S 8207: Relates to age and service eligibility requirements for ordinary retirement for members of the unified court system; restores 55/30 for all members; reduces the retirement age from 63 to 62.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8207 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE May 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- (at request of the Unified Court System) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified court system The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social 2 security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended 3 to read as follows: 4 a. The normal service retirement benefit specified in section five 5 hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members, other 6 than elective members, who have met the minimum service requirements 7 upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two, provided, however, a 8 general member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court 9 system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may retire without 10 reduction of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit upon attain- 11 ment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or 12 more years of service. For members who become members of the New York 13 state and local employees' retirement system on or after April first, 14 two thousand twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in 15 section five hundred four of this article shall be payable to general 16 members, other than elective members, who have met the minimum service 17 requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-three; provided 18 that, a member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court 19 system may retire without reduction of such member's retirement benefit 20 upon attainment of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of 21 thirty or more years of service. 22 § 2. Subdivisions a and a-1 of section 603 of the retirement and 23 social security law, subdivision a as amended by section 3 of part EE of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07851-04-5 
 S. 8207 2 1 chapter 55 of the laws of 2024 and subdivision a-1 as added by chapter 2 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: 3 a. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred 4 four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the mini- 5 mum service requirements upon retirement and attainment of age sixty- 6 two, other than members who are eligible for early service retirement 7 pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article, 8 subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision 9 d of section six hundred four-d of this article, subdivision c of 10 section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six 11 hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred 12 four-g of this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of 13 this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-i of this arti- 14 cle, or subdivision c of section six hundred four-j of this article, 15 provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or the New 16 York state and local employees' retirement system who first joins such 17 system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who is a 18 uniformed court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court 19 system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local 20 employees' retirement system before April first, two thousand twelve] 21 may retire without reduction of their retirement benefit upon attainment 22 of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty or more 23 years of service, provided, however, that a uniformed court officer or 24 peace officer employed by the unified court system who first becomes a 25 member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system on 26 or after January first, two thousand ten and retires without reduction 27 of their retirement benefit upon attainment of at least fifty-five years 28 of age and completion of thirty or more years of service pursuant to 29 this section shall be required to make the member contributions required 30 by subdivision f of section six hundred thirteen of this article for all 31 years of credited and creditable service, provided further that [the] 32 preceding provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a New York 33 city revised plan member. 34 a-1. For members who first become a member of a public retirement 35 system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except 36 for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by the unified 37 court system, the service retirement benefit specified in section six 38 hundred four of this article shall be payable to members who have met 39 the minimum service requirements upon retirement and have attained age 40 sixty-three. 41 § 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of section 604 of the retirement and 42 social security law, subdivision a as amended and subdivision b-1 as 43 added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows: 44 a. The service retirement benefit at normal retirement age for a 45 member with less than twenty years of credited service, or less than 46 twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the New York 47 state teachers' retirement system on or after January first, two thou- 48 sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final 49 average salary times years of credited service. Normal retirement age 50 for members who first become members of a public retirement system of 51 the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall be age 52 sixty-three; except that the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two 53 for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer employed 54 by the unified court system. 55 b-1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the 56 service retirement benefit for members with twenty or more years of 
 S. 8207 3 1 [credit] credited service who first become a member of a public retire- 2 ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at 3 age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for uniformed court officers or 4 peace officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension 5 equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum and one-fiftieth of final 6 average salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final 7 average salary times years of credited service. In no event shall any 8 retirement benefit payable without optional modification be less than 9 the actuarially equivalent annuitized value of the member's contrib- 10 utions accumulated with interest at five percent per annum compounded 11 annually to the date of retirement. 12 § 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and 13 social security law, as added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is 14 amended to read as follows: 15 3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the 16 minimum service requirement, but who is not a New York city transit 17 authority member, as defined in paragraph one of subdivision a of 18 section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior to normal 19 retirement age, but no earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in 20 which event, the amount of [his or her] such member's retirement benefit 21 computed without optional modification shall be reduced by six and one- 22 half per centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age 23 sixty-three; provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed 24 court officer or peace officer employed by the unified court system, the 25 retirement benefit computed without optional modification shall be 26 reduced in accordance with paragraph one of this subdivision. 27 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 28 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 29 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 30 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 31 the amendments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and 32 social security law made by section two of this act shall not affect the 33 expiration of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi- cer or peace officer employed by the Unified Court System to retire without an early age reduction at age 62 or upon attaining age 55 with 30 years of creditable service. It would also reduce the normal retire- ment age from 63 to 62 and lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire prior to normal retirement age. If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $2.8 million in the annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the bill- ing rates and salary of the affected members change but is expected to average 0.9% of salary annually. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $26.4 million which will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026. These estimated costs are based on 2,757 affected members employed by the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $202 million as of March 31, 2024. 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- 
 S. 8207 4 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 May 20, 2025, and intended for use only during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-182. As Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica- ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.