Legislature Pulls All-Nighter To Pass Them
During a marathon legislative meeting in Albany that began last Wednesday, Mar. 14, and concluded early the next morning, the state legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed upon a host of bills creating a reformed pension system, an expanded DNA Databank and a teacher evaluation program.
The meeting also resulted in the passage of an amendment to the state constitution that would, if ratified, allow for expanded casino gambling throughout the Empire State.
Tier VI pension reform designed to save $$$
Governor Cuomo said the “sweeping pension reform plan” known as Tier VI will save state and local governments and New York City more than $80 billion over the next 30 years.
“For years, local governments have struggled to cope with soaring retirement costs, driving up taxes on New York families and small businesses,” Cuomo said. “This bold and transformational pension reform plan is a historic win for New York taxpayers and municipalities that will save more than $80 billion over the next 30 years, while preserving retirement security for public workers. Without this critical reform, New Yorkers would have seen significant tax increases, as well as layoffs to teachers, firefighters and police.”
The state’s rapidly growing pensions costs are one of the most expensive mandates for local governments. In 2002, pension payfield ment from local governments were $1.4 billion and have grown to $12.2 billion in 2012, and increase of over 650 percent.
The pension reform plan passed by the Senate and Assembly last Thursday morning, Cuomo noted, “recognizes the unsustainability of the current system and takes unprecedented steps to control growth.”
The legislation puts in place a new Tier VI pension plan that includes:
– New employee contribution rates: The new tier increases employee contribution rates in a progressive fashion to ensure lower paid state and local workers are not seriously affected. Employee contribution rates vary from three to six percent depending on salary.
These rates remain substantially lower than the large majority of similar state systems around the country, it was noted. The new tier impacts only newly hired employees. Existing employees and retirees retain all benefits.
– Increase of the retirement age: The pension reform includes an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 63 and includes provisions allowing early retirement with penalties. For each year of retirement prior to 63, employee pension allowances will be permanently reduced by 6.5 percent.
– Readjustment of pension multiplier: Under Tier VI, the new pension multiplier will be 1.75 percent for the first 20 years of service, and 2 percent starting in the 21st year. For an employee who works 30 years, their pension will be 55 percent of final average salary under Tier VI, instead of 60 percent under Tier V. This readjustment brings New York more in line with most other states and will save billions of dollars for taxpayers and local governments, according to Cuomo.
– Vesting: Under Tier VI, employees will vest after 10 years of service.
– Protect local governments from state pension sweeteners: The agreement requires the state to pre-fund any pension enhancers, ensuring that these costs are no longer passed to local governments.
– Adjustments to final average salary calculation to help reducing pension padding: The agreement changes the time period for final average salary calculation from three years to five years. To limit how much overtime can be used to determine an employee’s pension, pensionable overtime for civilian and non-uniformed employees will be capped at $15,000 plus inflation, and for uniformed employees outside of New York City capped at 15 percent of base pay.
Tier VI puts in place new antispiking measures which cap growth in salary used to determine pension allowances at 10 percent for all employees statewide. These reforms will take major steps toward addressing instances of abuse and pension padding. Tier VI also eliminates lump sum payments of unused sick and vacation time from the calculation of final average salary.
– Voluntary and portable defined contribution option: The legislation includes an optional defined contribution plan for new non-union employees with salaries $75,000 and above. In the modern economy, employees often change jobs multiple times and need pension portability. Many states, the federal government, and most private employers provide some form of defined contribution plans to their employees.
The state will make an eight percent contribution to employee contribution accounts. Currently, SUNY and CUNY offer such an option through TIAA-CREF that has been successful and popular. This is a voluntary option for those employees who prefer the portability and vesting feature not available with defined benefit options, and will help attract top talent to state government.
– Adjustments to SUNY/CUNY TIAA-CREF plan: Under Tier VI, SUNY and CUNY employees who elect the TIAA-CREF plan will receive an employer contribution of eight percent of salary for the first seven years of service and 10 percent thereafter.
– Limiting the number of sick and leave days that can pad pensions: Tier VI reduces by half-from 200 to 100-the number of sick and leave days that can be used for retirement service credit.
– Salary reform: Previous tiers allowed salaries from an unlimited amount of employers for calculating retirement benefits. Tier VI allows only two salaries for the calculation.
– Limiting pension benefit of high paid employees: For new higher paid employees, the amount earned above the governor’s salary (currently $179,000) will not be eligible for pension calculation under Tier VI.
Expanded DNA databank aims to solve more crimes
Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos also announced an agreement that will make New York State the first “all crimes DNA” state in the nation, by requiring DNA samples be collected from anyone convicted of a felony or penal law misdemeanor.
In addition, the bill also significantly expands defendants’ access to DNA testing and comparison both before and after conviction in appropriate circumstances, as well as to discovery after conviction to demonstrate their innocence.
“It is a proven fact: DNA helps solve crimes, prosecute the guilty, and protect the innocent,” said Cuomo. “This bill will greatly improve law enforcement’s ability to keep New York communities safe and bring justice to victims of violent crimes, as well as those who have been wrongly convicted. For too long, a limiting factor to our ability to solve crimes through DNA was the fact the law did not encompass all crimes. This new law will right those wrongs.”
