Assembly Bill A6908

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6908
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              March 24, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. JAFFEE -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to authorize L. Peter Quint to change his retirement 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 law, L. Peter Quint,
 who is a retiree of the New York state teachers' retirement system,  and
 who,  for  reasons not ascribable to his own negligence, duly elected to
 receive the maximum benefit upon his date of retirement of July 1,  1999
 rather  than  the  100%  survivor  benefit option, shall be permitted to
 change his retirement benefit to the 100% survivor  benefit  option  and
 designate  his  spouse Deanna Quint as beneficiary of such optional form
 of benefit if on or before December 31, 2017 he  shall  file  a  written
 request  to  that  effect  with the head of the New York State teachers'
 retirement system.
   § 2. All costs incurred in implementing the  provisions  of  this  act
 shall  be borne by the employers of members of the New York State teach-
 ers' retirement system.
   § 3. This act  shall  take  effect  immediately  and  shall  apply  to
 payments made on or after the effective date of this act.
   Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would allow L. Peter Quint, a retired member of the New York
 State  Teachers'  Retirement  System  (NYSTRS),  who elected the maximum
 single life benefit upon his date of  retirement  of  July  1,  1999  to
 change  his  retirement  benefit  to  the 100% joint and survivor option
 benefit designating his spouse  Deanna  Quint  as  beneficiary  of  such
 optional  form of benefit. This bill would only apply to payments due to
 Mr.  Quint on or after the effective date of this act.  Mr.  Quint  must
 file a written request with the head of the NYSTRS on or before December
 31, 2017.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09524-02-7
              

 A. 6908                             2
 
   The cost of this benefit is equal to the increase in the present value
 of  liabilities,  which  is  estimated to be $93,000. This cost is to be
 borne by the employers  of  members  of  the  NYSTRS.  Allowing  retired
 members to change the terms of their option after retirement creates the
 potential for anti-selection and actuarial losses however.
   Employee  data  is  from  the System's most recent actuarial valuation
 files, consisting of data provided by the employers  to  the  Retirement
 System.  Data  distributions and statistics can be found in the System's
 Comprehensive Annual Financial  Report  (CAFR).  System  assets  are  as
 reported  in the System's financial statements, and can also be found in
 the CAFR. Actuarial assumptions and methods are provided in the System's
 Actuarial Valuation Report.
   The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2017-7 dated March 10, 2017
 prepared by the Actuary for the  New  York  State  Teachers'  Retirement
 System and is intended for use only during the 2017 Legislative Session.
 I,  Richard  A.  Young,  am the Actuary for the New York State Teachers'
 Retirement System. I am a member of the American  Academy  of  Actuaries
 and  I meet the Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actu-
 aries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.