S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7525
I N S E N A T E
January 19, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
death benefits for certain members; and providing for the repeal of
such provisions upon expiration thereof
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision b of section 448 of the retirement and social
security law is amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
3. PROVIDED FURTHER, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS ARTI-
CLE TO THE CONTRARY, WHERE A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD HAVE
BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER
DEATH AND WHERE HIS OR HER DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
THOUSAND EIGHTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES MAY ELECT TO
RECEIVE, IN A LUMP SUM, AN AMOUNT PAYABLE WHICH SHALL BE EQUAL TO THE
PENSION RESERVE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED HAD THE MEMBER RETIRED
ON THE DATE OF HIS OR HER DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF THE DEATH BENEFIT AND
THE RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
§ 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
as follows:
b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions of this
article who is a policeman, fireman, correction officer, investigator
revised plan member or sanitation man and is in a plan which permits
immediate retirement upon completion of a specified period of service
without regard to age or who is subject to the provisions of section
five hundred four or five hundred five of this article, shall upon
completion of ninety days of service be covered for financial protection
in the event of death in service pursuant to this subdivision.
1. Such death benefit shall be equal to three times the member's sala-
ry raised to the next highest multiple of one thousand dollars, but in
no event shall it exceed three times the maximum salary specified in
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02565-12-8
S. 7525 2
section one hundred thirty of the civil service law or, in the case of a
member of a retirement system other than the New York city employees'
retirement system, or in the case of a member of the New York city
employees' retirement system who is a New York city uniformed
correction/sanitation revised plan member or an investigator revised
plan member, the specific limitations specified for age of entrance into
service contained in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of para-
graph two of subdivision a of this section.
2. PROVIDED FURTHER, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS ARTI-
CLE TO THE CONTRARY, WHERE A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD HAVE
BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER
DEATH AND WHERE HIS OR HER DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
THOUSAND EIGHTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES MAY ELECT TO
RECEIVE, IN A LUMP SUM, AN AMOUNT PAYABLE WHICH SHALL BE EQUAL TO THE
PENSION RESERVE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED HAD THE MEMBER RETIRED
ON THE DATE OF HIS OR HER DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF THE DEATH BENEFIT AND
THE RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire five
years after the date on which it shall have become a law.
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would modify the in-service death benefit for tiers 2
through 6 state correction officers. The in-service death benefit will
be the value of the pension reserve as if the member had retired on
their date of death. The provision is scheduled to expire five years
after the date it is enacted.
If such proposal is enacted during the 2018 legislative session, there
will be a one-time past service cost of $13.2 million, which would be
borne by the state of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate is
based on the assumption that payment will be made March 1, 2019.
If this provision is extended or made permanent by subsequent legis-
lation, there would be additional costs.
These estimated costs are based on 20,712 state correction officers
with a total annual salary of approximately $1.5 billion for the fiscal
year ending March 31, 2017.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2017 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2017
Report of the Actuary and the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, and 2017 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2017
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
This estimate, dated January 17, 2018, and intended for use only
during the 2018 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2018-31,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
