average from their highest-earning years,
whichever is higher, while those who commenced service after July 1st,
2000 (the "new" Tier 2 members) base their FAS on the most recent 12
months of-service, with no opportunity to look at averages over a longer
period of time.
This is a small but important distinction, as the amount of overtime a
Police officers will work varies greatly year to year, and basing final
salary on only the 12 months prior to retirement often denies these
members the ability to have their pension reflect the strenuous and
lengthy hours of their peak years.
This disparity does a disservice to the strongest and most dedicated, of
this class of civil servants who put in long and demanding hours to save
and protect lives, only to see these hours severely discounted for the
purposes of calculating a pension. This bill will correct this histor-
ical wrong by clarifying that all members of Tier 2 of the NYPD Pension
Fund should be subject to the same FAS calculation.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A.6403-referred to Governmental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see bill.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8322--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO, O'PHARROW -- 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
determination of salary base for members of the New York city police
pension fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 443 of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision i to read as follows:
3 i. Notwithstanding any general, special or local law, charter, admin-
4 istrative code, agreement, resolution or rule or regulation to the
5 contrary, the salary base for members of the New York city police
6 pension fund whose employment with the police department of the city of
7 New York commenced on or after the first of July, two thousand to whom
8 this article otherwise applies shall be determined in the same manner as
9 the salary base for members of the New York city police pension fund
10 whose employment with the police department of the city of New York
11 commenced before the first of July, two thousand.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to members
13 of the New York city police pension fund who retire on or after such
14 effective date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would change the salary base for
Tier 2 members of the New York City Police Pension Fund (POLICE) who
were hired on or after July 1, 2000 to be the greater of final salary or
a three-year average.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03630-03-6
A. 8322--A 2
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Millions)
Year POLICE
2027 6.1
2028 6.0
2029 5.9
2030 5.8
2031 0.6
2032 0.5
2033 0.5
2034 0.4
2035 0.3
2036 0.3
2037 0.2
2038 0.2
2039 0.2
2040 0.1
2041 0.1
2042 0.1
2043 0.1
2044 0.1
2045 0.0
2046 0.0
2047 0.0
2048 0.0
2049 0.0
2050 0.0
2051 0.0
Employer Contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2051 is not shown.
The entire increase in employer contributions will be allocated to New
York City.
PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS: The Present Value of Benefits is the
discounted expected value of benefits paid to current members if all
assumptions are met, including future service accrual and pay increases.
Future new hires are not included in this present value.
INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
as of June 30, 2025 ($ in Millions)
Present Value (PV) POLICE
(1) PV of Employer Contributions: 21.6
(2) PV of Employee Contributions: 0.0
Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2): 21.6
UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL): Actuarial Accrued Liabilities are
the portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past service.
Changes in UAL were amortized over the expected remaining working life-
time of those impacted using level dollar payments.
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
POLICE
Increase (Decrease) in UAL: 16.5 M
Number of Payments: 4
Amortization Payment: 5.0 M
A. 8322--A 3
CENSUS DATA: The estimates presented herein are based on preliminary
census data collected as of June 30, 2025. The census data for the
impacted population (active members hired on or after July 1, 2000) is
summarized below.
POLICE
Active Members
- Number Count: 9,007
- Average Age: 44.7
- Average Service: 19.0
- Average Salary: 170,900
IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Pension benefits are primarily derived as a
percentage of salary base. For Tier 2 POLICE members hired prior to July
1, 2000, the salary base is equal to the greater of:
(1) the pensionable earnings in the final 12 months of service, or
(2) the average pensionable earnings earned in any consecutive three
years of service.
For Tier 2 POLICE members hired on or after July 1, 2000, the salary
base is equal to the pensionable earnings earned in the final 12 months
of service only.
Under the proposed legislation, the salary base shall be determined
the same for Tier 2 POLICE members hired on or after July 1, 2000, as it
is for Tier 2 members hired prior to July 1, 2000.
Note, pensionable earnings in the final 12 months or the highest three
consecutive years are subject to certain limits.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems. In addition, Final Average Salary
was assumed to increase by 0.25% based on an analysis of historical
salary and overtime.
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). This Fiscal Note does not reflect any chapter
laws that may have been enacted during the current legislative session.
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 2026-13 dated February
10, 2026 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retire-
ment Systems and Pension Funds and is intended for use only during the
2026 Legislative Session.
