A11026 • 2025

Establishes a retirement benefit review panel

Labor

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: Chris Burdick
Last action: 2026-04-23
Official status: In Assembly Committee
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about funding, potential retaliation, and timelines for case reviews.

Create a Retirement Benefit Review Panel

This bill establishes a panel that reviews retirement benefits for state employees who have not received the help they need from other processes.

What This Bill Does

Creates a new section in the retirement and social security law to establish a Retirement Benefit Review Panel.
The Comptroller will set up this panel with at least fifteen members, each having expertise in different aspects of state retirement systems.
Members can review cases individually or as a team of three when needed.
People who are part of a state retirement system and have not gotten the help they need from other processes can ask the panel to look into their case.
The panel is allowed to hear testimony and accept evidence relevant to each case.

Who It Names or Affects

State employees in New York's retirement systems who seek additional review of their benefits after other attempts have failed.

Terms To Know

Comptroller: The person responsible for managing the financial affairs of a state or city, including overseeing public funds and accounting.
Retirement System: A program that provides benefits to people who have stopped working because they are old enough or due to disability.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify how the panel will be funded.
It is unclear what happens if a member of the panel faces pressure or retaliation for their decisions.
There is no information on how long it might take for someone's case to be reviewed by the panel.

Bill History

2026-04-23 Assembly
REFERRED TO GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES

Official Summary Text

Establishes a retirement benefit review panel
Establishes a retirement benefit review panel.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          11026

                                  I N  A S S E M B L Y

                                     April 23, 2026
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. BURDICK -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Governmental Employees

        AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
          establishing a retirement benefit review panel

          THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
        BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

     1    Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
     2  a new section 803-b to read as follows:
     3    § 803-B. RETIREMENT BENEFIT REVIEW PANEL.   A. THE  COMPTROLLER  SHALL
     4  ESTABLISH  A  RETIREMENT  BENEFIT  REVIEW  PANEL  CONSISTING OF AT LEAST
     5  FIFTEEN MEMBERS, ANY THREE OF WHOM MAY SIT AS A TEAM TO REVIEW A PARTIC-
     6  ULAR CASE. MEMBERS OF THE PANEL SHALL  HAVE  EXPERTISE  IN  THE  VARIOUS
     7  RETIREMENT  SYSTEMS OF THE STATE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, MEMBER-
     8  SHIP, SERVICE CREDIT, RETIREMENT OPTIONS AND THE TRANSFER OF  RETIREMENT
     9  SERVICE BETWEEN RETIREMENT SYSTEMS WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE STATE.  TO THE
    10  EXTENT  PRACTICABLE, THE WORKLOAD OF THE PANEL SHOULD BE EVENLY DISTRIB-
    11  UTED AMONG ITS MEMBERS. MEMBERS OF THE PANEL SHOULD BE FREE TO  EXERCISE
    12  INDEPENDENT  PROFESSIONAL  JUDGMENT  WITHOUT PRESSURE OR RETALIATION FOR
    13  THE EXERCISE OF THAT JUDGMENT FROM ANY SOURCE.
    14    B. ANY MEMBER OF A RETIREMENT SYSTEM  IN  THIS  STATE,  AFTER  SEEKING
    15  RELIEF PURSUANT TO: (1) SECTION EIGHT HUNDRED THREE OF THIS ARTICLE; (2)
    16  A  HEARING;  AND/OR  (3)  ANY  OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, WHO HAS FAILED TO
    17  OBTAIN THE RELIEF SOUGHT, MAY HAVE THEIR CASE HEARD BEFORE  THE  RETIRE-
    18  MENT  BENEFIT  REVIEW  PANEL. SUCH PANEL IS AUTHORIZED TO HEAR TESTIMONY
    19  AND ADMIT EVIDENCE THAT SUCH PANEL DEEMS RELEVANT TO THE CASE BEFORE IT.
    20  UPON THE HEARING OF ALL TESTIMONY AND ADMISSION  OF  ALL  EVIDENCE,  THE
    21  PANEL  SHALL  MAKE  ITS  DETERMINATION  REGARDING THE RELIEF SOUGHT. ANY
    22  DETERMINATION MADE BY SUCH PANEL SHALL BE FINAL.
    23    C. THE COMPTROLLER IS AUTHORIZED TO PROMULGATE RULES  AND  REGULATIONS
    24  TO IMPLEMENT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.
    25    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    26  it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    27  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    28  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    29  completed on or before such effective date.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04711-01-5