A 5898: 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.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5898 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 24, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TAPIA, GRAY, DeSTEFANO, BORES, BURDICK, CRUZ, PALMESANO, LEVENBERG, MORINELLO, ALVAREZ, DE LOS SANTOS, REYES, HYND- MAN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employ- ees 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 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 63-j to read as follows: 3 § 63-j. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As used 4 in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state-paid 5 judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired judge 6 of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court who is 7 serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certification by 8 the administrative board of the courts in accordance with section one 9 hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary law, or a hous- 10 ing judge of the civil court of the city of New York. 11 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge 12 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at 13 the time of such judge or justice's death and where such death occurs on 14 or after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefi- 15 ciaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which 16 shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established 17 had the member retired on the date of such judge or justice's death, or 18 the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home- 19 pay, if any, whichever is greater. 20 § 2. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new 21 section 508-d to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02220-02-5 
 A. 5898 2 1 § 508-d. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As 2 used in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state- 3 paid judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired 4 judge of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court 5 who is serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certif- 6 ication by the administrative board of the courts in accordance with 7 section one hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary 8 law, or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York. 9 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge 10 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at 11 the time of such judge or justice's death and where such death occurs on 12 or after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefi- 13 ciaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which 14 shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established 15 had the member retired on the date of such judge or justice's death, or 16 the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home- 17 pay, if any, whichever is greater. 18 § 3. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding a new 19 section 606-d to read as follows: 20 § 606-d. Death benefits for state-paid judges and justices. a. As 21 used in this section, the term "judge or justice" shall mean a state- 22 paid judge or justice of the unified court system including a retired 23 judge of the court of appeals or retired justice of the supreme court 24 who is serving as a justice of the supreme court pursuant to certif- 25 ication by the administrative board of the courts in accordance with 26 section one hundred fourteen or one hundred fifteen of the judiciary 27 law, or a housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York. 28 b. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, where a judge 29 or justice would have been entitled to a service retirement benefit at 30 the time of such judge or justice's death and where such death occurs on 31 or after the effective date of this section, the beneficiary or benefi- 32 ciaries may elect to receive, in a lump sum, an amount payable which 33 shall be equal to the pension reserve that would have been established 34 had the member retired on the date of such judge or justice's death, or 35 the value of the death benefit and the reserve-for-increased-take-home- 36 pay, if any, whichever is greater. 37 § 4. All past service costs associated with implementing the 38 provisions of this act shall be borne by the state of New York and may 39 be amortized over a period of ten years. 40 § 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 41 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 42 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 43 § 6. 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 members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System who are employed as state-paid judges or justices of the Unified Court System. 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 2025 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $287,000 in the annual contributions of the State of New York for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average 0.1% of salary annually. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $4.85 million which will 
 A. 5898 3 be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026. 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 $619,000. These estimated costs are based on 1,153 affected members employed by the State of New York, with annual salary of approximately $228 million as of March 31, 2024. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari- al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Information. 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 13, 2025, and intended for use only during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-24. As Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, 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 Actuaries, of which I am a member.