STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4251--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 5, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. KAMINSKY -- 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 commit-
tee
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.
LBD09754-03-0
S. 4251--A 2
This bill would deem Howard Mahler eligible for a service retirement
benefit effective December 22, 2014, notwithstanding the fact that he
died on December 23, 2014. Robin Garfinkle, the widow of Mr. Mahler,
shall be authorized to file a service retirement application with a date
of retirement of December 22, 2014 and an option election form selecting
the joint allowance full option on behalf of her deceased husband. The
amount paid to Ms. Garfinkle shall be less any sums previously paid by
the retirement system to any beneficiary of Mr. Mahler.
If this bill is enacted, there will be an immediate past service cost
of approximately $1.01 million which will be borne by the State of New
York as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the assumption
that payment will be made on March 1, 2021.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2019 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2019
Report of the Actuary and the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 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, 2019
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 February 20, 2020, and intended for use only
during the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-55,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.