§ 70. Superannuation retirement. a. Any member may retire if such
member shall have attained at least the minimum retirement age while in
service as a member, or while in federal service, or in the service of
the United Nations or other international organizations of which the
United States is a member, as a member continued pursuant to paragraph
one of subdivision f of section forty of this article, or while entitled
to make application for a vested retirement allowance pursuant to
section seventy-six of this title. Any such member desiring to retire
shall execute and file with the comptroller an application for
retirement, which shall specify the effective date of such member's
retirement, which shall be not less than fifteen nor more than ninety
days subsequent to such date of filing. An application for service
retirement, filed hereunder in accordance with the provisions of
subdivision c of section sixty-two or subdivision f of section
sixty-three of this article, shall be processed in the regular manner,
provided that if the application filed simultaneously therewith under
either of such subdivisions is granted, then and in that event the
retirement allowance granted in accordance with the provisions of this
section shall be appropriately adjusted. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, for any member who is eligible to retire, who has died
while in active service, and who has filed an application for service
retirement less than ninety days prior to death, such member's
designated option election beneficiary or beneficiaries, if an option
election has been filed prior to death, or the beneficiary or
beneficiaries designated for the death benefit, if no option election
was filed prior to death, shall have the option to choose the benefit
provided by service retirement rather than the death benefit, provided,
however that if the designated beneficiary elects the service retirement
benefit such person shall be required to choose an option as provided by
law. If the member's beneficiary or beneficiaries elect the service
retirement benefit, the member shall be deemed to have retired on the
day before the member's date of death. If there are multiple option
beneficiaries and such beneficiaries cannot agree on the choice between
the death benefit or the service retirement under an agreed upon option,
the service retirement benefit shall be payable under the option
election form filed by the member prior to such member's death. If there
are multiple death beneficiaries and such beneficiaries cannot agree on
the choice between the death benefit or the service retirement under an
agreed upon option, the death benefit shall be payable.

b. Any member who attains age seventy shall be retired on the first
day of the calendar month next succeeding such event. Such retirement
shall be on the basis of "Option One-half", unless the member files an
effective election pursuant to section ninety of this article to retire
on a different basis. If he shall have filed such an election, his
retirement allowance shall be computed in accordance with the basis so
selected by him. The provisions of this subdivision with respect to
mandatory retirement shall be inapplicable to:

1. An elective officer.

2. A judge.

3. A justice.

4. An official referee.

5. A person holding office by virtue of an appointment to fill a
vacancy in an elective office.

6. An employee of the port of New York authority.

7. A person who last became a member before April eleventh, nineteen
hundred forty-five, and who serves continuously after such date in one
or more of the following capacities:

(a) A clerk of a court, as provided in the constitution, article six,
section twenty-one.

(b) An appointee of the governor.

(c) An employee of the legislature drawing an annual salary, or

(d) A chaplain of a county penal institution having served as such
chaplain for not less than thirty years, or

8. A commissioner of elections.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision b of this section,
the state civil service commission may approve the continuance in
service of members who have attained age seventy. Such approvals shall
be for periods not to exceed two years each. No such approval shall be
given unless:

1. The head of the department in which the member is employed shall
file a written statement with the comptroller approving such
continuance, and

2. The medical board shall certify that such member is physically fit
to perform the duties of his position, and

3. The state civil service commission shall find that:

(a) Such member is less than seventy-eight years of age, and

(b) His continuance in service would be advantageous because of his
expert knowledge and special qualifications.
The service of any such member may, however, be terminated at any time
by the head of the department in which he is employed, upon sixty days
written notice to such member.