Increase Corrections Death Benefits

Section 1. Subdivision b of section 448 of the retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new paragraph 3 to read as follows:

3. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the contrary, where a member is in a title as defined in subdivision i of section eighty-nine of this chapter under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision, and would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or after July first, two thousand seventeen, the beneficiary or beneficiaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall be 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-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.

§ 2. Subdivision b of section 508 of the retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD02565-03-7

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b. A member of a retirement system subject to the provisions of this article who is a policeman, fireman, correction officer, investigator revised plan member or sanitation man and is in a plan which permits immediate retirement upon completion of a specified period of service without regard to age or who is subject to the provisions of section five hundred four or five hundred five of this article, shall upon completion of ninety days of service be covered for financial protection in the event of death in service pursuant to this subdivision.

1. Such death benefit shall be equal to three times the member's salary raised to the next highest multiple of one thousand dollars, but in no event shall it exceed three times the maximum salary specified in section one hundred thirty of the civil service law or, in the case of a member of a retirement system other than the New York city employees' retirement system, or in the case of a member of the New York city employees' retirement system who is a New York city uniformed correction/sanitation revised plan member or an investigator revised plan member, the specific limitations specified for age of entrance into service contained in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of paragraph two of subdivision a of this section.

2. Provided further, notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the contrary, where a member is in a title as defined in subdivision i of section eighty-nine of this chapter under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and community supervision, and would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death occurs on or after July first, two thousand seventeen, the beneficiary or beneficiaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which shall be 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-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.

§ 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire five years after the date on which it shall have become a law.

FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:

This bill would modify the in-service death benefit for tiers 2

through 6 state correction officers. The in-service death benefit will

be the value of the pension reserve as if the member had retired on

their date of death. The provision is scheduled to expire five years

after the date it is enacted.

If such a proposal is enacted during the 2017 legislative session,

there will be a one-time past service cost of $13.7 million, which would

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, 2018.

If this provision is extended or made permanent by subsequent legis-

lation, there would be additional costs.

These estimated costs are based on 20,690 state correctional officers

with a total annual salary of approximately $1.5 billion for the fiscal

year ending March 31, 2016.

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, 2016 actuarial valu-

ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2016

Report of the Actuary and the 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial

Report.

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The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015

and 2016 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, 2016

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 estimate, dated January 30, 2017, and intended for use only

during the 2017 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2017-32,

prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement

System.