Authorizes Michael J. Cappiello to purchase service credit for service with the Long Island Railroad Company police department prior to its merger with the MTA and the state retirement system.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7813
SPONSOR: Gandolfo TITLE OF BILL:
An act authorizing Michael J. Cappiello to purchase service credit for
service with the Long Island Railroad Company police department
PURPOSE:
To grant Michael J. Cappiello the ability to transfer up to three years
of service credit with the Long Island Railroad Company police depart-
ment to the State and Local police and fire retirement system.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1-Section 1 permits Mr. Cappiello the ability to transfer up to
three years of service credit with the Long Island Railroad Company
police department to the New York state and local police and fire
retirement system.
Section 2- provides that all past service costs shall be borne by the
State.
Section 3- sets forth an immediate effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Michael J. Cappiello was an officer of the Long Island Railroad Company
police department ("LIRRPD") for two and one-half years until 1995. At
that time, the LIRRPD was part of the Federal Railroad Retirement
System. After his employment with the LIRRPD, Mr. Cappiello joined the
Suffolk County police department, which is part of the New York state
and local police and fire retirement system ("State System"), where he
has been employed continuously.
In 1998, the LIRRPD and the Metro North Railroad police departments were
consolidated into the MTA Police Retirement Program ("MTA Plan"). The
MTA Plan is a defined benefit pension plan that is not part of the State
System. In 2015, the Legislature passed a statute that permitted employ-
ees of the MTA Plan, i.e., LIRRPD employees employed on or after 1998,
to transfer their service time in the MTA Plan to the State System
(Chapter 533, Laws 2015). As Mr. Cappiello left the LIRRPD before 1998,
and was therefore never part of the MTA Plan, he was, and still is,
unable to transfer his LIRRPD time to the State System.
This legislation would permit Mr. Cappiello to transfer and credit up to
three years of service time in the LIRRPD to the State System.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.7217-2021/22: held for consideration in governmental employees;
A7260a-2023/24: referred to governmental employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7813
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 11, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GANDOLFO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT authorizing Michael J. Cappiello to purchase service credit for
service with the Long Island Railroad Company police department
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Michael J.
2 Cappiello, a former member of the Long Island Railroad Company police
3 department, shall be eligible to apply to purchase up to three years of
4 service credit for such employment with the New York state and local
5 police and fire retirement system if, within one year of the effective
6 date of this act, he shall (1) file a written request to that effect
7 with such retirement system; and (2) shall pay to the New York state and
8 local police and fire retirement system a sum equal to the product of
9 the number of years of service being claimed and three percent of such
10 member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited
11 service immediately preceding the date that the member made application
12 for credit pursuant to this section.
13 § 2. All past service costs attributable to the implementation of this
14 act shall be borne by the state of New York.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Michael J. Cappiello, a current member of the
New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS)
employed by Suffolk County, the ability to purchase up to three years of
service credit for employment as a police officer with the Long Island
Railroad Company. Under current law, service with the Long Island Rail-
road Company must be credited in the Metropolitan Transportation Author-
ity police retirement program before it can be transferred to the
NYSLPFRS. Michael J. Cappiello never became a member of the Metropolitan
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04566-02-5
A. 7813 2
Transportation Authority police retirement program and therefore has no
service credit to transfer.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $171,000. Of
this amount, approximately $18,000 will be borne by the member to
purchase the additional service. The remaining $153,000 will be borne by
the State of New York as a one-time payment, based on the assumption
that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
This bill will not increase the future annual contributions of Suffolk
County.
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-
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 March 27, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-96. As Chief Actu-
ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin
Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct
and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.
