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BILL NUMBER:S4767A

TITLE OF BILL: An act granting retroactive tier IV membership in the New York state and local employees' retirement system to Sarah Fish

PURPOSE: This bill would grant Sarah Fish retroactive tier IV membership in the New York state and local employees' retirement system.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 of this bill changes Ms. Fish's effective membership date in the New York state and local employees' retirement system from January 4, 2010 to December 28, 2009 so she may be correctly placed in the Tier IV retirement group. She shall file with the state comptroller a written request to this effect, upon the granting of such retroactive membership, Sarah Fish will not be granted a refund of any employee contribution made by her to the system.

Section 2 describes who is responsible for any past cost incurred in implementing the provisions of this act.

Section 3 states this bill shall take effect immediately.

JUSTIFICATION: Sarah Fish, began working as a staff social worker for the County of Madison on December 28, 2009, which would have entitled her to Tier IV membership in the New York state and local employees' retirement system. However, Ms. Fish's application to the New York state and local employees' retirement system was not stamped "received" by Madison County Personnel until January 4, 2010, despite the fact it was notarized on December 28, 2009.

Madison County personnel has acknowledged the lapse, attributing it to an over sight on their part. However, as a result, Ms. Fish was placed in the fifth tier instead of the fourth tier of the New York state and local employees' retirement system. The late filing was due to a clerical error on the part of Madison County and not due to an error on the part of Ms. Fish. She should not be penalized for the "late" filing.

This bill, if enacted into law would correct the mistake by allowing Sarah Fish to file for retroactive membership in the New York State and Local Employees' retirement system as of December 28, 2009, the actual start day of her employment with Madison County.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: See fiscal note.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: See fiscal note.

 EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________

4767--A

2011-2012 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

April 20, 2011
___________

Introduced  by  Sen. VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
  -- recommitted to the Committee  on  Civil  Service  and  Pensions  in
  accordance  with  Senate  Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
  amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
  tee

AN ACT granting retroactive tier IV membership in the New York state and
  local employees' retirement system to Sarah Fish

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Sarah  Fish,  a
member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system, who
was employed as a staff social worker on December 28, 2009, by the coun-
ty of Madison, for reasons not ascribable to her own negligence, did not
file  a  membership  application  in  such system until January 4, 2010,
which gave her Tier V status instead of Tier IV status, where she  would
have  been  had  she been able to file a membership application when she
became a permanent employee on December 28, 2009 may be deemed  to  have
become  a  member  of the New York state and local employees' retirement
system December 28, 2009 if on or before December  31,  2012  she  shall
file  with  the state comptroller a written request to that effect. Upon
the granting of such retroactive membership, Sarah  Fish  shall  not  be
granted  a  refund  of  any employee contribution made by her to the New
York state and local employees' retirement system.
  S 2. Any past service costs incurred in implementing the provisions of
this act shall be borne by Madison county.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This bill would grant Tier 4 membership in  the  New  York  State  and
Local Employees' Retirement System to Sarah Fish by changing her date of
membership to December 28, 2009. She currently is a Tier 5 member.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10332-07-2
S. 4767--A                          2
  If  this bill is enacted, we anticipate that there will be an increase
in the annual contributions of Madison County for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2013 of approximately $1,900.
  In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
a one-time past service cost of approximately $1,650 which will be borne
by Madison County, assuming a payment date of February 1, 2013.
  Summary of relevant resources:
  Data:  March  31,  2011  Actuarial Year End File with distributions of
membership and other statistics displayed in  the  2011  Report  of  the
Actuary and 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
  Assumptions  and  Methods:  2010  and  2011 Annual Report to the Comp-
troller on Actuarial Assumptions, Codes Rules  and  Regulations  of  the
State of New York; Audit and Control.
  Market  Assets and GASB Disclosures: March 31, 2011 New York State and
Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary  Informa-
tion.
  Valuations  of Benefit Liabilities and Actuarial Assets: summarized in
the 2011 Actuarial Valuations report.
  I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
  This estimate, dated April 13, 2012, and intended for use only  during
the  2012  Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2012-131, prepared by
the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Employees'  Retirement
System.