NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7825
SPONSOR: Simon
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to authorize the widow of Peter Sistrom to file a retirement
option election form on behalf of her deceased husband
 
PURPOSE:
To allow Leanne Burney, the widow of Peter Sistrom, to file a new
service retirement application and option election form on behalf of her
deceased husband with a joint allowance full option.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Authorizes Leanne Burney, the widow of Peter Sistrom, to file
a new service retirement application and option election foam with the
New York state and local employees' retirement system on behalf of her
deceased husband with a joint allowance full option.
Section 2: Effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Peter Sistrom was a dedicated public servant for nearly half of his
life. An attorney who briefly worked in private practice during the
early years of his career, Peter began his state government service in
1992. Initially, Peter served in the Executive Chamber as an Assistant
Counsel: he then founded and was a committed employee of the New York
State Capital Defender's Office for a decade; and in 2005 he joined the
Office of the New York State Attorney General. Three years later, he
joined the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's counsel's office,
eventually becoming Deputy General Counsel in 2014. He continued to
serve at the MTA until his sudden and untimely death in 2021. Peter was
eligible for service retirement benefits, but he continued working given
the expressed need for his skills and his dedication to both the MTA and
his colleagues. At the time of his death, he was preparing, but had not
yet filed the requisite retirement benefit paperwork.
This legislation would authorize his spouse to file for the benefit he
rightly deserved given the many years of dedicated hard work for the
State of New York.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A9484 Simon -governmental employees
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Fiscal Note attached to this bill.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7825
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 15, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize the widow of Peter Sistrom to file a retirement
option election form on behalf of her deceased husband
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special
2 law, rule or regulation to the contrary, Peter Sistrom, who was last
3 employed by the metropolitan transportation authority and had over twen-
4 ty-eight years of public service credited in the New York state and
5 local employees' retirement system and exceeded the age of sixty-five,
6 shall be deemed eligible for a service retirement benefit, notwithstand-
7 ing the fact that he died on September 10, 2021. On or before one year
8 from the effective date of this act, the spouse of Peter Sistrom, may
9 file with the retirement system an application for service retirement
10 benefits on behalf of Peter Sistrom with an effective date of retirement
11 of September 9, 2021 and an option election form electing to receive
12 retirement benefits pursuant to the terms of the joint allowance full
13 option with Peter Sistrom's spouse as the beneficiary. Once such appli-
14 cation is received, any rights or benefits payable to Peter Sistrom's
15 spouse shall be retroactive to September 9, 2021. The filing of a
16 service retirement application will constitute a waiver of any rights or
17 benefits to the ordinary death benefit payable upon the death of a
18 member in service pursuant to section 508 or 606 of the retirement and
19 social security law. Any amounts paid by the New York state and local
20 employees' retirement system as the result of the death of Peter Sistrom
21 prior to the filing of the request for a service retirement benefit
22 pursuant to this section shall be deducted from the pension reserve and
23 the pension payable thereafter shall be the actuarial equivalent of the
24 pension reserve as so reduced.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03172-04-3
A. 7825 2
1 § 2. All past service costs associated with the implementation of this
2 act shall be borne by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
3 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would deem deceased member Peter Sistrom eligible to receive
a service retirement benefit effective September 9, 2021. Peter
Sistrom's spouse shall be authorized to file for this service retirement
benefit with an option election form electing to receive a joint allow-
ance full option. Upon filing of the service application, all rights and
benefits to the ordinary death benefits the beneficiary would otherwise
be entitled to receive will be waived. Any payments received from such
ordinary death benefit will be deducted from the benefits payable under
this legislation.
If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $1.01 million
which will be borne by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a
one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on
February 1, 2024.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2022
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 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 June 7, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-163, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.