Bill Text: NY A09851 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to providing death benefits for correction officers employed by Nassau county.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-20 - referred to governmental employees [A09851 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A09851-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9851 IN ASSEMBLY February 20, 2020 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to providing death benefits for correction officers employed by Nassau county The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding 2 a new section 508-b to read as follows: 3 § 508-b. Death benefits for correction officers employed by Nassau 4 county. a. As used in this section, the term "correction officer" shall 5 mean a person employed by Nassau county with a title of correction 6 recruit, correction officer, correction corporal, correction sergeant, 7 correction lieutenant, or correction captain. 8 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a 9 correction officer would have been entitled to a service retirement 10 benefit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death 11 occurs on or after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary 12 or beneficiaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable 13 which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been estab- 14 lished had the member retired on the date of his or her death, or the 15 value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, 16 if any, whichever is greater. 17 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new 18 section 606-b to read as follows: 19 § 606-b. Death benefits for correction officers employed by Nassau 20 county. a. As used in this section, the term "correction officer" shall 21 mean a person employed by Nassau county with a title of correction 22 recruit, correction officer, correction corporal, correction sergeant, 23 correction lieutenant, or correction captain. 24 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a 25 correction officer would have been entitled to a service retirement 26 benefit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death 27 occurs on or after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14765-02-0A. 9851 2 1 or beneficiaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable 2 which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been estab- 3 lished had the member retired on the date of his or her death, or the 4 value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, 5 if any, whichever is greater. 6 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the 7 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be 8 amortized over a period of ten years. 9 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 10 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 11 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 12 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would modify the in-service death benefit for retirement eligible tiers 3 through 6 members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System who are employed by Nassau County in certain correction officer job titles. The in-service death benefit will be the value of the pension reserve as if the member had retired on their date of death. If this legislation is enacted during the 2020 legislative session, we anticipate that there will be an increase in the annual contributions of Nassau County of approximately $160,000 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. In the future, this cost will vary as the billing rates and salaries of those affected change. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $2.88 million which will be borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2021. If Nassau County elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year would be $381,000. These estimated costs are based on 822 affected members employed by Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $102 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 February 6, 2020, and intended for use only during the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-39, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
