BILL NUMBER: S3960
SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the additional member contributions required of certain EMTs in the
twenty-five year retirement program
 
PURPOSE:
To cap the additional member contributions ("AMCs"), which EMT Members
of the New York City Employees Retirement System ("NYCERS") are required
to pay in connection with their participation in the EMT 25-year retire-
ment program, such that those AMCs, when combined with their basic
member contributions ("BMCs"), total no more than 9.25 percent of EMT
Members' compensation.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the Retirement and Social Security Law to
provide that NYCERS EMT Members in the EMT 25-year retirement program
shall contribute AMCs in an amount that, when combined with their BMCs,
does not exceed 9.25 percent of their pensionable wages.
Section two is the enactment date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The EMT 25-year retirement program (codified in Retirement and Social
Security Law Section 604-e) has allowed EMTs, Paramedics and their
supervisors who are members of the New York City Employees Retirement
System (hereinafter "EMT members") to retire with a full pension after
25 years of service regardless of age. However, as the law is currently
written, it is more expensive for EMTs in NYCERS Tier 6 to retire under
this program than it is for similarly situated NYCERS Members who enjoy
the benefits of a similar 25-year retirement program. Thus, EMT Members
in Tier 6 program must contribute between 3 and 6 percent of their
pensionable wages in basic member contributions ("BMCs"), on top of
additional member contributions ("AMCs") of 6.25 percent. As a result,
such Tier 6 EMT Members are obliged to contribute as much as 12.25
percent of their pensionable wages in order to participate in this
program.
By contrast, Tier 6 Fire Protection Inspector Members ("FPI") who are in
the FPI 25-year program (codified in Retirement and Social Security Law
Section 604-J) are subject to the same BMC rates (between 3 and 6
percent of pensionable gross wages) as their EMT Member peers, but their
AMC contribution rate is statutorily capped such that, in total, these
FPIs do not need to contribute more than 9.25 percent of their pensiona-
ble gross wages in total in order to participate in the 25-year program.
There is no valid basis for treating EMT members and FPI Members so
differently. Participation in the 25-year retirement program should
simply not come at a higher cost for EMT Members in Tier 6 than it does
for FPI Members in Tier 6. The purpose of this legislation, which caps
the AMC rate for EMT Members in Tier 6, is to put those EMT Members in
the same position as their FPI peers and remedy the inequity between
them as it relates to the 25-year retirement program.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See Fiscal Note
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect first of April next succeeding the date on
which it shall have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S3960: 604-e retirement and social security law, 604-e(e) retirement and social security law