Senate Bill S7740

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Authorizes Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Salta, to file a new service retirement application and option election form with the New York state and local employees' retirement system

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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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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 02, 2025	referred to civil service and pensions

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7970
Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Retirement

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Salta, to file a new service retirement application and option election form with the New York state and local employees' retirement system on behalf of her deceased mother.

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7740

SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to authorize Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Sal-
ta, to file a new service retirement application and option election
form with the New York state and local employees' retirement system on
behalf of her deceased mother

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This legislation will allow the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Salta, Olivia
Rae Salta, with the survivor's pension benefits that she would have
received if Justice Jimenez had the ability to exercise her right to
retire prior to her untimely death.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one: Short title of the act, shall be known as and may be cited
as the "Dawn Jimenez-Salta act."

Section two: Amends the retirement and social security law stating that
Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Salta, shall be author-
ized to file a new service retirement application and an option election
form on behalf of her deceased mother with a joint allowance full
option, if she shall submit a request to the state comptroller.

Section three: Provides the fiscal responsibility of the state of New
York.

Section four: Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under an anomaly contained in Section 60 of the Retirement and Social

Security Law, when a judge dies in office (rather than retiring prior to
death), his or her beneficiaries receive a significantly more modest
death benefit than the pension benefits that the beneficiaries would
receive if the judge died while retired. In the case of Dawn Jimenez-
Salta, her daughter, Olivia Rae Salta, will receive approximately one-
third of the money as a lump sum death benefit than she would receive
had Justice Dawn retired before her death. In a 2015 report, the New
York County Lawyers Association characterized this situation as
"unfair," "draconian" and "unjust," and urged corrective legislation.
The Report noted that legislation enacted in 2000 removed the "Death
Gamble" for tens of thousands of police officers, firefighters, and
teachers, but not for judges. In the absence of legislation of general
applicability, it is appropriate that special legislation be passed to
assist her daughter Olivia Rae Salta.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This law will take effect immediately

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7740
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 2, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT to authorize Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of Dawn  Jimenez-Sal-
   ta,  to  file a new service retirement application and option election
   form with the New York state and local employees' retirement system on
   behalf of her deceased mother
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "Dawn Jimenez-Salta act".
   § 2. Notwithstanding any other  provision  of  law  to  the  contrary,
 Olivia  Rae  Salta, the daughter of Dawn Jimenez-Salta, who was a member
 of the unified court system and member of the New York state  and  local
 employees'  retirement  system, who died on October 20, 2024 from trauma
 prior to filing for retirement,  shall  be  authorized  to  file  a  new
 service  retirement application and an option election form on behalf of
 her deceased mother with a joint allowance full option, if,  within  one
 year  from  the  effective  date of this act, she shall submit a request
 therefor to the state comptroller. In addition, her date  of  retirement
 shall  be deemed to have been October 19, 2024. Once such application is
 received, any rights or benefits to the  pre-retirement  ordinary  death
 benefit  payable  upon  the  death  of  a  member in service pursuant to
 section 448 of the retirement and social security law shall  be  waived.
 Any  amounts  paid by the New York state and local employees' retirement
 system as the result of the death of Dawn  Jimenez-Salta  prior  to  the
 filing  of the request for a service retirement benefit pursuant to this
 section shall be deducted from the service retirement benefit payable on
 an actuarially equivalent basis over the  expected  future  lifetime  of
 Olivia Rae Salta.
   §  3.  Any additional costs for this act shall be paid by the state of
 New York.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11106-03-5

 S. 7740                             2
 
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill  would authorize Olivia Rae Salta, the daughter of deceased
 member Dawn Jimenez-Salta, to file a new service retirement  application
 and  option  election  form with the New York State and Local Employees'
 Retirement System (NYSLERS). The date of retirement will be October  19,
 2024,  one  day  prior  to  the date of death of Dawn Jimenez-Salta. The
 option election will be a joint allowance full. Any ordinary death bene-
 fit paid by NYSLERS prior to the filing  of  a  new  service  retirement
 application will be deducted from the benefits payable under this legis-
 lation.
   If  this  bill  is  enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
 will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $1,000,000 which
 will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This esti-
 mate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024  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, 2024 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 April 9, 2025, and intended for use  only  during
 the  2025  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal Note No. 2025-144. As Chief
 Actuary of the New York State and  Local  Retirement  System,  I,  Aaron
 Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
 ble  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 Actuaries, of which I am a
 member.

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Senate Bill S7740

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Actions

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Roxanne J. Persaud

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Actions

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S7740 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments