S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6406
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 13, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 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-FIVE, 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD08636-02-5
 S. 6406                             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 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-FIVE, 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 retirement
 eligible members of the New York State and Local  Employees'  Retirement
 System  employed  by  New York State as 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 2025 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, 2026. In future  years  this  cost  will  vary  but  is
 expected to average 0.1% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $16.6 million which will
 be  borne  by the state of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate
 assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
   These estimated costs are based on 15,927 affected members employed by
 the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $1.5  billion
 as of March 31, 2024.
   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.
 S. 6406                             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  February  26,  2025, and intended for use only
 during the 2025 Legislative Session, is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-62.  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.