Authorizes the beneficiaries of a member of the state and local employees' retirement system who dies after filing a retirement application to choose pension benefits rather than a death benefit.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6699
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 2, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
authorizing the beneficiaries of a member of the state and local
employees' retirement system who die after filing a retirement appli-
cation to choose pension benefits rather than a death benefit
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 70 of the retirement and social
2 security law, as amended by chapter 375 of the laws of 2011, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 a. Any member may retire if he or she shall have attained at least the
5 minimum retirement age while in service as a member, or while in federal
6 service, or in the service of the United Nations or other international
7 organizations of which the United States is a member, as a member
8 continued pursuant to paragraph one of subdivision f of section forty of
9 this article, or while entitled to make application for a vested retire-
10 ment allowance pursuant to section seventy-six of this title. Any such
11 member desiring to retire shall execute and file with the comptroller an
12 application for retirement, which shall specify the effective date of
13 his or her retirement, which shall be not less than fifteen nor more
14 than ninety days subsequent to such date of filing. An application for
15 service retirement, filed hereunder in accordance with the provisions of
16 subdivision c of section sixty-two or subdivision f of section sixty-
17 three of this article, shall be processed in the regular manner,
18 provided that if the application filed simultaneously therewith under
19 either of such subdivisions is granted, then and in that event the
20 retirement allowance granted in accordance with the provisions of this
21 section shall be appropriately adjusted. Notwithstanding any other
22 provision of law, for any member who is eligible to retire and who has
23 died while in active service, and who has filed an application for
24 service retirement less than thirty days prior to death, the member's
25 active beneficiary shall have the option to choose the death benefit or
26 if such member filed an option election form prior to death, the benefit
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07498-03-3
A. 6699 2
1 elected by the member on such form, in which case the member will be
2 deemed to have retired the day prior to death.
3 § 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
4 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to section 25 of the
5 retirement and social security law.
6 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow a deceased member's active death beneficiary the
option to make effective the service retirement application and option
election form filed by the member with the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS), resulting in payment of a survi-
vor's benefit in lieu of an active death benefit, provided the member is
1) eligible to retire as of the day immediately prior to their death,
2) has died in active service,
3) has filed an application for service retirement less thirty days
prior to their death, and
4) has filed an option election form prior to their death.
The member will be deemed to have retired the day prior to their
death.
If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, the cost
will depend upon the deceased member's age, service, salary, plan, and
the optional form elected by the member. For standard options, there
will be an estimated additional cost of up to five (5) times the salary
of the deceased member. This cost assumes that the post-retirement death
benefit will be payable on behalf of any eligible member only when the
service retirement benefit is chosen. All costs arising would be shared
and spread by the State of New York and all participating employers in
the NYSLERS.
Further, we anticipate significant administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
The number of members and beneficiaries who could be affected by this
legislation cannot be readily determined. However, it is estimated that
approximately 600 beneficiaries could benefit from this provision each
year.
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 March 15, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-90, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
