NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10382
SPONSOR: Ra TITLE OF BILL:
An act relating to a death benefit option for the beneficiary of justice
Jerry Garguilo
PURPOSE:
To provide support for the family of Judge Garguilo relating to death
benefit options.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one would make Angela Garguilo eligible to elect to receive a
lump sum benefit equal to the value of the pension reserve as if justice
Jerry Garguilo retired on the date of his death.
Sections two through four provide specifications for the implementation
of this legislation and the proper amount of benefit to be paid.
Section five establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Justice Garguilo was a long-serving Justice of the New York Supreme
Court, holding several important administrative roles, including service
on the Appellate Term.
On the bench, he was a true titan, overseeing New York State's opioid
litigation, one of the largest mass tort cases in the State's history.
As the coordinating judge, Garguilo was instrumental in guiding the
litigation process, ensuring that the cases were handled efficiently and
fairly.
A coordinated proceeding is one where cases throughout the State are
transferred from their venue of origin to another court to be presided
over by a single judge (the "Coordinating Court"). Uniformity is the
goal in that the Coordinating Court decides all substantive and proce-
dural issues as opposed to having potentially differing and conflicting
rulings from multiple venues.
Under his leadership, the opioid litigation in New York became a land-
mark case, drawing national attention as it sought to hold pharmaceu-
tical companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. His
successful management of the coordinated proceeding was seen as a model
for handling similar mass tort cases.
This historic litigation involved 62 counties, 10 cities including New
York, more than 67 smaller municipal corporations (townships, villages
and the like) and eventually the State of New York, The named defendants
included manufacturers, distributors and large retail pharmacies.
In total forty (40) defendants were named. Participating lawyers during
both pre-trial and trial, at times exceeded 100, either in person or
remotely. No traditional court facility could accommodate the volume and
eventually the auditorium at Touro Law School was converted into a
courtroom to accommodate the enormous and complex litigation. The case
also involved 357 motion sequences producing over 350 written decisions
and/or directives.
This legislation is required to ensure that Justice Garguilo's benefici-
ary receives the proper benefit from the State to thank Justice Garguilo
for his commitment to excellence in State service.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See Fiscal Note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10382
IN ASSEMBLY
March 3, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RA -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Governmental Employees
AN ACT relating to a death benefit option for the beneficiary of justice
Jerry Garguilo
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, Ange-
2 la Garguilo, the beneficiary of justice Jerry Garguilo, a deceased
3 justice of the unified court system, may elect to receive in a lump sum
4 an amount payable which shall be equal to the pension reserve that would
5 have been established had justice Jerry Garguilo retired as of the date
6 of his death, or the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-in-
7 creased-take-home-pay, if any, whichever is greater.
8 § 2. In the event the beneficiary is required to make an election
9 prior to the enactment of this legislation, the pension reserve shall be
10 awarded minus any death benefit previously paid to said beneficiary.
11 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the
12 provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York and may
13 be amortized over a period of ten years.
14 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
15 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
16 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
17 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow the beneficiary of justice Jerry Garguilo to
elect to receive a lump sum equal to the value of the pension reserve as
if justice Jerry Garguilo retired on the date of their death. If
elected, the pension reserve will be paid in lieu of any other death
benefits and offset thereby.
This bill will not increase the state of New York's annual contrib-
utions.
There will be an immediate past service cost of $196,000 borne by the
state of New York unified court system as a one-time payment. This cost
assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2027. If the state of New
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13836-03-6
A. 10382 2
York elects to amortize this cost over 10 years, the cost for each year
will be $25,000.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated January 26, 2026, and intended for use only
during the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-3. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System
(NYSLRS), I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis
complies with applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the
Code of Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries
Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actu-
aries, of which I am a member. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not
believe it impairs my objectivity.
