BILL NUMBER: S7808
SPONSOR: SCARCELLA-SPANTON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
determination of salary base for members of the New York city police
pension fund
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide a party amongst all the Tier 2 members of the New York City
Police Department Pension Fund in the calculation of their salary bases
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:-
Section 1 amends section 443 of the retirement and social security law
by adding a new subdivision h to provide that the salary base for
members of the New York City police department pension fund hired on or
after July 1st, 2000, covered under this article of law shall be calcu-
lated in the same manner as those members hired prior to July 1st, 2000.
Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York City Police Department Pension Fund system breaks its
members into different tiers that are subject to different benefits and
service requirements based on the date of the member's hire. For all
Tier 1 and Tier 2 members, pensions are equal to 50% of their final
average salary (FAS) when they go to retire after a certain number of
years of service.
Within Tier 2, which encompasses hires from July 1st, 1973 until June
30th, 2009, there is a single and significant disparity in member bene-
fits: those who commenced service before July 1st, 2000 (the "original"
Tier 2 members) have their final average salary based on their most
recent 12 months or a 3-year average from their highest-earning years,
whichever is higher, while those who commenced service after July 1st,
2000 (the "new" Tier 2 members) base their FAS on the most recent 12
months of-service, with no opportunity to look at averages over a longer
period of time. This is a small but important distinction, as the amount
of overtime a Police officers will work varies greatly year to year and
basing final salary on only the 12 months prior to retirement often
denies these members the ability to have their pension reflect the
strenuous and lengthy hours of their peak years.
This disparity does a disservice to the strongest and most dedicated of
this class of civil servants who put in long and demanding hours to save
and protect lives, only to see these hours severely discounted for the
purpose of calculating a pension. This bill will correct this historical
mistake by clarifying that all members of Tier 2 of the New York City
Police Department Pension Fund should be subject to the same FAS calcu-
lation.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: reported and committed to Finance.
2024: reported and committed to Finance.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See bill for 2025 fiscal note.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act should take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S7808: 443 retirement and social security law