S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                   11161
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             December 4, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Abbate) --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law and the  adminis-
   trative  code  of  the city of New York, in relation to death benefits
   for members of the uniformed force of the New York city department  of
   sanitation  and  members  of  the uniformed force of the New York city
   department of correction
 
   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 THE UNIFORMED FORCE OF THE NEW
 YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF SANITATION OR THE UNIFORMED  FORCE  OF  THE  NEW
 YORK  CITY  DEPARTMENT  OF CORRECTION, 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  TWENTY,  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 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to
 read as follows:
   b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions  of  this
 article who is a police officer, firefighter, correction officer, inves-
 tigator  revised plan member or sanitation worker 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  subdivi-
 sion.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07325-03-0

 A. 11161                            2
 
   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
 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 THE UNIFORMED FORCE OF THE NEW
 YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF SANITATION OR THE UNIFORMED  FORCE  OF  THE  NEW
 YORK  CITY  DEPARTMENT  OF CORRECTION, 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  TWENTY,  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. Subdivision b of section 606 of the retirement and social securi-
 ty  law,  as  amended  by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to
 read as follows:
   b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions  of  this
 article  who  is  a  police  officer, firefighter, correction officer or
 sanitation worker 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 six hundred four 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
 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,  the  specific  limitations  specified  for  age  of
 entrance  into service contained in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and
 (f) of paragraph 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 THE UNIFORMED FORCE OF THE NEW
 YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF SANITATION OR THE UNIFORMED  FORCE  OF  THE  NEW
 YORK  CITY  DEPARTMENT  OF CORRECTION, 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  TWENTY,  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.
   § 4. Section 13-148 of the administrative code of the city of New York
 is amended by adding a new subdivision d to read as follows:
   D.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS ARTICLE TO THE CONTRA-
 RY, WHERE A MEMBER IS IN THE UNIFORMED FORCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF  SANI-

 A. 11161                            3
 
 TATION OR THE UNIFORMED FORCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, 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  TWENTY, 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.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   SUMMARY  OF  BILL: This proposed legislation would amend Sections 448,
 508, and 606 of the  Retirement  and  Social  Security  Law  (RSSL)  and
 Section  13-148  of  the  Administrative  Code  of  the City of New York
 (ACCNY) to provide an alternate death benefit for Correction and Sanita-
 tion members in all Tiers and Plans of  the  New  York  City  Employees'
 Retirement System (NYCERS).
   Effective Date: Upon enactment.
   IMPACT  ON  BENEFITS:  Currently,  NYCERS  Correction  and  Sanitation
 members are generally entitled to a  lump  sum  ordinary  death  benefit
 equal  to  a  multiple  of  salary plus the return of member accumulated
 contributions and increased-take-home-pay (ITHP), if  any.  These  death
 benefits are generally calculated as three times the final year's salary
 raised to the next highest multiple of $1,000. Some of these death bene-
 fits are subject to salary caps and other reductions.
   Under the proposed legislation, if enacted, the ordinary death benefit
 for  members  who are otherwise eligible to receive a service retirement
 benefit would be the greater of their current death benefit or the value
 of the pension reserve that would have been established had they retired
 on the date of their death. The pension reserve is the present value  of
 all  payments  expected to be made on account of any pension, or benefit
 in lieu of any pension, granted under provisions  of  law  and  computed
 upon the basis of adopted mortality tables with regular interest (inclu-
 sive of accumulated member contributions and ITHP, if any). This type of
 lump  sum  pension  reserve  death benefit is sometimes referred to as a
 Death Gamble, and is afforded, in a  similar  form,  to  Tier  1  NYCERS
 members.
   FINANCIAL  IMPACT - PRESENT VALUES: Based on the actuarial assumptions
 and methods described herein, the enactment of this proposed legislation
 would increase the Present Value of Future Benefits (PVFB)  by  approxi-
 mately $18.8 million.
   Under  the Entry Age Normal cost method used to determine the employer
 contributions to NYCERS, there would be  an  increase  in  the  Unfunded
 Accrued  Liability  (UAL) of approximately $11.5 million and an increase
 in the Present Value of future employer Normal Cost of $7.3 million.
   FINANCIAL IMPACT - ANNUAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS: In  accordance  with
 ACCNY Section 13-638.2(k-2), new UAL attributable to benefit changes are
 to  be  amortized  as determined by the Actuary, but are generally amor-
 tized over the remaining working lifetime of those impacted by the bene-
 fit changes. As of June 30, 2019, the remaining working lifetime of  the
 impacted NYCERS groups is approximately 13 years.
   For  the  purposes  of this Fiscal Note, the increase in UAL was amor-
 tized over a 13-year period (12 payments under the One-Year Lag  Method-
 ology  (OYLM))  using  level  dollar  payments.  This  payment  plus the
 increase in the Normal Cost results in an increase  in  annual  employer
 contributions of approximately $2.2 million each year.

