S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7949
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 16, 2025
                                ___________
 
 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
   permit  surviving spouses of certain retirement plan members to retain
   certain benefits upon remarriage

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision 7 of section 501 of the retirement and social
 security law, as amended by chapter 457 of the laws of 2017, is  amended
 to read as follows:
   7.  "Eligible  beneficiary"  for  the purposes of section five hundred
 nine of this article shall mean the  following  persons  or  classes  of
 persons  in  the  order  set  forth:  (a) a surviving spouse who has not
 renounced survivorship rights in a separation agreement[,  until  remar-
 riage],  (b)  surviving  children  until  age twenty-five, (c) dependent
 parents, determined under regulations promulgated  by  the  comptroller,
 (d)  any  other person who qualified as a dependent on the final federal
 income tax return of the member or the return filed in  the  year  imme-
 diately  preceding  the year of death, until such person reaches twenty-
 one years of age, (e) with respect to  members  of  the  New  York  city
 employees'  retirement  system  (other  than  a  New York city uniformed
 correction/sanitation revised plan member  or  an  investigator  revised
 plan member) and the board of education retirement system of the city of
 New York, a person whom the member shall have nominated in the form of a
 written  designation,  duly  acknowledged and filed with the head of the
 retirement system for the purpose of section five hundred eight of  this
 article. In the event that a class of eligible beneficiaries consists of
 more  than  one  person,  benefits  shall  be  divided equally among the
 persons in such class. For the purposes of section five hundred eight of
 this article the term "eligible beneficiary" shall mean such  person  as
 the member shall have nominated to receive the benefits provided in this
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00108-03-5
              

 A. 7949                             2
 
 article.  To  be  effective,  such a nomination must be in the form of a
 written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with the  head  of  the
 retirement  system  for  this specific purpose. In the event such desig-
 nated  beneficiary  does  not  survive [him] THE MEMBER, or if [he] SUCH
 MEMBER shall not have so designated a beneficiary, such  benefits  shall
 be payable to the deceased member's estate or as provided in section one
 thousand  three  hundred  ten of the surrogate's court procedure act and
 (f) notwithstanding any other provisions of law, "eligible  beneficiary"
 of  a  New  York  city  uniformed sanitation revised plan member for the
 purposes of section five hundred nine of this  article  shall  mean  the
 following  persons  or  classes of persons in the order set forth: (i) a
 surviving spouse who has not renounced survivorship rights  in  a  sepa-
 ration  agreement,  (ii) surviving children until age twenty-five, (iii)
 dependent parents, determined under regulations promulgated by the comp-
 troller and (iv) any other person who qualified as a  dependent  on  the
 final federal income tax return of the member or the return filed in the
 year  immediately preceding the year of death, until such person reaches
 twenty-one years of age.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to surviv-
 ing spouses in pay status as of such date and for members  dying  on  or
 after such date.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   SUMMARY: This proposed legislation, as it relates to the New York City
 Retirement  Systems and Pension Funds (NYCRS), would allow eligible Tier
 3 surviving spouses to continue  to  receive  certain  accidental  death
 benefits after remarriage.
        ILLUSTRATION - INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
          by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($ in Thousands)
 
                               One Remarriage
                Year             SADB              Not SADB
                                 Eligible          Eligible
                2026                 0                 33
                2027                 0                 33
                2028                 0                 33
                2029                 0                 33
                2030                 0                 33
                2031                 0                 33
                2032                 0                 33
                2033                 0                 33
                2034                 0                 33
                2035                 0                 33
                2036                 0                 33
                2037                 0                 33
                2038                 0                 33
                2039                 0                 33
                2040                 0                  0
                2041                 0                  0
                2042                 0                  0
                2043                 0                  0
                2044                 0                  0
                2045                 0                  0
                2046                 0                  0
                2047                 0                  0
                2048                 0                  0
                2049                 0                  0
 A. 7949                             3
 
                2050                 0                  0
 
 Based  on a hypothetical example of a surviving spouse aged 45 currently
 receiving an accidental death benefit of $40,000 per year who remarries.
 As shown, no costs are expected for those receiving  Special  Accidental
 Death  Benefits  (SADB); however, the allocation among beneficiaries may
 change.
 
