Senate Bill S5245A

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Relates to death benefits for certain members

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last 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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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 03, 2016	print number 5245a
Mar 03, 2016	amend and recommit to civil service and pensions
Jan 06, 2016	referred to civil service and pensions
May 11, 2015	referred to civil service and pensions

Bill Amendments

2015-S5245 - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement and Social Security Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§448 & 508, R & SS L

2015-S5245 - Summary

Relates to death benefits for certain members.

2015-S5245 - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S5245

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
death benefits for certain members

PURPOSE:

To amend the Retirement and Social Security Law by providing for an
enhanced in-service death benefit for State Correctional Officers who
are retirement eligible and who die while in service.  The benefit
provided would be the value of the pension reserve determined as if the
member had retired on their date of death.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill would amend § 448 of the Retirement and Social
Security Law to provide such a benefit.

Section 2 of the bill would similarly amend the provisions of § 508 of
such law. Section 3 of the bill would provide an immediate effective
date.

EXISTING LAW:

Under current law, State Correctional Officers who are eligible to
retire and die while in public service are provided a benefit of three
times salary payable to their respective beneficiaries.

JUSTIFICATION:

New York State Correctional Officers work under extremely stressful
conditions in extraordinarily dangerous settings.  Violence within our
State's prison system is skyrocketing, even as the prison population is
declining. After 25 years of service in the State Correctional Officer
title, members are eligible to retire and receive a pension of 50% final
average salary. However, if they die while on the State payroll but were
eligible to retire their beneficiaries do not receive the benefits of
the decedent's hard earned pension. Rather, they receive a lump sum
death benefit.

Many of our most seasoned and dedicated correctional officers are
currently eligible to retire. In fact, of the approximately 20,000
active State Correctional Officers, approximately 4,000 are eligible to
retire. Recent trends indicate that as they do become eligible to
retire, an increasing percentage of these law enforcement officers are,
in fact, opting to leave State service. Many are doing so because they
balance the risks of remaining in service with the risks of their loved
ones not having an adequate source of income in the event of their
untimely demise.

At a time when the State of New York is in desperate need of maintaining
seasoned, experienced State Correctional Officers within the ranks of
the Correctional Officer title, New York should be taking steps to
ensure that there is ample incentive for them to remain in service.
Providing a benefit that is similar to the benefit that these members
would already be entitled to if they opted to retire is an equitable and
reasonable approach to address a significant problem.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

See Fiscal Note.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

Immediately.

2015-S5245 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  5245

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 11, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. RITCHIE -- 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
  death benefits for certain members

  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 A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION  I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD  HAVE
BEEN  ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER
DEATH AND WHERE HIS OR HER DEATH OCCURS ON  OR  AFTER  JULY  FIRST,  TWO
THOUSAND FIFTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES 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  HIS  OR  HER  DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF THE DEATH BENEFIT AND THE
RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
  S 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
as follows:
  b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions  of  this
article  who  is  a policeman, fireman, correction officer, investigator
revised plan member or sanitation man 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 subdivision.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10987-02-5

S. 5245                             2

  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 A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION  OF
THE  DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD HAVE
BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR  HER
DEATH  AND  WHERE  HIS  OR  HER DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
THOUSAND FIFTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES 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 HIS OR HER DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF  THE  DEATH  BENEFIT  AND  THE
RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
  S 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. 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 such a  proposal  is  enacted  during  the  2015
legislative  session,  we  anticipate  that there will be an increase of
approximately $3.3 million in the annual contributions of the  state  of
New  York  for  the  fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. In future years,
this cost will vary depending on the salaries and billing rates  of  the
affected members.
  In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an  immediate  past  service  cost of approximately $36.8 million, which
would 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, 2016.
  These estimated costs are based on 20,197  state  correction  officers
with a total annual salary of approximately $1.47 billion for the fiscal
year ending March 31, 2014.
  Summary of relevant resources:
  The  membership  data  used  in  measuring  the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2014  actuarial  valu-
ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2014
Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2014  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
Report.
  The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2010,
2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 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, 2014
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.

S. 5245                             3

  This  estimate,  dated  December  19,  2014, and intended for use only
during the  2015  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2015-13,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Police and Fire
Retirement System.

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement and Social Security Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§448 & 508, R & SS L

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to death benefits for certain members.

