S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6598
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              March 12, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. JONES, WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Governmental Employees
 
 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  NINETEEN,  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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04978-02-9
              

 A. 6598                             2
 
 protection  in  the  event of death in service pursuant to this subdivi-
 sion.
   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 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  NINETEEN,  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  a  proposal  is enacted during the 2019 legislative session,
 there will be a past service cost of $13.1 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 on March 1, 2020.
   If  this  provision is extended or made permanent by subsequent legis-
 lation, there would be additional costs.
   These  estimated  costs  are  based  on  approximately  20,700   state
 correction  officers  with  a  total annual salary of approximately $1.5
 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.
   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, 2018 actuarial valu-
 ation.  Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the  2018
 Report  of  the  Actuary  and  the  2018  Comprehensive Annual Financial
 Report.
   The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the  2015,
 2016,  2017  and  2018  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, 2018
 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.

 A. 6598                             3
 
   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  January  29,  2019,  and intended for use only
 during the  2019  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2019-37,
 prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.