NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4326

Senate Bill S4326

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Grants Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 04, 2025	referred to civil service and pensions

2025-S4326 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S5021

2025-S4326 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Grants Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits because Janice Korzeniewski was directed by her employer to return to work and contracted COVID-19 within 45 days of reporting to work and died from such disease.

2025-S4326 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4326

SPONSOR: GALLIVAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act granting Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of
Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits

 
PURPOSE:

This bill permits Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of
Janice Korzeniewski, to change the retirement benefit to an accidental
death benefit.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Makes Lawrence Korzeniewski eligible to request conversion of
Janice Korzeniewski's retirement benefit into accidental death benefit
by means of filing a written request with the state comptroller for such
to be the case within one year of the passage of this act.

Section 2. Assumes all past service costs for implementing Section 1 of

the act to the state of New York.

Section 3. Establishes effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic caused the state of New York to pass
Chapter 89 of the laws of 2020, which provided for an accidental death
benefit to active members of the New York State and Local Retirement
System directed to be present in their normal workplace or assigned
workplace on or after March 1, 2020 and who subsequently died from
COVID-19 as a result of being exposed to illness while in the workplace.

Janice Korzeniewski was such an employee in the Town of Lancaster. She
suffered a stroke and formally retired in August of 2020 before passing
away in October of that year. This legislation recognizes her long and
faithful service to the people of the State of New York by correcting a
deficiency of Chapter 89 of the laws of 2020 to grant Janice
Korzeniewski's widower, Lawrence Korzeniewski, the option to apply for
and receive an accidental death benefit on behalf of his wife.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-24: S.5021A/A.5824A Referred to Civil Service and Pensions/Referred
to Governmental Employees

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

See fiscal note.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S4326 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4326
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 4, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. GALLIVAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT granting Lawrence  Korzeniewski,  the  statutory  beneficiary  of
   Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of the  retirement  and
 social  security  law  or  of  any  general, special or local law to the
 contrary, Lawrence Korzeniewski, the  statutory  beneficiary  of  Janice
 Korzeniewski,  a  member  of  the  New  York  state and local employees'
 retirement system, who as directed by her employer worked from March  1,
 2020  through  April  16, 2020 and who contracted COVID-19 within forty-
 five days of reporting to work and died from the disease on October  19,
 2020,  as documented on such member's death certificate, shall be deemed
 eligible to request conversion of the  member's  service  or  disability
 retirement  benefit into an accidental death benefit, if within one year
 of the effective date of this act, he shall have filed a written request
 with the state comptroller.
   § 2. All past service costs of implementing the provisions of this act
 shall be borne by the state of New York.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would allow Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary
 of deceased retiree Janice Korzeniewski, to request conversion of Janice
 Korzeniewski's service retirement benefit into an accidental death bene-
 fit. Janice Korzeniewski retired from  the  New  York  State  and  Local
 Employees'  Retirement  System  effective  August  10, 2020. The service
 retirement benefit is not currently eligible for conversion pursuant  to
 §  607-i  of  the Retirement and Social Security Law, which requires the
 deceased to have retired prior to July 1, 2020.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02916-02-5
 S. 4326                             2

 
   If this bill is enacted during the  2025  Legislative  Session,  there
 will  be  an immediate past service cost of approximately $192,000 which
 will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This esti-
 mate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership  data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
 2024  Report  of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
 and Supplementary Information.
   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  February  3,  2025,  and intended for use only
 during the 2025 Legislative Session, is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-27.  As
 Chief  Actuary  of  the  New  York State and Local Retirement System, I,
 Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this  analysis  complies  with
 applicable  Actuarial  Standards  of  Practice  as  well  as the Code of
 Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for  Actuaries  Issuing
 Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of
 which I am a member.

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