Allows state police officers to receive an improved death benefit where such officers die without twenty years of service credit but with enough unused vacation and sick time to get them to twenty years of service credit.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7544--A
Cal. No. 1102
IN SENATE
April 20, 2010
___________
Introduced by Sens. VALESKY, THOMPSON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and
Pensions -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to
the Committee on Finance -- reported favorably from said committee and
committed to the Committee on Rules -- reported favorably from said
committee, ordered to a third reading, passed by Senate and delivered
to the Assembly, recalled, vote reconsidered, restored to third read-
ing, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order
of third reading
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
allowing state police officers to receive an improved death benefit
where such officers die without twenty years of service credit
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision aaa of section 360-a of the retirement and
2 social security law, as added by chapter 358 of the laws of 2002, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 aaa. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this
5 article to the contrary, where the member is an officer or member of the
6 state police and would have been entitled to a service retirement bene-
7 fit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on
8 or after July first, two thousand, the beneficiary or beneficiaries may
9 elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall be equal
10 to the pension reserve that would have been established had the member
11 retired on the date of his or her death, or the value of the death bene-
12 fit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is
13 greater. Provided further, that for the purpose of determining entitle-
14 ment to the benefit provided by this subdivision, and notwithstanding
15 the provisions of subdivision j of section three hundred forty-one of
16 this article, the total number of days of unused sick leave and accumu-
17 lated vacation credit accrued by the member at the time of his or her
18 death shall be considered in meeting the total creditable service
19 required to qualify for a service retirement benefit provided without
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16864-03-0
S. 7544--A 2
1 regard to age where his or her death occurs on or after July second, two
2 thousand nine.
3 § 2. Paragraph 2 of subdivision b of section 448 of the retirement and
4 social security law, as amended by chapter 666 of the laws of 2002, is
5 amended to read as follows:
6 2. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
7 cle to the contrary, where the member is a police officer or firefighter
8 and would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time
9 of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or after July
10 first, two thousand, the beneficiary or beneficiaries nominated for the
11 purposes of this subdivision may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an
12 amount payable which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would
13 have been established had the member retired on the date of his or her
14 death, or the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-
15 take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater, provided further that for
16 the purpose of determining entitlement to the benefit provided by this
17 subdivision, and notwithstanding subdivision j of section three hundred
18 forty-one of this chapter, where the member is an officer or member of
19 the state police the total number of days of unused sick leave and accu-
20 mulated vacation credit accrued by the member at the time of his or her
21 death shall be considered in meeting the total creditable service
22 required to qualify for a service retirement benefit provided without
23 regard to age where his or her death occurs on or after July second, two
24 thousand nine. Provided further that where such police officer or fire-
25 fighter dies on or after July first, two thousand, after having retired
26 from service, but before a first payment of a retirement allowance, such
27 person shall be deemed to have been in service at the time of his or her
28 death for the purposes of this subdivision only, and provided further
29 that the pension reserve established pursuant to this paragraph for a
30 person who dies after retiring from service, but before first payment of
31 a retirement allowance, shall be determined as of the date of retirement
32 and any pension payments payable for the period of time prior to the
33 retiree's death shall be deducted from any benefits payable pursuant to
34 this subdivision.
35 § 3. All past service costs incurred due to enactment of this legis-
36 lation shall be borne by the state of New York.
37 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to
38 have been in full force and effect on and after July 2, 2009.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill will provide an improved death benefit equal to the pension
reserve to the beneficiaries of State Police Officers by allowing their
unused vacation and sick leave credit to be included with their service
credit for the purpose of determining retirement eligibility. All past
service costs will be paid by the State of New York, and all future
costs will be shared and spread over the future working lifetimes of
current members.
If this bill is enacted, for the one person known to be affected, we
anticipate that there will be a cost to the State of New York of approx-
imately $357,000, based on a billing date of March 1, 2011. In the
future, we anticipate that there will be few individuals affected by
this legislation.
This estimate, dated March 31, 2010 and intended for use only during
the 2010 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2010-126, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement
System.
