STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7892
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 28, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- (at request of the State Comptroller)
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
extending the period of time to file an application for an accidental
death benefit after the death 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
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading and the opening paragraph of subdivi-
2 sion a of section 61 of the retirement and social security law, as
3 amended by chapter 336 of the laws of 1960, are amended to read as
4 follows:
5 [Accidential] Accidental death benefit.
6 An [accidential] accidental death benefit and the reserve-for-in-
7 creased-take-home-pay shall be payable upon the death of a member if,
8 upon application filed within [two] five years after the death of such
9 member, the comptroller shall determine, on the basis of the evidence,
10 that such member:
11 § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 361 of the
12 retirement and social security law, as added by chapter 1000 of the laws
13 of 1966, is amended to read as follows:
14 An accidental death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-
15 pay shall be payable upon the death of a member if, upon application,
16 filed within [two] five years after the death of such member the comp-
17 troller shall determine, on the basis of the evidence, that such member:
18 § 3. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 509 of the
19 retirement and social security law, as amended by chapter 489 of the
20 laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
21 The eligible beneficiary of a member in service, or a vested member
22 that dies as a result of a qualifying World Trade Center condition as
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08969-04-9
A. 7892 2
1 defined in section two of this chapter, shall be entitled to an acci-
2 dental death benefit in the form of a pension equal to fifty percent of
3 such member's final average salary if, upon application filed within
4 [two] five years after the death of the member, the head of the retire-
5 ment system determines that such member:
6 § 4. Subdivision a of section 607 of the retirement and social securi-
7 ty law, as amended by chapter 582 of the laws of 2011, is amended to
8 read as follows:
9 a. The eligible beneficiary of a member in service, or of a vested
10 member who dies as a result of a qualifying World Trade Center condition
11 as defined in section two of this chapter, shall be entitled to an acci-
12 dental death benefit in the form of a pension equal to fifty percent of
13 such member's wages earned during his or her last year of actual service
14 or his or her annual wage rate if he or she was credited with less than
15 one year of service since last becoming a member, if, upon application
16 filed within [sixty days] five years after the death of the member, the
17 head of the retirement system determines that such member died before
18 the effective date of retirement, as the natural and proximate result of
19 an accident not caused by his or her own willful negligence sustained in
20 the performance of his or her duties in active service and while actual-
21 ly a member of the retirement system.
22 Notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred forty-two, two
23 hundred forty-three or two hundred forty-four of the military law or the
24 provisions of any other law to the contrary and solely for the purpose
25 of determining eligibility for an accidental death benefit, a member
26 shall be considered to have died as the natural and proximate result of
27 an accident sustained in the performance of duty provided such member
28 was on the payroll in the service upon which membership is based at the
29 time he or she was ordered to active duty pursuant to Title 10 of the
30 United States Code, with the armed forces of the United States or to
31 service in the uniformed services pursuant to Chapter 43 of Title 38 of
32 the United States Code and died while on such active duty or service in
33 the uniformed services on or after June fourteenth, two thousand five.
34 Provided, however, the head of the retirement system in its sole
35 discretion may accept an application for an accidental death benefit
36 after the expiration of the [sixty day] applicable filing period, where,
37 but only where, an ordinary death benefit has not been previously paid.
38 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
39 provisions of this act shall not be subject to the provisions of section
40 twenty-five of the retirement and social security law requiring an
41 appropriation in an amount equal to the value of the benefits associated
42 with prior service when enacted on a statewide basis. This act extends
43 the filing deadline for accidental death benefits from two to five years
44 following the death of an active member occurring on or after January 1,
45 2020. Since it is impossible to determine the number of members who
46 could be affected by this act specifically, the number of members who
47 participated in World Trade Center rescue, recovery or cleanup oper-
48 ations and who will qualify for a death benefit, it cannot be readily
49 determined the amount, if any, of an appropriation.
50 § 6. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020 and shall apply to the
51 death of a member occurring on or after such date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would extend the filing deadline for accidental death bene-
fits to 5 years following the death of an active member of certain
public retirement systems. Currently the filing deadline is 2 years. The
filing extension will apply only to those deaths occurring on or after
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January 1, 2020. The provisions of Section 25 of the Retirement and
Social Security Law (RSSL) will not apply.
If this bill is enacted, insofar as it would affect the New York State
and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS) and the New York State and
Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), it is estimated that
there would be an average per person cost of approximately 3.5 times
final salary on behalf of affected ERS members and 11 times final salary
on behalf of affected PFRS members whose applications are filed within
the extended period.
The number of members and retirees who could be affected by this
legislation cannot be readily determined. Those costs arising in ERS
would be borne by the State of New York and all the participating
employers in ERS. Those costs arising in PFRS would be borne by the
State of New York and all the participating employers in PFRS.
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, 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 13, 2019, and intended for use only during
the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-113, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
