Assembly Bill A4807

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4807
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 8, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. JONES, WEPRIN, STIRPE, WILLIAMS, COLTON, COOK,
   SAYEGH, SMULLEN, J. M. GIGLIO, MONTESANO, DeSTEFANO, NORRIS, BRABENEC,
   B. MILLER, WALCZYK,  BLANKENBUSH,  SCHMITT,  MIKULIN,  REILLY,  RAMOS,
   GRIFFIN, HYNDMAN, DARLING, FERNANDEZ -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
   BYRNES,  GUNTHER,  MANKTELOW,  SIMON  -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
   death  benefits  for  certain members; and providing for the repeal of
   such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   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 TWENTY-ONE, 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.
   § 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD05536-02-1

 A. 4807                             2
 
 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 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 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  TWENTY-ONE,  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.
   §  3.  This  act  shall  take effect immediately and shall expire five
 years after the date on which it shall have become a law.
   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.  The provision is scheduled to expire five years
 after the date it is enacted.
   If this bill is enacted during the  2021  legislative  session,  there
 will  be  an  immediate past service cost of approximately $4.47 million
 which will 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, 2022.
   If  this  provision is extended or made permanent by subsequent legis-
 lation, there would be additional costs.
   These estimated costs are based on 19,890 affected members employed by
 the State of New York as correction  officers,  with  annual  salary  of
 approximately $1.7 billion as of March 31, 2020.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership  data as of March 31, 2020 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2020 actuari-
 al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
 2020  Report  of the Actuary and the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial
 Report.
   The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2020
 Annual  Report  to  the  Comptroller  on  Actuarial Assumptions, and the
 Codes, Rules and Regulations  of  the  State  of  New  York:  Audit  and
 Control.

 A. 4807                             3

   The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2020
 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  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  January  19,  2021,  and intended for use only
 during the  2021  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2021-23,
 prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.