S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9934
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 19, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. JONES -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
   allowing beneficiaries of certain deceased members to elect to receive
   death benefits in a lump sum
 
   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 THE MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDI-
 VISION  I  OF  SECTION  EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN
 ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME  OF  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 DEATH  AND  WHERE SUCH MEMBER'S DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
 THOUSAND TWENTY-TWO, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES NOMINATED FOR  THE
 PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION  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 SUCH
 MEMBER'S 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.
   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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14308-05-2
 A. 9934                             2
 
 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 THE MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDI-
 VISION  I  OF  SECTION  EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN
 ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME  OF  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 DEATH  AND  WHERE SUCH MEMBER'S DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
 THOUSAND TWENTY-TWO, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES NOMINATED FOR  THE
 PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION  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 SUCH
 MEMBER'S 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.
   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  and  security  hospital  treatment
 assistants.  The  in-service  death  benefit  will  be  the value of the
 pension reserve as if the member had retired on their date of death.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2022 legislative session, we antic-
 ipate that there will be an increase of approximately  $1.7  million  in
 the  annual  contributions  of the State of New York for the fiscal year
 ending March 31, 2023. In future years, this cost will vary as the bill-
 ing rates and salary of the affected members change.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $10.3 million which will
 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, 2023.
   These estimated costs are based on 18,958 affected members employed by
 the  State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $1.6 billion
 as of March 31, 2021.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-
 al  valuation.    Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
 2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
 Report.
   The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
 and 2021 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, 2021
 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  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.
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   This  estimate,  dated  February  25,  2022, and intended for use only
 during the  2022  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2022-62,
 prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.