Allows a beneficiary of a member whose death occurs on or after July 1, 2026 and who would have been entitled to a service credit at the time of such member's death to elect to receive a lump sum payment equal to the pension reserve that would have been established had the member retired on the date of such member's death.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6406--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, HARCKHAM, WALCZYK -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil
Service and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service
and Pensions in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
allowing beneficiaries of certain deceased members to elect to receive
death benefits in a lump sum
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision b of section 448 of the retirement and social
2 security law is amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:
3 3. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
4 cle to the contrary, where the member is in a title as defined in subdi-
5 vision i of section eighty-nine of this chapter, and would have been
6 entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of such member's
7 death and where such member's death occurs on or after July first, two
8 thousand twenty-six, the beneficiary or beneficiaries nominated for the
9 purposes of this subdivision may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an
10 amount payable which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would
11 have been established had the member retired on the date of such
12 member's death, or the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-
13 increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
14 § 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social securi-
15 ty law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to
16 read as follows:
17 b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions of this
18 article who is a police officer, firefighter, correction officer, inves-
19 tigator revised plan member or sanitation worker and is in a plan which
20 permits immediate retirement upon completion of a specified period of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08636-04-6
S. 6406--A 2
1 service without regard to age or who is subject to the provisions of
2 section five hundred four or five hundred five of this article, shall
3 upon completion of ninety days of service be covered for financial
4 protection in the event of death in service pursuant to this subdivi-
5 sion.
6 1. Such death benefit shall be equal to three times the member's sala-
7 ry raised to the next highest multiple of one thousand dollars, but in
8 no event shall it exceed three times the maximum salary specified in
9 section one hundred thirty of the civil service law or, in the case of a
10 member of a retirement system other than the New York city employees'
11 retirement system, or in the case of a member of the New York city
12 employees' retirement system who is a New York city uniformed
13 correction/sanitation revised plan member or an investigator revised
14 plan member, the specific limitations specified for age of entrance into
15 service contained in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of para-
16 graph two of subdivision a of this section.
17 2. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
18 cle to the contrary, where the member is in a title as defined in subdi-
19 vision i of section eighty-nine of this chapter, and would have been
20 entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of such member's
21 death and where such member's death occurs on or after July first, two
22 thousand twenty-six, the beneficiary or beneficiaries nominated for the
23 purposes of this subdivision may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an
24 amount payable which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would
25 have been established had the member retired on the date of such
26 member's death, or the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-
27 increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
28 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would modify the in-service death benefit for retirement
eligible members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement
System employed by the state of New York as correction officers and
security hospital treatment assistants. The in-service death benefit
will be the value of the pension reserve as if the member had retired on
their date of death.
We estimate that the state of New York's annual contributions will
increase $1.7 million beginning FYE 2027. Annual costs will vary but are
expected to average 0.1% of salary.
In addition, there will be an immediate past service cost of $25.6
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.
These estimated costs are based on 14,529 affected members employed by
the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $1.6 billion
as of March 31, 2025.
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.
S. 6406--A 3
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 January 5, 2026, and intended for use only during
the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-18. 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 Pro-
fessional 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.
