S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6438
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing certain death benefits to correction officers, correction
officer-sergeants, correction officer-captains, assistant wardens,
associate wardens or wardens employed by Westchester county
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 89-e of the retirement and social security law is
amended by adding a new subdivision k to read as follows:
K. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION OF LAW TO THE CONTRARY, WHERE A
CORRECTION OFFICER WOULD HAVE BEEN ENTITLED TO RETIRE PURSUANT TO THIS
SECTION AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER DEATH AND WHERE HIS OR HER DEATH
OCCURS ON OR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO
THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE THAT ADDED THIS SUBDIVISION, 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 ESTAB-
LISHED 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. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
section 606-c to read as follows:
§ 606-C. DEATH BENEFITS FOR CORRECTION OFFICERS EMPLOYED BY WESTCHES-
TER COUNTY. A. AS USED IN THIS SECTION, THE TERM "CORRECTION OFFICER"
SHALL MEAN A PERSON EMPLOYED BY THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY CORRECTION
DEPARTMENT WITH A TITLE OF CORRECTION OFFICER, CORRECTION OFFICER-SER-
GEANT, CORRECTION OFFICER-CAPTAIN, ASSISTANT WARDEN, ASSOCIATE WARDEN OR
WARDEN.
B. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION OF LAW TO THE CONTRARY, WHERE A
CORRECTION OFFICER WOULD HAVE BEEN ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT
BENEFIT AT THE TIME OF HIS OR HER DEATH AND WHERE HIS OR HER DEATH
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01825-02-3
A. 6438 2
OCCURS ON OR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO
THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE THAT ADDED THIS SECTION, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENE-
FICIARIES 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. All past service costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Westchester and
may be amortized over a period of ten years.
§ 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would modify the in-service death benefit for Westchester
County correction officers in Tiers 2 through 6. 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 this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $110,000 in the
annual contributions of Westchester County for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2024. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing
rates and salary of the affected members change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $812,000 which will be
borne by Westchester County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2024. If Westchester County
elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the
first year including interest would be $104,000.
These estimated costs are based on 821 affected members employed by
Westchester County, with annual salary of approximately $103 million as
of March 31, 2022.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2022
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
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 11, 2023, and intended for use only
during the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-20,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.