S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7949
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 16, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
permit surviving spouses of certain retirement plan members to retain
certain benefits upon remarriage
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section 501 of the retirement and social
security law, as amended by chapter 457 of the laws of 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
7. "Eligible beneficiary" for the purposes of section five hundred
nine of this article shall mean the following persons or classes of
persons in the order set forth: (a) a surviving spouse who has not
renounced survivorship rights in a separation agreement[, until remar-
riage], (b) surviving children until age twenty-five, (c) dependent
parents, determined under regulations promulgated by the comptroller,
(d) any other person who qualified as a dependent on the final federal
income tax return of the member or the return filed in the year imme-
diately preceding the year of death, until such person reaches twenty-
one years of age, (e) with respect to members of the New York city
employees' retirement system (other than a New York city uniformed
correction/sanitation revised plan member or an investigator revised
plan member) and the board of education retirement system of the city of
New York, a person whom the member shall have nominated in the form of a
written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with the head of the
retirement system for the purpose of section five hundred eight of this
article. In the event that a class of eligible beneficiaries consists of
more than one person, benefits shall be divided equally among the
persons in such class. For the purposes of section five hundred eight of
this article the term "eligible beneficiary" shall mean such person as
the member shall have nominated to receive the benefits provided in this
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00108-03-5
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article. To be effective, such a nomination must be in the form of a
written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with the head of the
retirement system for this specific purpose. In the event such desig-
nated beneficiary does not survive [him] THE MEMBER, or if [he] SUCH
MEMBER shall not have so designated a beneficiary, such benefits shall
be payable to the deceased member's estate or as provided in section one
thousand three hundred ten of the surrogate's court procedure act and
(f) notwithstanding any other provisions of law, "eligible beneficiary"
of a New York city uniformed sanitation revised plan member for the
purposes of section five hundred nine of this article shall mean the
following persons or classes of persons in the order set forth: (i) a
surviving spouse who has not renounced survivorship rights in a sepa-
ration agreement, (ii) surviving children until age twenty-five, (iii)
dependent parents, determined under regulations promulgated by the comp-
troller and (iv) any other person who qualified as a dependent on the
final federal income tax return of the member or the return filed in the
year immediately preceding the year of death, until such person reaches
twenty-one years of age.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to surviv-
ing spouses in pay status as of such date and for members dying on or
after such date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation, as it relates to the New York City
Retirement Systems and Pension Funds (NYCRS), would allow eligible Tier
3 surviving spouses to continue to receive certain accidental death
benefits after remarriage.
ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands)
One Remarriage
Year SADB Not SADB
Eligible Eligible
2026 0 33
2027 0 33
2028 0 33
2029 0 33
2030 0 33
2031 0 33
2032 0 33
2033 0 33
2034 0 33
2035 0 33
2036 0 33
2037 0 33
2038 0 33
2039 0 33
2040 0 0
2041 0 0
2042 0 0
2043 0 0
2044 0 0
2045 0 0
2046 0 0
2047 0 0
2048 0 0
2049 0 0
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2050 0 0
Based on a hypothetical example of a surviving spouse aged 45 currently
receiving an accidental death benefit of $40,000 per year who remarries.
As shown, no costs are expected for those receiving Special Accidental
Death Benefits (SADB); however, the allocation among beneficiaries may
change.
The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to
New York City.
PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS: The Present Value of Benefits is the
discounted expected value of benefits paid to current members if all
assumptions are met, including future service accrual and pay increases.
Future new hires are not included in this present value.
INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
as of June 30, 2024 ($ in Thousands)
Present Value (PV) SADB Not SADB
Eligible Eligible
(1) PV of Employer Contributions: 0 275
(2) PV of Employee Contributions: 0 0
Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2): 0 275
UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL): Actuarial Accrued Liabilities are
the portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past service.
Changes in UAL per incident would be recognized as ongoing gain/loss.
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
Recognized as Gain/Loss SADB Not SADB
Eligible Eligible
Increase (Decrease) in UAL: 0 275 K
Number of Payments: N/A 14
Amortization Payment: 0 33 K
CENSUS DATA: The illustration presented herein uses a hypothetical
example of a non-Special Accidental Death Benefits (SADB) accidental
death benefit of $40,000 per year for a member who is survived by a
spouse, currently aged 45, and a youngest child, currently aged 15, with
no other contingent beneficiaries.
The following table contains the preliminary census data for active
Tier 3 members as of June 30, 2024 across NYCERS, POLICE and FIRE, split
between those eligible and not eligible for SADB.
SADB Not SADB
Eligible Eligible
Active Members
- Number Count: 33,078 81
- Average Age: 35.1 34.5
- Average Service: 7.5 4.9
- Average Salary: 119,700 83,900
IMPACT ON SURVIVOR BENEFITS: The accidental death benefits payable to
beneficiaries of Tier 3 NYCRS members are made up of accidental death
benefits (RSSL 509) and, if eligible, SADB under General Municipal Law
208-f, totaling approximately 100% of salary. The SADB is paid to the
deceased member's surviving spouse, if alive, regardless of their mari-
tal status.
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Currently, surviving spouses receiving accidental death benefits who
subsequently remarry, stop receiving the non-SADB portion of the acci-
dental death benefit. Instead, the non-SADB death benefit would poten-
tially be paid to the deceased member's dependent children, parents, or
other eligible beneficiaries, if any. If there are no other eligible
beneficiaries, then the SADB would allow the spouse to receive 100% of
the accidental death benefit.
Under the proposed legislation, surviving spouses who are in pay
status on or after the effective date, and subsequently remarry, would
continue to receive both the non-SADB and SADB portion of the accidental
death benefit. Any beneficiaries lower in the hierarchy of eligible
recipients (such as qualifying dependent children or parents) would
forfeit eligibility to such non-SADB accidental death benefits to the
extent the surviving spouse who remarries is still alive.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems.
To illustrate the potential impact of this proposed legislation, a
hypothetical example was used as disclosed in the Census Data section.
The actual cost of this proposed legislation could vary greatly depend-
ing on the number of future surviving spouses who remarry, their age and
benefit amount, and the demographics of other eligible beneficiaries.
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods, and models used, demo-
graphics of the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates from
actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from those
presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this
Fiscal Note.
This Fiscal Note is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative and Other
Postemployment Benefits). This Fiscal Note does not reflect any chapter
laws that may have been enacted during the current legislative session.
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of
Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS, but do not believe it impairs our
objectivity, and we meet the Qualification Standards of the American
Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
To the best of our 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 2025-41 dated April 8,
2025 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement
Systems and Pension Funds and is intended for use only during the 2025
Legislative Session.