The agreement includes the following reforms to the criminal justice system:
– “All Crimes DNA” expansion: This legislation will make New York the first state in the country to expand its DNA Databank to include all crimes, a reform that aims to solve thousands of crimes and prevent thousands of others. Since its launch in 1996, New York State’s DNA Databank has been a powerful tool both for preventing and solving crimes-including more than 2,900 convictions-and for proving innocence, including 27 individuals exonerated and countless suspects cleared early-on in investigations.
Previously, state law only permitted DNA to be collected from 48 percent of offenders convicted of a Penal Law crime. Among the exclusions were numerous crimes that statistics have shown to be precursors to violent offenses. As a result, Cuomo noted, New York State missed important opportunities to prevent needless suffering of crime victims and failed to use a powerful tool that could be used to exonerate the innocent.
– Expanded access for certain criminal defendants to DNA testing: This legislation will allow defendants in certain criminal cases to obtain DNA testing prior to trial to demonstrate their innocence. Further, under appropriate circumstances defendants convicted after a guilty plea will be allowed access to such testing. Together, these reforms will help to ensure that innocent defendants are not convicted or, if convicted after a plea, are able to demonstrate their actual innocence.
– Expanded access to discovery for certain criminal defendants after trial: In limited circumstances, defendants will be able to seek discovery of property and other materials to demonstrate their actual innocence after their conviction. Such discovery will provide the court with the evidence necessary to reach a proper decision on a defendant’s motion for such relief.
Teacher evaluation system to enhance New York schools
Cuomo, Silver and Skelos also announced an agreement on a teacher evaluation system which will provide standards and guidance to local school districts for implementation of teacher evaluations based on multiple measures of performance including student achievement and rigorous classroom observations.
The legislation follows through on New York’s commitment to establish a real and effective teacher evaluations as a condition of the $700 million granted through the federal Race to the Top program.
“We are writing into law a new national model for teacher evaluations that will put our students first and put New York State at the front of the class when it comes to school accountability,” Cuomo said. “The new statewide evaluation law sets clear standards for measuring educators’ based on how our students are performing in the classroom, so we can make sure our children have best possible opportunity for the future. I commend the legislative leaders for taking this extraordinary step to create permanent and real evaluations in our schools.”
The evaluation system is broken down as follows:
– Sixty percent of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on rigorous and nationally recognized measures of teacher performance. The legislation requires that a majority of the teacher performance points will be based on classroom observations by an administrator or principal, and at least one observation will be unannounced. The remaining points will be based upon defined standards including observations by independent trained evaluators, peer classroom observations, student and parent feedback from evaluators, and evidence of performance through student portfolios.
– Forty percent of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on student academic achievement, with 20 percent from state testing and 20 percent from a list of three testing options including state tests, third party assessments/ tests approved by the state Education Department (SED) and locally developed tests that will be subject to SED review and approval. Under the plan, school districts will also have the option of using state tests to measure up to 40 percent of a teacher’s rating.
The legislation significantly tightens the scoring system to ensure student achievement and teacher performance are both properly taken into account for teacher ratings. Teachers or principals that are rated ineffective in the 40 points could not receive a developing score overall.
Teachers are classified as being “ineffective” with a score between 0 and 64; “developing” with a score between 65 and 74; “effective” with a score between 75 and 90; and “highly effective” with a score between 91 and 100.
The legislation sets forth, for the first time, a standard for school districts and teacher unions to set the allocation of points for the teacher ratings. The points must be allocated in a manner that a teacher can receive one of the four ratings, and the SED commissioner will be able to reject points that are unfairly allocated.
The legislation also, for the first time, gives the SED commissioner the authority to approve or disapprove local evaluation plans that are deemed insufficient. This will add rigor to the process and ensure evaluation plans comply with the law.
The teacher evaluation system bill also includes an expedited and streamlined appeals process for the New York City School District that becomes effective on Jan. 17, 2013 if New York City and the UFT agree to an overall evaluation system.
Casino amendment to keep gamblers in N.Y.
Finally, Cuomo, Silver and Skelos agreed to begin the process of amending the state constitution to allow casino gaming in New York. Legalized casinos have the potential to create thousands of good-paying jobs while keeping the tourism and revenue that accompany gaming here in New York State, according to Cuomo.
“By taking these important first steps to legalize casinos we are finally confronting the reality that while New York is already in the gaming business, we need a real plan to regulate and capitalize on the industry,” Cuomo said. “This is a process that will ultimately put thousands of New Yorkers to work, drive our economy, and help keep billions of dollars spent by New Yorkers on gaming in the state.”
The agreement calls for no more than seven privately owned commercial casinos in New York. Native Americans have five casinos in New York and nine racinos are located at race tracks across the state. New York also has 29,000 electronic gaming machines, more than Atlantic City and more than any state in the Northeast or Midwest.
Additionally, New York is surrounded by states and Canadian provinces with legalized casino gaming. However, until now, New York has not taken steps to capitalize on the economic impact of gaming.
By law, a state constitutional amendment must be approved by the Assembly and State Senate in two consecutive sessions, then by voters through a ballot referendum, in order to be ratified.
