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S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6048
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
March 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
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
S. 6048 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.