 A. 11161                            4
 
   CONTRIBUTION  TIMING:  For  the  purposes  of  this Fiscal Note, it is
 assumed that the  changes  in  the  Present  Value  of  future  employer
 contributions  and  annual employer contributions would be reflected for
 the first time in the June 30, 2019 actuarial valuation  of  NYCERS.  In
 accordance  with  the OYLM used to determine employer contributions, the
 increase in employer contributions would first be  reflected  in  Fiscal
 Year 2021.
   CENSUS  DATA:  The  estimates presented herein are based on the census
 data used in the Preliminary June 30, 2019 (Lag) actuarial valuation  of
 NYCERS  to  determine the Preliminary Fiscal Year 2021 employer contrib-
 utions.
   The 11,862 NYCERS Correction members  as  of  June  30,  2019  include
 10,015  active  members and 1,847 non-active members. The active members
 had an average age of  approximately  39.2  years,  average  service  of
 approximately 9.0 years, and an average salary of approximately $94,000.
   The  8,113 NYCERS Sanitation members as of June 30, 2019 include 7,780
 active members and 333 non-active members. The  active  members  had  an
 average age of approximately 43.0 years, average service of approximate-
 ly 12.1 years, and an average salary of approximately $97,800.
   ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The changes in the Present Value of
 future   employer   contributions   and  annual  employer  contributions
 presented herein have been calculated based on the actuarial assumptions
 and methods in effect for the June 30, 2019 (Lag)  actuarial  valuations
 used  to  determine  the  Preliminary Fiscal Year 2021 employer contrib-
 utions of NYCERS.
   RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal  Note  depend
 highly  on the realization of the actuarial assumptions used, as well as
 certain  demographic  characteristics  of  NYCERS  and  other  exogenous
 factors  such  as  investment,  contribution, and other risks. If actual
 experience deviates from actuarial assumptions, the actual  costs  could
 differ  from  those  presented  herein.  Costs are also dependent on the
 actuarial methods used, and therefore different actuarial methods  could
 produce  different  results. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope
 of this Fiscal Note.
   Not measured in this Fiscal Note are the following:
   * The initial, additional administrative costs of NYCERS and other New
 York City agencies to implement the proposed legislation.
   * The impact of this  proposed  legislation  on  Other  Postemployment
 Benefit (OPEB) costs.
   STATEMENT  OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Sherry S. Chan, am the Chief Actu-
 ary for, and independent of, the New York City  Retirement  Systems  and
 Pension  Funds.  I  am a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled
 Actuary under the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974, a
 Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow of the Confer-
 ence of Consulting Actuaries. I meet the Qualification Standards of  the
 American  Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained
 herein.  To the best of my knowledge, the results contained herein  have
 been prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles
 and  procedures  and  with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by
 the Actuarial Standards Board.
   FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2020-29 dated  April  17,
 2020  was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Employees'
 Retirement System. This estimate is intended for  use  only  during  the
 2020 Legislative Session.