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S5245A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
death benefits for certain members

 PURPOSE :

To amend the Retirement and Social Security Law by providing for an
enhanced in-service death benefit for State Correctional Officers who
are retirement eligible and who die while in service.  The benefit
provided would be the value of the pension reserve determined as if
the member had retired on their date of death.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill would amend § 448 of the Retirement and Social
Security Law to provide such a benefit.

Section 2 of the bill would similarly amend the provisions of § 508 of
such law. Section 3 of the bill would provide an immediate effective
date.

 EXISTING LAW :

Under current law, State Correctional Officers who are eligible to
retire and die while in public service are provided a benefit of three
times salary payable to their respective beneficiaries.

 JUSTIFICATION :

New York State Correctional Officers work under extremely stressful
conditions in extraordinarily dangerous settings. Violence within our
State's prison system is skyrocketing, even as the prison population
is declining. After 25 years of service in the State Correctional
Officer title, members are eligible to retire and receive a pension of
50% final average salary. However, if they die while on the State
payroll but were eligible to retire their beneficiaries do not receive
the benefits of the decedent's hard earned pension. Rather, they
receive a lump sum death benefit.

Many of our most seasoned and dedicated correctional officers are
currently eligible to retire. In fact, of the approximately 20,000
active State Correctional Officers, approximately 4,000 are eligible
to retire. Recent trends indicate that as they do become eligible to
retire, an increasing percentage of these law enforcement officers
are, in fact, opting to leave State service. Many are doing so because
they balance the risks of remaining in service with the risks of their
loved ones not having an adequate source of income in the event of
their untimely demise.

At a time when the State of New York is in desperate need of
maintaining seasoned, experienced State Correctional Officers within
the ranks of the Correctional Officer title, New York should be taking
steps to ensure that there is ample incentive for them to remain in
service. Providing a benefit that is similar to the benefit that these
members would already be entitled to if they opted to retire is an
equitable and reasonable approach to address a significant problem.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015: S.5245 - Referred to Civil Service & Pensions

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

See Fiscal Note.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 5245--A

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 11, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
  -- recommitted to the Committee  on  Civil  Service  and  Pensions  in
  accordance  with  Senate  Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
  amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
  tee

AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
  death benefits for certain members

  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 A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION  OF
THE  DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD HAVE
BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR  HER
DEATH  AND  WHERE  HIS  OR  HER DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
THOUSAND FIFTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES 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 HIS OR HER DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF  THE  DEATH  BENEFIT  AND  THE
RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
  S 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
as follows:
  b.  A  member of a retirement system subject to the provisions of this
article who is a policeman, fireman,  correction  officer,  investigator
revised  plan  member  or  sanitation man 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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10987-03-6

S. 5245--A                          2

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 subdivision.
  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 A MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVI-
SION I OF SECTION EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER UNDER THE JURISDICTION  OF
THE  DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, AND WOULD HAVE
BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR  HER
DEATH  AND  WHERE  HIS  OR  HER DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
THOUSAND FIFTEEN, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES 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 HIS OR HER DEATH, OR THE VALUE OF  THE  DEATH  BENEFIT  AND  THE
RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-TAKE-HOME-PAY, IF ANY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
  S 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. 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 such a  proposal  is  enacted  during  the  2016
legislative  session,  we  anticipate  that there will be an increase of
approximately $2.0 million in the annual contributions of the  state  of
New  York  for  the  fiscal year ending March 31, 2017. In future years,
this cost will vary depending on the salaries and billing rates  of  the
affected members.
  In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an  immediate  past  service  cost of approximately $34.8 million, which
would 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, 2017.
  These estimated costs are based on 20,228  state  correction  officers
with a total annual salary of approximately $1.48 billion for the fiscal
year ending March 31, 2015.
  Summary of relevant resources:
  The  membership  data  used  in  measuring  the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2015  actuarial  valu-
ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2015
Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2015  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
Report.
  The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015
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, 2015
New York State and Local  Retirement  System  Financial  Statements  and
Supplementary Information.

S. 5245--A                          3

  I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
  This  estimate,  dated March 1, 2016, and intended for use only during
the 2016 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No.  2016-72,  prepared  by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.

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Senate Bill S5245A

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Actions

Bill Amendments

2015-S5245 - Details

2015-S5245 - Summary

2015-S5245 - Sponsor Memo

2015-S5245 - Bill Text download pdf

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Details

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

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Sponsored By

Patty Ritchie

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Actions

Bill Amendments

2015-S5245 - Details

2015-S5245 - Summary

2015-S5245 - Sponsor Memo

2015-S5245 - Bill Text download pdf

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Details

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2015-S5245A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments