Deems Lawrence Lakeman to have died as a natural and proximate result of his participation in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations; grants his beneficiary Audra Lakeman the ability to convert such retiree's state police disability retirement benefit to an accidental death benefit.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6619--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 23, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. NORRIS, SIMPSON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on
Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT deeming Lawrence Lakeman to have died as a natural and proximate
result of his participation in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery
or cleanup operations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, rule or regu-
2 lation to the contrary, Lawrence Lakeman, who was previously employed by
3 the New York state police as a trooper and was a member of the New York
4 state and local police and fire retirement system, who was granted a
5 state police disability retirement benefit on April 24, 2007 due to the
6 incapacitation he sustained as a result of his participation in the
7 World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup operations, shall be
8 deemed to have died as a natural and proximate result of such incapaci-
9 tation, and as such, his beneficiary, Audra Lakeman, shall be eligible
10 to request and such request shall not be time barred, the conversion of
11 such retiree's state police disability retirement benefit to an acci-
12 dental death benefit, if such request to that effect is filed with the
13 state comptroller within one year from the effective date of this act.
14 § 2. All costs of implementing the provisions of this act shall be
15 borne by the state of New York and all participating employers in the
16 New York state and local police and fire retirement system.
17 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would provide Audra Lakeman, the beneficiary of deceased
police officer Lawrence Lakeman's performance of duty disability bene-
fit, the option to resubmit the Application for Conversion of Service or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03934-05-2
A. 6619--A 2
Disability Retirement to Accidental Death Benefit for Victims of the
2001 World Trade Center Disaster, and that such application be consid-
ered by the New York State and Local Retirement System without regard to
the requirement that such application be filed within two years of the
retiree's date of death as provided in Section 361 of the Retirement and
Social Security Law.
If this bill is enacted during the 2022 legislative session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $4.37 million
which will be shared by the State of New York and the participating
employers of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement
System. This estimate is based on the assumption that payment will be
made on March 1, 2023.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
and 2021 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, 2021
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 February 10, 2022, and intended for use only
during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-78,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.