Increases certain special accidental death benefits for surviving spouses and children of certain police and fire personnel

BILL NUMBER:A4905A

Title of bill

An act to amend the general municipal law and the retirement and social security law, in relation to increasing certain special accidental death benefits

Purpose or general idea of bill

This legislation extends the escalation of a cost of living increase of approximately 3% for all line-of-duty widows or widowers for fiscal year 2009-10.

Summary of provisions

This bill amends subdivision c of section 208-f of the General Municipal Law as amended by Chapter 76 of the Laws of 2008 and subdivision c of section 361-a of the Retirement and Social Security Law, as amended by Chapter 76 of the Laws of 2008.

Justification

Since 1978, the Legislature has passed and the Governor signed into law a cost of living increase and a one-year escalation for all New York State widows and widowers of police officers and firefighters killed in the line-of-duty. The intent of the original 1978 law was to increase their benefits to an amount that would reflect the impact of inflation. However, the law did not provide for any new cost of living increase after July 1, 1979.

Since that date, the cost of living has increased well over 3% each year, including some periods of double-digit inflation. These same widows and widowers are no longer receiving adequate benefits. This legislation does not totally cover the present inflation spiral, but it at least provides some increased relief to the widows and widowers of New York State's bravest citizens, who gave their lives in service to the people of New York State. In the past, these brave families have faced a poverty stricken existence. This legislation would prevent the return of that deplorable state of affairs.

As with previous legislation, there is no cost to the localities, as the state would reimburse them for this small increase.

Prior legislative history

1997-- S.4243/A.7546 Chapter 174 1998-- S.630/A.9487-A Chapter 31 1999-- S.3158-B/A.5942-B Chapter 132 2000-- A.9895/S.6866-A Chapter 231 2001-- A.6606A/S.3297-A Chapter 264 2002-- A.11090/S.7263 Chapter 313 2003-- A.5435/S.3903 Chapter 139 2004-- A.10193-C/S.6579-C Chapter 351 2005-- A.5217/S.3971-C Chapter 48 2006-- A.10334/S.6744 Chapter 88

2007-- A.5658/S.2492 Chapter 39 2008 - A.9666/S.6733 Chapter 76

Fiscal implications

Insofar as this bill would amend the Retirement and Social Security law, it is estimated that there would be an additional annual cost of approx- imately $322,000 above the approximately $7.1 million current annual cost of this benefit. This cost would be shared by the State of New York and all participating employers of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System.

Effective date

This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.