Permits an eligible retirement system member to receive, in lieu of an ordinary death benefit, a death benefit such member would otherwise be entitled to receive provided such member is a state-paid judge or justice of the unified court system or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9143
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TAPIA -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
death benefits for the beneficiaries of certain members of the retire-
ment system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
2 a new section 63-j to read as follows:
3 § 63-j. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As used
4 in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state-paid
5 judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired judge
6 of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court who is
7 serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certification by
8 the administrative board of the courts in accordance with section one
9 hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary law, or a hous-
10 ing judge of the civil court of the city of New York.
11 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge
12 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at
13 the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or
14 after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefici-
15 aries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall
16 be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established had the
17 member retired on the date of his or her death, or the value of the
18 death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any,
19 whichever is greater.
20 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
21 section 508-d to read as follows:
22 § 508-d. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As
23 used in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state-
24 paid judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired
25 judge of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court
26 who is serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certif-
27 ication by the administrative board of the courts in accordance with
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10201-06-4
A. 9143 2
1 section one hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary
2 law, or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York.
3 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge
4 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at
5 the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or
6 after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefici-
7 aries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall
8 be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established had the
9 member retired on the date of his or her death, or the value of the
10 death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any,
11 whichever is greater.
12 § 3. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
13 section 606-d to read as follows:
14 § 606-d. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As
15 used in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state-
16 paid judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired
17 judge of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court
18 who is serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certif-
19 ication by the administrative board of the courts in accordance with
20 section one hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary
21 law, or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York.
22 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge
23 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at
24 the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or
25 after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefici-
26 aries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall
27 be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established had the
28 member retired on the date of his or her death, or the value of the
29 death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any,
30 whichever is greater.
31 § 4. All past service costs associated with implementing the
32 provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York and may
33 be amortized over a period of ten years.
34 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
35 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
36 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
37 § 6. 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 who are employed as state-paid judges or justices of the Unified
Court System. The in-service death benefit will be the value of the
pension reserve as if the member had retired on their date of death.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $243,000 in the
annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2025. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing
rates and salary of the affected members change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $3.86 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, 2025. If the State of New
York elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for
each year including interest would be $493,000.
A. 9143 3
These estimated costs are based on 1,148 affected members employed by
the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $222 million
as of March 31, 2023.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
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 January 3, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-13, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
