Bill Text: NY A05133 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Relates to death benefits for certain members under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-10)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-06-21 - substituted by s4077a [A05133 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A05133-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5133--A
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 6, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  JENNE,  GOTTFRIED, SOLAGES, HOOPER, GUNTHER,
          KEARNS, RAIA, CROUCH, COLTON, BLAKE, GIGLIO, GRAF,  WALKER,  DiPIETRO,
          RAMOS,  SKOUFIS,  PALMESANO,  JEAN-PIERRE,  LOPEZ,  WEPRIN,  ABINANTI,
          HARRIS, JONES, B. MILLER, MOSLEY -- Multi-Sponsored by  --  M.  of  A.
          BARCLAY, BRABENEC, BRINDISI, COOK, ENGLEBRIGHT, HAWLEY, HYNDMAN, LUPI-
          NACCI,  McLAUGHLIN, PALUMBO -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees -- reported and referred to the Committee on
          Ways  and  Means  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,   ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
          death benefits for certain members; and providing for  the  repeal  of
          such provisions upon expiration thereof
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivision b of section 448 of the retirement  and  social
     2  security law is amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
     3    3. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
     4  cle to the contrary, where a member is in a title as defined in subdivi-
     5  sion  i of section eighty-nine of this chapter under the jurisdiction of
     6  the department of corrections and community supervision, and would  have
     7  been  entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of his or her
     8  death and where his or her death occurs on  or  after  July  first,  two
     9  thousand  seventeen,  the  beneficiary  or  beneficiaries  may  elect to
    10  receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall be  equal  to  the
    11  pension  reserve that would have been established had the member retired
    12  on the date of his or her death, or the value of the death  benefit  and
    13  the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
    14    § 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social securi-
    15  ty law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read
    16  as follows:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02565-03-7

        A. 5133--A                          2
     1    b.  A  member of a retirement system subject to the provisions of this
     2  article who is a policeman, fireman,  correction  officer,  investigator
     3  revised  plan  member  or  sanitation man and is in a plan which permits
     4  immediate retirement upon completion of a specified  period  of  service
     5  without  regard  to  age  or who is subject to the provisions of section
     6  five hundred four or five hundred  five  of  this  article,  shall  upon
     7  completion of ninety days of service be covered for financial protection
     8  in the event of death in service pursuant to this subdivision.
     9    1. Such death benefit shall be equal to three times the member's sala-
    10  ry  raised  to the next highest multiple of one thousand dollars, but in
    11  no event shall it exceed three times the  maximum  salary  specified  in
    12  section one hundred thirty of the civil service law or, in the case of a
    13  member  of  a  retirement system other than the New York city employees'
    14  retirement system, or in the case of a  member  of  the  New  York  city
    15  employees'   retirement   system  who  is  a  New  York  city  uniformed
    16  correction/sanitation revised plan member  or  an  investigator  revised
    17  plan member, the specific limitations specified for age of entrance into
    18  service  contained  in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of para-
    19  graph two of subdivision a of this section.
    20    2. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
    21  cle to the contrary, where a member is in a title as defined in subdivi-
    22  sion i of section eighty-nine of this chapter under the jurisdiction  of
    23  the  department of corrections and community supervision, and would have
    24  been entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of his or  her
    25  death  and  where  his  or  her death occurs on or after July first, two
    26  thousand seventeen,  the  beneficiary  or  beneficiaries  may  elect  to
    27  receive,  in  a  lump sum, an amount payable which shall be equal to the
    28  pension reserve that would have been established had the member  retired
    29  on  the  date of his or her death, or the value of the death benefit and
    30  the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
    31    § 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,  none
    32  of  the  provisions  of  this  act shall be subject to the appropriation
    33  requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
    34    § 4. This act shall take effect  immediately  and  shall  expire  five
    35  years after the date on which it shall have become a law.
          FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This  bill  would  modify  the  in-service  death  benefit for tiers 2
        through 6 state correction officers. The in-service death  benefit  will
        be  the  value  of  the  pension reserve as if the member had retired on
        their date of death. The provision is scheduled  to  expire  five  years
        after the date it is enacted.
          If  such  a  proposal  is enacted during the 2017 legislative session,
        there will be a one-time past service cost of $13.7 million, which would
        be borne by the state of New York as a one-time payment.  This  estimate
        is based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2018.
          If  this  provision is extended or made permanent by subsequent legis-
        lation, there would be additional costs.
          These estimated costs are based on 20,690 state correctional  officers
        with  a total annual salary of approximately $1.5 billion for the fiscal
        year ending March 31, 2016.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          The membership data used in  measuring  the  impact  of  the  proposed
        change  was  the same as that used in the March 31, 2016 actuarial valu-
        ation.  Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the  2016
        Report  of  the  Actuary  and  the  2016  Comprehensive Annual Financial
        Report.

        A. 5133--A                          3
          The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in  the  2015
        and  2016 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, 2016
        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.
          This estimate, dated January 30,  2017,  and  intended  for  use  only
        during  the  2017  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2017-32,
        prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement
        System.
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