Gray, DeStefano, Bores, Burdick, Cruz, Palmesano, Levenberg, Morinello, Alvarez, De Los Santos,
Reyes, Hyndman, Lunsford, Dais, Davila, Kassay, Brown K, Santabarbara, Lemondes
MLTSPNSR
Add §§63-j, 508-d & 606-d, R & SS L
Permits an eligible retirement system member to receive, in lieu of an ordinary death benefit, a death benefit such member would otherwise be entitled to receive provided such member is a state-paid judge or justice of the unified court system or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5898
SPONSOR: Tapia TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
death benefits for the beneficiaries of certain members of the retire-
ment system
PURPOSE:
To ensure state-paid judges and justices receive death benefits even if
they were not retired by their time of death.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1-3: Includes new sections 63-j, 508-d, and 606-d, which
declares that state-paid judges and justices are eligible for death
benefits, and that they would have been entitled for a service retire-
ment benefit by the time of death. Beneficiaries may elect to receive in
a lump sum; an amount payable, which shall be equal to the pension
reserve that would have been established, had the member retired on the
date of his or her death, or the value of the death benefit and the•
reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater,
Section 4: All past service costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York and may
be amortize over a period of ten years.
Section 5: Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
none of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
Section 6: This act shall take effect immediately
JUSTIFICATION:
The Death Gamble is a draconian flaw within the retirement system for
our state-paid judges. It dictates that the beneficiaries of a judge
who, either dies in office, or before his or her retirement becomes
effective receive a death benefit equal to three times the judge's aver-
age salary during his or her final three years in office. However, once
a judge reaches 60 years of age, his or her death benefit is reduced by
4% per annum up to a maximum of 40%.3 In other words, the death benefit
of a judge who dies in office at the age of 70 is reduced to only 60% of
three times the judge's average salary during their final three years in
office. Neither the full, nor the reduced death benefits are as generous
as the more substantial pension benefits the judge's beneficiaries would
have received had the judge passed away while retired.
As such, judges are forced to gamble that they can live long enough.to
retire so that when they die, their families will be entitled to receive
an adequate pension. Unfortunately, if a judge loses the Death Gamble
and dies in office, it is the judge's family which suffers by receiving
the necessarily smaller lump sum death benefit instead of a pension. By
keeping this practice in place, we are effectively disincentivizing good
judges from continuing to deliver justice and opting for minimal cost-
saving at the expense of individuals who protect our democracy and the
integrity of the law.'
Legislation enacted in 2000 removed Death Gamble for thousands of police
officers, fire fighters, and teachers, but specifically excluded members
of the judiciary. Many judges enter service later in life and are there-
fore more prone to the Death Gamble. New York State judges, who are the
cornerstone of our state's justice system, should not be excluded from
the benefit options available to most other state employees. It is coun-
terintuitive that such a workforce should not be able to die with digni-
ty and justice.
This bill permits an eligible retirement system member to receive, in
lieu of an ordinary death benefit, a lump sum equal to the pension
reserve that would have been established had the judge retired on the
date of his or her death. This reform is supported by the entire justice
system of New York, including bar associations and non-profit legal
service providers. Nobody should have to gamble whether to continue to
work and risk an untimely death at the expense of their beneficiaries'
financial wellbeing, especially not workers who uphold our democracy.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: New Bill
2024: Vetoed by governor on grounds that the bill should accounted for
in the budgetary process. Merits of the bill were left unchallenged.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
If this bill was enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipated that there would be an increase of approximately $243,000 in the
annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2025.
In future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and salary of
the affected members change. In addition to the annual contributions
discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approx-
imately $3.86 million which will be borne by the State of New York as a
one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment would have been
made on March 1, 2025.
If the State of New. York elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year
period, the cost for each year-including interest-would be $493,000.
These estimated costs are based on 1,148 affected members employed by
the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $222 million
as of March 31, 2023.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
