New York State Assembly

 
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A05630 Summary:

A05630 Actions:

A05630 Committee Votes:

Committee:GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES   Chair:Pheffer Amato      
DATE:05/31/2023AYE/NAY:13/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Ways and Means        
Pheffer Amato
Aye
DeStefano
Aye
Aubry
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Colton
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Tannousis
Aye
Santabarbara
Aye
Eichenstein
Aye
Fall
Excused
Jones
Aye
Burke
Aye
Sillitti
Aye

Committee:WAYS AND MEANS   Chair:Weinstein      
DATE:06/08/2023AYE/NAY:34/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Rules        
Weinstein
Aye
Ra
Aye
Glick
Aye
Fitzpatrick
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Colton
Aye
Blankenbush
Aye
Cook
Aye
Norris
Aye
Aubry
Aye
Brabenec
Excused
Benedetto
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Weprin
Aye
Walsh
Aye
Ramos
Aye
DeStefano
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Manktelow
Aye
McDonald
Aye
Smullen
Aye
Rozic
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Joyner
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Bronson
Aye
Dilan
Aye
Seawright
Aye
Hyndman
Aye
Walker
Aye
Bichotte Hermel
Aye
Simon
Aye
Cruz
Aye

Committee:RULES   Chair:Pretlow      
DATE:06/08/2023AYE/NAY:28/0  Action: Favorable         
Heastie
Excused
Barclay
Aye
Weinstein
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Cook
Aye
Blankenbush
Aye
Glick
Aye
Norris
Aye
Aubry
Aye
Ra
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Brabenec
Excused
Colton
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Paulin
Aye
Peoples-Stokes
Aye
Benedetto
Aye
Lavine
Aye
Lupardo
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Thiele
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Dickens
Aye
Davila
Excused
Hyndman
Aye
Rozic
Aye
Bronson
Aye

A05630 Floor Votes:

A05630 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A5630
 
SPONSOR: Jones

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
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
 
 
PURPOSE:
 
To modify the in-service death benefit for participants in § 89 retire-
ment plan codified in the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL).
 
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
 
Section one of the bill amends subdivision b of section 448 of RSSL to
authorize beneficiaries of the § 89 retirement plan participants to
receive, in a lump sum, an amount equal to the pension reserve that
would have been established had the member retired on the date of his or
her death, or the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-in-
creased-take-home pay, if any, whichever is greater.
 
Section two of the bill amends subdivision b of section 508 of RSSL to
provide the same benefit for members holding one of the same § 89 titles
but in a different tier.
 
Section three of this bill sets the effective date.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
This bill provides state correctional officers employed at the Depart-
ment of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) as well as securi-
ty hospital treatment assistants employed by the Office of Mental Health
(OMB) with a death gamble benefit. The death gamble was enacted for New
York law enforcement officers, firefighters and teachers in 2000 (Chap-
ter 554) to incentivize public employees who wish to work past retire-
ment age by providing that should the employee pass away before taking
retirement, his or her family shall be able to receive the full value of
his or her pension benefit. The death gamble was most recently extended
to Nassau and Suffolk County correction officers in Chapters 534 and 535
of 2021 - but not to DOCCS officers or any other type of frontline civil
servant.
 
In extending this benefit to the other civil service titles captured by
this bill, New York State can ensure that our most senior and experi-
enced correctional officers and security hospital treatment assistants
have some form of incentive to remain on the job past retirement eligi-
bility. Based on the number of seasoned employees leaving state service,
New York must ensure that those who can properly train our newest
employees remain in active service to ensure the safety of our correc-
tional and forensic psychiatric facilities.
 
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
None
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
See bill
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

A05630 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5630
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                     March 20, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. JONES -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees
 
        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-three, the beneficiary or  beneficiaries  nominated  for
     9  the 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
    21  service without regard to age or who is subject  to  the  provisions  of
    22  section  five  hundred  four or five hundred five of this article, shall
    23  upon completion of ninety days  of  service  be  covered  for  financial
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04951-02-3
        A. 5630                             2
 
     1  protection  in  the  event of death in service pursuant to this subdivi-
     2  sion.
     3    1. Such death benefit shall be equal to three times the member's sala-
     4  ry  raised  to the next highest multiple of one thousand dollars, but in
     5  no event shall it exceed three times the  maximum  salary  specified  in
     6  section one hundred thirty of the civil service law or, in the case of a
     7  member  of  a  retirement system other than the New York city employees'
     8  retirement system, or in the case of a  member  of  the  New  York  city
     9  employees'   retirement   system  who  is  a  New  York  city  uniformed
    10  correction/sanitation revised plan member  or  an  investigator  revised
    11  plan member, the specific limitations specified for age of entrance into
    12  service  contained  in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of para-
    13  graph two of subdivision a of this section.
    14    2. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this arti-
    15  cle to the contrary, where the member is in a title as defined in subdi-
    16  vision i of section eighty-nine of this chapter,  and  would  have  been
    17  entitled  to  a  service retirement benefit at the time of such member's
    18  death and where such member's death occurs on or after July  first,  two
    19  thousand  twenty-three,  the  beneficiary or beneficiaries nominated for
    20  the purposes of this subdivision may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an
    21  amount payable which shall be equal to the pension  reserve  that  would
    22  have  been  established  had  the  member  retired  on  the date of such
    23  member's death, or the value of the death benefit and  the  reserve-for-
    24  increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
    25    § 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  who  are  employed  by New York State 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.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, we antic-
        ipate  that  there  will be an increase of approximately $1.8 million in
        the annual contributions of the State of New York for  the  fiscal  year
        ending March 31, 2024. In future years, this cost will vary as the bill-
        ing 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 $10.6 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, 2024.
          These estimated costs are based on 18,390 affected members employed by
        the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $1.6  billion
        as of March 31, 2022.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          Membership  data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
        of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
        al valuation.  Distributions and other statistics can be  found  in  the
        2022  Report  of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
        Report.
          The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the  2020,
        2021,  and  2022  Annual  Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
        tions, and the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State  of  New  York:
        Audit and Control.
        A. 5630                             3

          The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2022
        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 March 14, 2023, and intended for use only during
        the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No.  2023-93,  prepared  by
        the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.

A05630 LFIN:

 
NO LFIN

A05630 Chamber Video/Transcript: