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

                                  7176

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              April 5, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- 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
  increasing the survivor's benefit of a retired state employee

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 657 of the retirement  and  social
security  law, as added by chapter 75 of the laws of 1989, is amended to
read as follows:
  2. The amount of a survivor's benefit under this section  shall  be  a
lump  sum  of  two  thousand  FIVE  HUNDRED dollars, except that where a
retired state employee dies while reemployed as provided in  subdivision
four  of  this  section  or dies within thirty days following retirement
pursuant to subdivision one of this section, the amount  of  the  survi-
vor's  benefit under this section, if any, shall be two thousand dollars
OR SUCH AMOUNT OTHERWISE RECEIVED PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION less  any
ordinary  death benefit, exclusive of any ordinary death benefit attrib-
utable to the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, payable on account of
the death of such employee under a retirement  system  or  pension  plan
supported by funds of the state.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  This  bill  will increase the Survivor's Benefit by $500. For eligible
state employees who retired prior to April 1,  1970,  the  benefit  will
increase  form  $2,000  to  $2,500  and for eligible state employees who
retired after April 1, 1970, the benefit will increase  form  $3,000  to
$3,500.
  If  this  bill  is  enacted, for the first year, the annual payment of
survivor's benefits which will be paid by the State  of  New  York  will
increase approximately $1.9 million.
  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

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

                                                           LBD14701-02-6

S. 7176                             2

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 the 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.
  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 17, 2016, and intended for use only  during
the  2016  Legislative  Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2016-81, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.