NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7570
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
service credit related to the birth or adoption of a new child
PURPOSE:
To provide a child care leave credit for Suffolk County correction offi-
cer members.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 513 of the Retirement and Social Security Law
by adding a. new subdivision i to provide a child care leave credit for
Suffolk County correction officer members. Further, such service credit
provided pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed one year of cred-
it for each period of authorized unpaid leave related to the birth or
adoption of a child.
Section 2 provides that all past service costs associated with imple-
menting the provisions of this act shall be borne by Suffolk County.
Section 3 provides that none of the provisions of this act shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of section 25 of the retirement
and social security law.
Section 4 provides that the act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
Suffolk County Correction Officers work under stressful conditions and
need to serve a minimum of 25 years, which can take a significant toll
on an individual's mental and physical health. Becoming a parent should
not come with a penalty and extend the time it takes to retire.
This legislation would give the option for the member to purchase the
time taken off, when becoming a parent, to ensure that they are eligible
to retire when others, who started their career at the same time, become
eligible.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7570
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 1, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
service credit related to the birth or adoption of a new child
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 513 of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision i to read as follows:
3 i. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any
4 correction officer member, as such term is defined in subdivision e of
5 section eighty-nine-f of this chapter, who is absent without pay for
6 leave related to the birth or adoption of a new child pursuant to law,
7 rule or regulation shall be eligible for credit for such period of leave
8 provided such member (i) files a claim for such service credit with the
9 retirement system by December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six or
10 within ninety days of the termination of such leave, whichever is later;
11 (ii) contributes to the retirement system an amount which such member
12 would have contributed during the period of such leave, together with
13 interest thereon, based on the member's most recent twelve months of
14 non-zero compensation immediately prior to the leave of absence and the
15 member's mandatory contribution rate; and (iii) such member shall have
16 at least five years of credited service, not including service credit
17 granted in this section, to be eligible to receive the credit authorized
18 pursuant to this subdivision. Provided, however, if a member does not
19 have five years of service credit at the time of their leave, they shall
20 have ninety days from when they achieve five years of service credit to
21 file a claim for such service credit with the retirement system to
22 receive the credit authorized pursuant to this subdivision.
23 2. Service credit provided pursuant to this subdivision shall not
24 exceed one year of credit for each period of authorized unpaid leave
25 related to the birth or adoption of a child. In the event there is a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07697-04-5
A. 7570 2
1 conflict between the provisions of this subdivision and the provisions
2 of any other law or code to the contrary, the provisions of this subdi-
3 vision shall govern.
4 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
5 provisions of this act shall be borne by Suffolk County.
6 § 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, none of the
7 provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement
8 of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
9 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow any member of the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS) employed by Suffolk County as a
correction officer to be eligible for up to one year of service credit
for each period of authorized unpaid leave related to the birth or
adoption of a new child. This bill is not consistent with the New York
State and Local Retirement System's policy of granting service credit
only when a salary has been paid.
To be eligible, members must have at least five years of credited
service in NYSLERS. For the additional service to be credited, members
must apply within 90 days of their return from the authorized unpaid
leave and must pay contributions based on their most recent 12 months of
non-zero compensation.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, it is
estimated that the past service cost will average approximately 25% of
an affected member's compensation for each year of additional service
that is credited. This cost will be reduced by member contributions,
which are estimated to be 3% for Tier 5 members and 6% for Tier 6
members. All remaining costs will be billed to Suffolk County annually,
based on those benefiting from this provision.
The exact number of current members as well as future members who
could be affected by this legislation cannot be readily determined.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
and Supplementary Information.
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 March 24, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-48. As Chief Actu-
ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin
Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct
and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.
