STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7928

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 28, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees

        AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in  relation  to
          increasing the survivor's benefit of a retired state employee

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 657 of the retirement  and  social
     2  security  law, as added by chapter 75 of the laws of 1989, is amended to
     3  read as follows:
     4    2. The amount of a survivor's benefit under this section  shall  be  a
     5  lump  sum  of  two  thousand  five  hundred dollars, except that where a
     6  retired state employee dies while reemployed as provided in  subdivision
     7  four  of  this  section  or dies within thirty days following retirement
     8  pursuant to subdivision one of this section, the amount  of  the  survi-
     9  vor's  benefit under this section, if any, shall be two thousand dollars
    10  or such amount otherwise received pursuant to this subdivision less  any
    11  ordinary  death benefit, exclusive of any ordinary death benefit attrib-
    12  utable to the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, payable on account of
    13  the death of such employee under a retirement  system  or  pension  plan
    14  supported by funds of the state.
    15    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This  bill  will increase the Survivor's Benefit by $500. For eligible
        state employees who retired prior to April 1,  1970,  the  benefit  will
        increase  from  $2,000  to  $2,500  and for eligible state employees who
        retired after April 1, 1970, the benefit will increase  from  $3,000  to
        $3,500.
          If  this  bill  is  enacted, for the first year, the annual payment of
        survivor's benefits which will be paid by the State  of  New  York  will
        increase approximately $1.9 million.
          Summary of relevant resources:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07914-02-9

        A. 7928                             2

          The  membership  data  used  in  measuring  the impact of the proposed
        change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018  actuarial  valu-
        ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2018
        Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2018  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
        Report.
          The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
        2016, 2017 and 2018  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, 2018
        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  May 22, 2019, and intended for use only during
        the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-126,  prepared  by
        the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.