STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
S. 7056 A. 9577
SENATE - ASSEMBLY
March 21, 2016
___________
IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered print-
ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service
and Pensions
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to provide for an increased death benefit for the survivors of a
deceased police officer
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislature finds and declares that the late Theodore
2 Raffel served the village of Southampton for nineteen years, three
3 hundred sixty-four days and fifteen and one-half hours as a police offi-
4 cer. At the time of officer Raffel's death, a situation which was not
5 due to negligence on the part of such individual, there had been paid
6 into the New York state and local police and fire retirement system on
7 his behalf contributions in the amount of approximately one hundred
8 eighteen thousand dollars. Nevertheless, the amount of the death bene-
9 fit paid to officer Raffel's widow was much less than that amount.
10 § 2. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, the New York
11 state and local police and fire retirement system is authorized and
12 directed to pay to the beneficiary of police officer Theodore Raffel,
13 who was employed by the village of Southampton as a police officer from
14 1966, until his death on June 1, 1986, the sum of all of the contrib-
15 utions paid by the village of Southampton to such system on behalf of
16 such police officer, less any sums previously paid by such system to
17 such beneficiary, with interest, compounded annually, calculated at the
18 rate established in accordance with the provisions of subdivision c of
19 section 1202 of the retirement and social security law. Such interest
20 shall be calculated from June 1, 1986 to May 31, 2016.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would create an additional death benefit paid to the benefi-
ciary of deceased police officer Theodore Raffel. The additional death
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11287-10-6
S. 7056 2 A. 9577
benefit amount would be the sum of the contributions paid by the Village
of Southampton to the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retire-
ment System on behalf of Mr. Raffel, less any sums previously paid by
such system to his beneficiary. Such balance would have 5% interest
applied for the period 6/1/86 - 5/31/16.
If this bill is enacted, the estimated cost of the additional death
benefit would be approximately $171,000. This cost would be shared by
the State of New York and all participating employers in the New York
State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System.
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, 2015 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2015
Report of the Actuary and the 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015
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, 2015
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 March 3, 2016 and intended for use only during
the 2016 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2016-73, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
