NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8408

Senate Bill S8408

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Allows beneficiaries of certain deceased members to elect to receive death benefits in a lump sum

download bill text pdf

Current 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 29, 2024	referred to civil service and pensions

2023-S8408 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9084
Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement and Social Security Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§448 & 508, R & SS L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S8400, A9934

2023-S8408 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows a beneficiary of a member whose death occurs on or after July 1, 2024 and who would have been entitled to a service credit at the time of such member's death to elect to receive a lump sum payment equal to the pension reserve that would have been established had the member retired on the date of such member's death.

2023-S8408 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8408

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
allowing beneficiaries of certain deceased members to elect to receive
death benefits in a lump sum

 
PURPOSE:

To modify the in-service death benefit for participants in Section 89
retirement plan codified in the Retirement and Social Security Law
(RSSL).

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 adds a new paragraph 3 to subdivision b of Section 448 of the
Retirement and Social Security Law to authorize beneficiaries of the
Section 89 retirement plan participants to receive, in a lump sum, an
amount 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-in-creased-take-home pay, if any,
whichever is greater.

Section 1 amends subdivision b of Section 508 of the Retirement and
Social Security Law to provide the same benefit for members holding one
of the same Section 89 titles but in a different tier.

Section 3 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This bill provides state correctional officers employed at the Depart-
ment of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) as well as securi-
ty hospital treatment assistants employed by the Office of Mental Health
(OMH) with a death gamble benefit. The death gamble was enacted for New
York law enforcement officers, firefighters and teachers in 2000 (Chap-
ter 554) to incentivize public employees who wish to work past retire-
ment age by providing that should the employee pass away before taking
retirement, his or her family shall be able to receive the full value of
his or her pension benefit. The death gamble was most recently extended
to Nassau and Suffolk County correction officers in Chapters 534 and 535
of 2021 - but not to DOCCS officers or any other type of frontline civil
servant.

In extending this benefit to the other civil service titles captured by
this bill, New York State can ensure that our most senior and experi-
enced correctional officers and security hospital treatment assistants
have some form of.incentive to remain on the job past retirement eligi-
bility. Based on the number of seasoned employees leaving state service,
New York must ensure that those who can properly train our newest
employees remain in active service to ensure the safety of our correc-
tional and forensic psychiatric facilities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023: S5849/A5630 (AM Jones) - vetoed by the Governor - memo 87

2021-2022: S.8400-A - Reported and Committed to Finance/A.9934 -
Referred to Governmental Employees

 
STATE, AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

See fiscal note.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8408 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8408
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 29, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- 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
   allowing beneficiaries of certain deceased members to elect to receive
   death benefits in a lump sum
 
   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 THE MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDI-
 VISION  I  OF  SECTION  EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN
 ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME  OF  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 DEATH  AND  WHERE SUCH MEMBER'S DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
 THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES NOMINATED FOR THE
 PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION 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  SUCH
 MEMBER'S  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
 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD04951-04-4
 S. 8408                             2
 
 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 THE MEMBER IS IN A TITLE AS DEFINED IN SUBDI-
 VISION  I  OF  SECTION  EIGHTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN
 ENTITLED TO A SERVICE RETIREMENT BENEFIT AT THE TIME  OF  SUCH  MEMBER'S
 DEATH  AND  WHERE SUCH MEMBER'S DEATH OCCURS ON OR AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO
 THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR, THE BENEFICIARY OR BENEFICIARIES NOMINATED FOR THE
 PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION 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  SUCH
 MEMBER'S  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.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would modify the in-service  death  benefit  for  retirement
 eligible  members  of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement
 System who are employed by New York State  as  correction  officers  and
 security  hospital  treatment  assistants.  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 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate that there will be an increase of approximately  $1.7  million  in
 the  annual  contributions  of the State of New York for the fiscal year
 ending March 31, 2025. In future  years  this  cost  will  vary  but  is
 expected to average 0.1% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $10.4 million which will
 be  borne  by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate
 assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2025.
   These estimated costs are based on 17,000 affected members employed by
 the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $1.6  billion
 as of March 31, 2023.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership  data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
 al valuation.  Distributions and other statistics can be  found  in  the
 2023  Report  of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
 Report.
   The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2023
 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, 2023
 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. 8408                             3
 
   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  25,  2024,  and intended for use only
 during the  2024  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2024-97,
 prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.

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