Assembly Bill A10382

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10382
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               March 3, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. RA -- read once and referred to the Committee on
   Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT relating to a death benefit option for the beneficiary of justice
   Jerry Garguilo
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, Ange-
 la  Garguilo,  the  beneficiary  of  justice  Jerry Garguilo, a deceased
 justice of the unified court system, 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 justice Jerry Garguilo retired as of the date
 of his death, or the value of the death benefit and the  reserve-for-in-
 creased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
   §  2.  In  the  event  the beneficiary is required to make an election
 prior to the enactment of this legislation, the pension reserve shall be
 awarded minus any death benefit previously paid to said beneficiary.
   §  3.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing   the
 provisions  of  this act shall be borne by the state of New York 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 allow the beneficiary of  justice  Jerry  Garguilo  to
 elect to receive a lump sum equal to the value of the pension reserve as
 if  justice  Jerry  Garguilo  retired  on  the  date  of their death. If
 elected, the pension reserve will be paid in lieu  of  any  other  death
 benefits and offset thereby.
   This  bill  will  not increase the state of New York's annual contrib-
 utions.
   There will be an immediate past service cost of $196,000 borne by  the
 state  of New York unified court system as a one-time payment. This cost
 assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2027. If the state of  New
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD13836-03-6
 A. 10382                            2
 
 York  elects to amortize this cost over 10 years, the cost for each year
 will be $25,000.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
 the  bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
 2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
 of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial  Report.  The
 actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
 Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
 and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and  Control.  The  fair
 value  of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
 Statements and Supplementary Information.
   Assumptions, demographics, and  other  considerations  may  have  been
 modified  to  better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
 change(s).
   This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the  viability
 of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
 sional judgment of an attorney.
   This  estimate,  dated  January  26,  2026,  and intended for use only
 during the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note  Number  2026-3.  As
 Chief  Actuary  of  the  New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement System
 (NYSLRS), I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby  certify  that  this  analysis
 complies  with applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the
 Code of Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards  for  Actuaries
 Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actu-
 aries,  of  which  I  am  a  member.  I am a member of NYSLRS but do not
 believe it impairs my objectivity.