Authorizes Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie, to file a new service retirement application and an option election form on behalf of her deceased husband with the New York state and local employees' retirement system.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7574 Revised 04/30/25
SPONSOR: Brabenec TITLE OF BILL:
An act to authorize Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie, to
file a new service retirement application and option election form with
the New York state and local employees' retirement system on behalf of
such deceased member
PURPOSE:
This bill allows Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie, to
file a new service retirement application and option election form on
behalf of her deceased husband with a joint allowance full option.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Authorizes Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie,
to file a new service retirement application and option election form
with the New York state and local employees' retirement system on behalf
of her deceased husband with a joint allowance full option.
Section 2: Provides that all costs associated shall be borne by the
State of New York.
Section 3: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Members of the NYS pension system eligible to retire can provide for
their beneficiaries in a number of ways, including electing a service
retirement benefit be paid to their named beneficiary or beneficiaries
following their death. However, receipt of such a pension type benefit
to a named beneficiary requires an eligible member to be officially
retired before their death. In situations where such an eligible member
files a retirement application with the comptroller yet they die before
their effective retirement date, a beneficiary would not receive a
service retirement benefit and would instead be eligible for only an
ordinary death benefit.
Chapter 593 of 2024 was enacted to amend provisions of the Retirement
and Social Security Law (RSSL) to address this very issue and protect
beneficiaries of retirement system members. This statutory amendment
allows beneficiaries of members who died less 90 days of filing a
retirement application to choose a service retirement benefit. Pursuant
to this amended law, an eligible member that has applied for retirement,
but died prior to the effective date thereof, is deemed to have official
retired a day before their date of death. Beneficiaries in such situ-
ations can choose to receive the service retirement benefit that was
intended and planned for them instead of a one-time death benefit.
While the recent changes to the RSSL seem to provide adequate
protections for both pension members and their beneficiaries moving
forward in the unfortunate event an individual passes away shortly
before their official retirement date, situations in the past still
linger. An unexpected or untimely death resulted in a beneficiary of a
retirement system member not being able to receive the service retire-
ment benefits that were intended for them and which an eligible member
worked to provide.
In July of 2016, Robert C. Ritchie filed his retirement paperwork with a
joint allowance full option to ensure his wife, Susan Gillinder, would
receive his pension should he predecease her. The paperwork was filed
with the retirement date of September 30, 2016. Unfortunately, Robert
Ritchie passed away from cancer on August 16, 2016. Even though Robert
Ritchie submitted his retirement paperwork and clearly designated his
desire for his wife to receive his pension, Susan Gillinder was only
eligible to receive the in-service death benefit. This bill addresses
this unfortunate situation and allows Susan Gillinder to file a new
service retirement application and option election form on behalf of
Robert Ritchie with a retirement date of August 15, 2016, for a joint
allowance full option. Such an authorization as provided by this bill
would allow the beneficiary of Robert Ritchie to receive the benefits
intended for her in the same manner as those future beneficiaries would
under similar circumstances pursuant to the provisions of the RSSL
amended last year.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A6534-A Referred to Governmental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The cost of this benefit is estimated to be $320,000 based on the
assumption that the payment will be made on March 1, 2019.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7574
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 1, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie, to
file a new service retirement application and option election form
with the New York state and local employees' retirement system on
behalf of such deceased member
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
2 Susan Gillinder, the widow of Robert C. Ritchie, who was a member of the
3 New York state and local employees' retirement system, who died after he
4 filed for retirement but prior to his selected retirement date, shall be
5 authorized to file a new service retirement application and an option
6 election form on behalf of her deceased husband with a joint allowance
7 full option, if, within one year from the effective date of this act,
8 she shall submit a request therefor to the state comptroller. In addi-
9 tion, his date of retirement shall be deemed to have been August 15,
10 2016. Once such application is received, any rights or benefits to the
11 pre-retirement ordinary death benefit payable upon the death of a member
12 in service pursuant to section 448 of the retirement and social security
13 law shall be waived. Any amounts paid by the New York state and local
14 employees' retirement system as the result of the death of Robert C.
15 Ritchie prior to the filing of the request for a service retirement
16 benefit pursuant to this section shall be deducted from the service
17 retirement benefit payable thereafter.
18 § 2. Any additional costs for this act shall be paid by the state of
19 New York.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would authorize Susan Gillinder, the widow of deceased
member Robert C. Ritchie, to file a new service retirement application
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00695-02-5
A. 7574 2
and option election form on behalf of the deceased with the New York
State and Local Employees' Retirement System (NYSLERS). The date of
retirement will be August 15, 2016, one day prior to the date of death
of Robert C. Ritchie. The option election will be a joint allowance
full. Any rights and benefits to an ordinary death benefit payable upon
the death of Robert C. Ritchie shall be waived. Any such death benefit
paid by NYSLERS prior to the filing of a new service retirement applica-
tion will be deducted from the benefits payable under this legislation.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $522,000 which
will be borne by the State of New York as a one-time payment. This esti-
mate assumes that payment will be made on March 1, 2026.
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 January 15, 2025, and intended for use only
during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-17. 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.
