Relates to the additional member contributions required of certain EMTs in the twenty-five year retirement program

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Robert Jackson says this is needed

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 pensionable 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.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.