STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7119
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 1, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil
Service and Pensions
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:
This bill would deem Howard Mahler retired effective December 22,
2014, notwithstanding their death on December 23, 2014. Robin Garfinkle,
the widow of Howard Mahler, would be authorized to file an option
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04681-02-5
S. 7119 2
election form selecting the joint allowance full option on behalf of
their deceased husband. The amount paid to Robin Garfinkle shall be
reduced by any sums previously paid by the New York State and Local
Retirement System to any beneficiary of Howard Mahler.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $1.33 million
which will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This
estimate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
and Supplementary Information.
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 19, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-94. As Chief Actu-
ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin
Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu-
arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct
and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari-
al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.
