Provides for certain death benefits to correction officers, correction officer-sergeants, correction officer-captains, assistant wardens, associate wardens or wardens employed by Westchester county.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9670
SPONSOR: Abbate TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing certain death benefits to correction officers, correction
officer-sergeants, correction officer-captains, assistant wardens, asso-
ciate wardens or wardens employed by Westchester county
PURPOSE::
The purpose of this bill is to provide a death gamble amortization for
correctional officers employed by Westchester County.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section 1 adds a new subdivision k to Section 89-E of the Retirement and
Social Security Law that allows correction officer beneficiaries to
elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable equal to the pension
reserve that would have been established had the correction officer
retired on the date of their death, or the value of the death benefit
and the reserve-for-increased-takehome-pay, if any, whichever is great-
er.
Section 2 adds a new Section 606-C to the Retirement and Social
Security Law that defines death benefits for corrections officers
employed by Westchester County.
Section 3 states that all past service costs associated with implement-
ing this bill shall be borne by Westchester County and may be amortized
over a period of 10 years.
Section 4 states that none of the provisions of this bill shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of Section 25 of the Retirement
and Social Security Law.
Section 5 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill provides Westchester County correction officers with death
gamble benefits. The death gamble was enacted for New York law enforce-
ment officers, firefighters and teachers in 2000 (Chapter 554 of the
Laws of 2000) to incentivize public employees who wish to work past
retirement age by providing that, should the employee pass away before
taking retirement, his or her family shall be able to receive the full
value of his or her pension benefit. In extending this benefit to West-
chester County correction officers, this bill helps both officers and
local governments as the County is then able to retain correction offi-
cers who may have retired instead of working past normal retirement age.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
New bill.
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See the fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9670
IN ASSEMBLY
March 28, 2022
___________
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 certain death benefits to correction officers, correction
officer-sergeants, correction officer-captains, assistant wardens,
associate wardens or wardens employed by Westchester county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 89-e of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision k to read as follows:
3 k. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a
4 correction officer would have been entitled to retire pursuant to this
5 section at the time of his or her death and where his or her death
6 occurs on or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two
7 thousand twenty-two that added this subdivision, the beneficiary or
8 beneficiaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable
9 which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been estab-
10 lished had the member retired on the date of his or her death, or the
11 value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay,
12 if any, whichever is greater.
13 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new
14 section 606-c to read as follows:
15 § 606-c. Death benefits for correction officers employed by Westches-
16 ter county. a. As used in this section, the term "correction officer"
17 shall mean a person employed by the Westchester county correction
18 department with a title of correction officer, correction officer-ser-
19 geant, correction officer-captain, assistant warden, associate warden or
20 warden.
21 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a
22 correction officer would have been entitled to a service retirement
23 benefit at the time of his or her death and where his or her death
24 occurs on or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two
25 thousand twenty-two that added this section, the beneficiary or benefi-
26 ciaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14541-02-2
A. 9670 2
1 shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established
2 had the member retired on the date of his or her death, or the value of
3 the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any,
4 whichever is greater.
5 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the
6 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Westchester and
7 may be amortized over a period of ten years.
8 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
9 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
10 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
11 § 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 tiers 2
through 6 Westchester County correction officers. 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 bill is enacted during the 2022 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $93,000 in the
annual contributions of Westchester County for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2023. 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 approximately $681,000 which will be
borne by Westchester County as a one-time payment. This estimate is
based on the assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2023.
If Westchester County elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year peri-
od, the cost for the first year including interest would be $87,000.
These estimated costs are based on 776 affected members employed by
the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $88.3 million
as of March 31, 2021.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
and 2021 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, 2021
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 25, 2022, and intended for use only
during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-77 Revised,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
