Establishes a twenty-five year retirement program for members of the NYC employees' retirement system employed as water supply police; provides for employer pick-up of certain additional member contributions required to be made by certain participants in the 25-year retirement programs.
Summary
S09356 would create a new twenty-five-year retirement program for New York City Employees’ Retirement System members employed as water supply police. The bill adds a new retirement option allowing eligible water supply police members to retire after 25 years of credited service with a benefit equal to 50 percent of final average salary for the first 25 years, plus 2 percent of final salary for each additional year of service, up to a 30-year maximum. It also creates a parallel “improved benefit” version for certain members, with election windows, vesting rules, and provisions for members who leave and later return to service.
The bill requires participants to make additional member contributions of 6 percent of compensation for covered service, but it also authorizes the City of New York to “pick up” those contributions for federal tax purposes under Internal Revenue Code section 414(h). The measure includes detailed rules on contribution deficiencies, interest, refunds for short-service members, borrowing against contributions, and reductions to benefits if required contributions or loans are unpaid at retirement. It also amends related provisions in the Retirement and Social Security Law and the New York City Administrative Code to integrate water supply police into the existing retirement framework and to make the employer pick-up rules applicable to this new group.
Impact
The bill would amend the Retirement and Social Security Law and the New York City Administrative Code to expressly include water supply police in the set of public employees eligible for special 25-year retirement treatment. It would create new sections 445-j and 604-k, revise existing retirement benefit and disability provisions, and add employer pick-up language so the city can treat certain mandatory employee contributions as employer contributions for federal tax purposes. The bill would affect NYCERS members in water supply police titles, the City of New York as employer, and the retirement system’s administration of contributions, vesting, refunds, and benefit calculations.
Sentiment
The available legislative record suggests generally favorable sentiment toward the bill. It was reported out of the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee by a 6-0 vote, indicating unanimous committee support among those voting. The fiscal note acknowledges increased employer contributions in the near term, but also projects longer-term savings for future entrants, which may have helped support the measure as a targeted pension enhancement rather than a broad system-wide expansion.
Contention
The main policy tradeoff in the bill is between improved retirement benefits for water supply police and the added cost to the City of New York. The fiscal note shows an initial increase in employer contributions and an increase in unfunded accrued liability, while also projecting future cost reductions for new entrants because employee contributions are expected to exceed the value of benefits for some members. Another point of complexity is the bill’s detailed contribution and tax treatment rules, including mandatory election windows, irrevocability, and benefit reductions for unpaid contribution deficiencies, which may raise administrative concerns even though no opposition is reflected in the committee vote record.
Establishes a twenty-five year retirement program for members of the NYC employees' retirement system employed as water supply police; provides for employer pick-up of certain additional member contributions required to be made by certain participants in the 25-year retirement programs.
Establishes a twenty-five year retirement program for members of the NYC employees' retirement system employed as water supply police; provides for employer pick-up of certain additional member contributions required to be made by certain participants in the 25-year retirement programs.
Establishes a twenty-five year retirement program for members of the NYC employees' retirement system employed as water supply police; provides for employer pick-up of certain additional member contributions required to be made by certain participants in the 25-year retirement programs.
Provides for eligibility of certain participants in the New York City employees retirement system to opt into the twenty-five year retirement program for EMT members.
Provides for eligibility of certain participants in the New York City employees retirement system to opt into the twenty-five year retirement program for EMT members.
Provides for the refund of additional member contributions of persons who cease to be members of the age fifty-seven retirement program for certain New York city members because they have become members of the twenty-five year retirement program for EMTs.
Modifies the definition of additional member contributions and basic member contributions for certain New York city employees' retirement system members who are subject to the twenty-five year retirement program for fire protection inspector members under Article 15 of the retirement and social security law, to allow such additional member contributions to be used to offset a deficit of basic member contributions, or to allow an excess of basic member contributions to offset a deficit of additional member contributions.
Relates to the establishment of a twenty-two and one-half year retirement program for members of the New York city employees' retirement system employed as emergency medical technicians and advanced emergency medical technicians and to the establishment of such program for such members who are subject to articles 11 and 15 of the retirement and social security law.
Relates to the establishment of a twenty-two and one-half year retirement program for members of the New York city employees' retirement system employed as emergency medical technicians and advanced emergency medical technicians and to the establishment of such program for such members who are subject to articles 11 and 15 of the retirement and social security law.
Payment rates established for certain substance use disorder treatment services, and vendor eligibility recodified for payments from the behavioral health fund.
Cover Outstanding Vulnerable Expansion-eligible Residents Now Act or the COVER Now Act This bill establishes a demonstration program to allow local governments to provide health benefits to the Medicaid expansion population in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Under the program, local governments may provide coverage for individuals who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e., the Medicaid expansion population) for a maximum of 10 years, or until their respective states expand Medicaid. The bill provides a 100% federal matching rate for the first three years of program participation. The bill prohibits states from taking certain actions against participating localities, such as withholding funding, increasing taxes, or restricting provider participation. States that violate these requirements are subject to certain funding penalties.