Expand Heart Disability Benefits

Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 363-a of the retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 437 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:

2. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or of any general, special, or local law to the contrary, any condition of impairment of health caused by diseases of the heart, resulting in disability or death to a police officer, presently employed, and who shall have sustained such disability while so employed, shall be presumptive evidence that it was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural and proximate result of an accident, unless the contrary be proved by competent evidence.

§ 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new section 809 to read as follows:

§ 809. Effect and rebuttal of certain medical presumptions pertaining to diseases of the heart. a. This section shall apply to certain applications for disability retirement allowances made by or on behalf of a member of the New York state and local employees' retirement system or the New York state and local police and fire retirement system. It shall apply only to applications that are subject under this chapter to

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

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD11753-06-0

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a provision that any condition of impairment of health caused by a disease of the heart, resulting in disability, shall be presumptive evidence that such disability was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural and proximate result of an accident.

b. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary an application for an accidental disability retirement allowance that is based on a permanent incapacity caused by a disease of the heart, shall not be required to allege or establish:

(1) that the member sustained an accident or other incident related to the performance and discharge of duty; or

(2) that notice was provided thereof.

c. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the presumptions referred to in subdivision a of this section may be rebutted only by competent evidence that the disability is not the natural and proximate result of the performance and discharge of duty.

§ 3. The amendment made to subdivision 2 of section 363-a of the retirement and social security law by section one of this act shall not affect, impair or invalidate any temporary right, privilege or benefit conferred pursuant to the provisions of a general, special or local law (other than pursuant to articles 14 and 15 of the retirement and social security law) for any member of a public retirement system or pension plan funded by the state or one of its political subdivisions, nor shall any amendment thereto affect the application of such provisions as extended by the provisions of section 480 of the retirement and social security law.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

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

This bill would amend the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) to

1) Eliminate certain eligibility requirements for awarding accidental

disability benefits, when the disability is related to diseases of the

heart, for members in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement

System (ERS) and the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement

System (PFRS). Accidental disability benefits would be granted even

where

a. the member did not sustain an accident,

b. the member's incapacitation is unrelated to any accident, or

c. the member failed to provide notice thereof.

The heart presumption could continue to be rebutted by competent

evidence that the disability is not the result of the performance and

discharge of duty.

2) Increase disability benefits payable to police officers in PFRS,

who become incapacitated due to diseases of the heart, by providing an

accidental disability benefit equal to 75% of salary less workers'

compensation. Currently, police officers are eligible for a perfor-

mance-of-duty (POD) disability benefit equal to 50% of salary less work-

ers' compensation.

3) Increase the death benefits payable on behalf of a deceased police

officer in PFRS, whose death results from diseases of the heart, by

providing the special accidental death benefit equal to more than 100%

of salary less workers compensation and social security benefits payable

to eligible beneficiary(ies). Currently the death benefit would be the

continuance afforded under the POD disability retirement.

Insofar as this bill will affect the New York State and Local Retire-

ment System (NYSLRS), more accidental disability benefits and accidental

death benefits would be granted. The cost of the revised benefit will

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depend upon the applicant's age, service, salary, plan, and benefit type

otherwise payable.

The number of retirees who could be affected by this legislation

cannot be readily determined. However, every active members of PFRS will

be covered, as well as members of ERS who are Uniformed Court Peace

Officers in the Unified Court System.

If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session, we antic-

ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $5.2 million in

the annual contributions to NYSLRS for the fiscal year ending March 31,

2021. This cost would be shared by the State of New York (the State)

and local participating employers of PFRS as follows:

a. $2.1 million borne annually by the State ($800,000 to PFRS and

$1.3 million to ERS), and

b. $3.1 million borne by the local participating employers in PFRS.

In future years, these annual costs will vary as the salary of

affected members change.

In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be

an immediate past service cost to ERS of approximately $15.2 million

which will be borne by the State as a one-time payment. This estimate is

based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2021.

Further, we anticipate that the number of accidental disability appli-

cations will result in a large increase in the administrative cost to

process these applications and litigate anticipated disputes.

Estimated costs arising in PFRS are based upon 32,573 members with an

approximate salary of $3.6 billion as of March 31, 2019. Estimated costs

arising in ERS are based upon 6,102 members with an approximate salary

of $600 million as of March 31, 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, 2019 actuarial valu-

ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2019

Report of the Actuary and the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial

Report.

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

2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 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, 2019

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 12, 2020, and intended for use only during

the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-26, prepared by

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