   The potential increases in employer contributions will be allocated to
 New York City.
   PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS:  The  Present  Value  of  Benefits  is  the
 discounted  expected  value  of  benefits paid to current members if all
 assumptions are met, including future service accrual and pay increases.
 Future new hires are not included in this present value.
           INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
                   as of June 30, 2024 ($ in Thousands)
 
      Present Value (PV)                   SADB    Not SADB
                                         Eligible  Eligible
      (1) PV of Employer Contributions:  0         275
      (2) PV of Employee Contributions:  0         0
      Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2):    0         275
 
   UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL): Actuarial  Accrued  Liabilities  are
 the  portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past service.
 Changes in UAL per incident would be recognized as ongoing gain/loss.
                 AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
 
      Recognized as Gain/Loss       SADB           Not SADB
                                    Eligible       Eligible
      Increase (Decrease) in UAL:   0              275 K
      Number of Payments:           N/A            14
      Amortization Payment:         0              33 K
 
   CENSUS DATA: The illustration presented  herein  uses  a  hypothetical
 example  of  a  non-Special  Accidental Death Benefits (SADB) accidental
 death benefit of $40,000 per year for a member  who  is  survived  by  a
 spouse, currently aged 45, and a youngest child, currently aged 15, with
 no other contingent beneficiaries.
   The  following  table  contains the preliminary census data for active
 Tier 3 members as of June 30, 2024 across NYCERS, POLICE and FIRE, split
 between those eligible and not eligible for SADB.
                                         SADB      Not SADB
                                         Eligible  Eligible
      Active Members
      - Number Count:                    33,078    81
      - Average Age:                     35.1      34.5
      - Average Service:                 7.5       4.9
      - Average Salary:                  119,700   83,900
 
   IMPACT ON SURVIVOR BENEFITS: The accidental death benefits payable  to
 beneficiaries  of  Tier  3 NYCRS members are made up of accidental death
 benefits (RSSL 509) and, if eligible, SADB under General  Municipal  Law
 208-f,  totaling  approximately  100% of salary. The SADB is paid to the
 deceased member's surviving spouse, if alive, regardless of their  mari-
 tal status.
 A. 7949                             4
 
   Currently,  surviving  spouses receiving accidental death benefits who
 subsequently remarry, stop receiving the non-SADB portion of  the  acci-
 dental  death  benefit. Instead, the non-SADB death benefit would poten-
 tially be paid to the deceased member's dependent children, parents,  or
 other  eligible  beneficiaries,  if  any. If there are no other eligible
 beneficiaries, then the SADB would allow the spouse to receive  100%  of
 the accidental death benefit.
   Under  the  proposed  legislation,  surviving  spouses  who are in pay
 status on or after the effective date, and subsequently  remarry,  would
 continue to receive both the non-SADB and SADB portion of the accidental
 death  benefit.  Any  beneficiaries  lower  in the hierarchy of eligible
 recipients (such as qualifying  dependent  children  or  parents)  would
 forfeit  eligibility  to  such non-SADB accidental death benefits to the
 extent the surviving spouse who remarries is still alive.
   ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The  estimates  presented  herein  have  been
 calculated  based  on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
 of the impacted retirement systems.
   To illustrate the potential impact of  this  proposed  legislation,  a
 hypothetical  example  was used as disclosed in the Census Data section.
 The actual cost of this proposed legislation could vary greatly  depend-
 ing on the number of future surviving spouses who remarry, their age and
 benefit amount, and the demographics of other eligible beneficiaries.
   RISK  AND  UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
 highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods,  and  models  used,  demo-
 graphics  of  the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
 ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates  from
 actuarial   assumptions,  the  actual  costs  could  differ  from  those
 presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the  scope  of  this
 Fiscal Note.
   This  Fiscal  Note  is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
 does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative  and  Other
 Postemployment  Benefits). This Fiscal Note does not reflect any chapter
 laws that may have been enacted during the current legislative session.
   STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
 sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy  of
 Actuaries.  We  are members of NYCERS, but do not believe it impairs our
 objectivity, and we meet the Qualification  Standards  of  the  American
 Academy  of  Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
 To the best of our knowledge, the results  contained  herein  have  been
 prepared  in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and
 procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice  issued  by  the
 Actuarial Standards Board.
   FISCAL  NOTE  IDENTIFICATION:  This Fiscal Note 2025-41 dated April 8,
 2025 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City  Retirement
 Systems  and  Pension Funds and is intended for use only during the 2025
 Legislative Session.