Relates to death benefits for certain members

Title of bill

An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to death benefits for certain members

Purpose

To amend the Retirement and Social Security Law by providing for an enhanced in-service death benefit for State Correctional Officers who are retirement eligible and who die while in service. The benefit provided would be the value of the pension reserve determined as if the member had retired on their date of death.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill would amend § 448 of the Retirement and Social Security Law to provide such a benefit.

Section 2 of the bill would similarly amend the provisions of § 508 of such law. Section 3 of the bill would provide an immediate effective date.

Existing law

Under current law, State Correctional Officers who are eligible to retire and die while in public service are provided a benefit of three times salary payable to their respective beneficiaries.

Justification

New York State Correctional Officers work under extremely stressful conditions in extraordinarily dangerous settings. Violence within our State's prison system is skyrocketing, even as the prison population is declining. After 25 years of service in the State Correctional Officer title, members are eligible to retire and receive a pension of 50% final average salary. However, if they die while on the State payroll but were eligible to retire their beneficiaries do not receive the benefits of the decedent's hard earned pension. Rather, they receive a lump sum death benefit.

Many of our most seasoned and dedicated correctional officers are currently eligible to retire. In fact, of the approximately 20,000 active State Correctional Officers, approximately 4,000 are eligible to retire. Recent trends indicate that as they do become eligible to retire, an increasing percentage of these law enforcement officers are, in fact, opting to leave State service. Many are doing so because they balance the risks of remaining in service with the risks of their loved ones not having an adequate source of income in the event of their untimely demise.

At a time when the State of New York is in desperate need of maintaining seasoned, experienced State Correctional Officers within the ranks of the Correctional Officer title, New York should be taking steps to ensure that there is ample incentive for them to remain in service. Providing a benefit that is similar to the benefit that these members would already be entitled to if they opted to retire is an equitable and reasonable approach to address a significant problem.

Prior legislative history

2015: S.5245 - Referred to Civil Service & Pensions

Fiscal implications

See Fiscal Note.

Effective date

Immediately.