Let Son Inherit Retirement Benefits

Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, Gregory Dennis, who had been named as the survivor beneficiary of his father Barry M. Dennis, a former employee of the Nassau County district attorney's office, on June 7, 2017 by Bruce M. Dennis acting in his capacity as power of attorney for his brother Barry and who had been confirmed as the beneficiary in a letter from the New York state and local employees' retirement system dated June 19, 2017 and who was later informed in a letter dated July 14, 2017 which was received by Bruce M. Dennis on July 19, 2017 that as a result of a statutory gifts rider pursuant to section 5-1514 of the general obligations law not adjoining the statutory short form power of attorney that the paper work naming Gregory Dennis as the beneficiary was not properly submitted and as a result the only option that was legally available to Barry M. Dennis was "Option 0" wherein no beneficiary is selected and the pension benefit cease upon the death of the member, shall be deemed the beneficiary of the retirement benefits of Barry M. Dennis as if such required statutory gifts rider had been present, and shall receive the option that was selected on the option election form that was rejected due to the unacceptable power of attorney, if on or before December 31, 2018 Bruce M. Dennis shall submit a request therefor to the state comptroller.

§ 2. Any amounts paid by the New York state and local employees' retirement system to Barry M. Dennis, his estate or to his beneficiaries, which exceed those amounts that would have been payable if such required statutory gift rider had been present, will be deducted on an actuarially equivalent basis over the expected future lifetime of Gregory Dennis from the benefits payable to him pursuant to this act.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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

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

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD13797-04-8

S. 8264 2

Barry M. Dennis was retired under an option 0, affording no contin-

uance upon his death, following a failure of his agent to provide the

necessary and requested documentation to properly execute an election of

a Joint Survivor 100%, under which payments would continue to his son

Gregory Dennis upon his death. This bill would deem Gregory Dennis the

beneficiary of a Joint Survivor 100% continuance, upon the written

request of the member's agent Bruce M Dennis. Any overpayments by the

New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System on behalf of Barry

M. Dennis will offset the future benefit payable via actuarial

reduction.

If this bill is enacted, there will be a one-time cost to New York

State of approximately $699,000. This estimate is based on the assump-

tion that payment will be made on March 1, 2019.

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, 2017 actuarial valu-

ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2017

Report of the Actuary and the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial

Report.

The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,

2016, and 2017 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-

tions, 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, 2017

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 April 4, 2018, and intended for use only during

the 2018 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2018-16, prepared by

the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.