STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7336--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 25, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. E. BROWN, STECK, DeSTEFANO -- 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 to authorize the widow of Howard Mahler to file a retirement
option election form
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
2 Robin Garfinkle, the widow of Howard Mahler, who was employed by the
3 Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and was a member of
4 the New York state and local employees' retirement system, and who died
5 on December 23, 2014 prior to filing a retirement election form with the
6 New York state and local employees' retirement system and after 28 years
7 and 11 months of state service, shall be authorized to file such option
8 election form on behalf of her deceased husband with a joint allowance
9 full option, if on or before one year after the effective date of this
10 act she shall submit a request therefor to the state comptroller. In
11 addition, Howard Mahler's date of retirement shall be deemed to have
12 been December 22, 2014.
13 § 2. All costs shall be borne by the state of New York, and the amount
14 payable to Robin Garfinkle shall be the full amount otherwise owed
15 pursuant to the provisions of this act, except any amounts paid by the
16 New York state and local employees' retirement system as the result of
17 the death of Howard Mahler prior to the filing of the request for a
18 service retirement benefit pursuant to this act shall be deducted from
19 the service retirement benefit payable thereafter.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04681-03-6
A. 7336--A 2
This bill would authorize Robin Garfinkle, the surviving spouse of
deceased member Howard Mahler, to submit an option election form with a
joint allowance full option. The date of retirement would be December
22, 2014. Any ordinary death benefits paid would be deducted.
There will be an immediate past service cost of $1.38 million borne by
the state of New York as a one-time payment. This cost assumes that
payment will be made on March 1, 2027.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated March 12, 2026, and intended for use only during
the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-140. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS), I,
Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with
applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of
Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing
Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of
which I am a member. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not believe it
impairs my objectivity.
