Grants Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits because Janice Korzeniewski was directed by her employer to return to work and contracted COVID-19 within 45 days of reporting to work and died from such disease.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7693
SPONSOR: Chludzinski TITLE OF BILL:
An act granting Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of
Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill permits Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of
Janice Korzeniewski, to change the retirement benefit to an accidental
death benefit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section I: Makes Lawrence Korzeniewski eligible to request conversion of
Janice Korzeniewski's retirement benefit into accidental death benefit
by means of filing a written request with the state comptroller for such
to be the case within one year of the passage of this act.
Section II: Assumes all past service costs for implementing Section.1 of
the act to the state of New York.
Section III: Sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic caused the state of New York to pass
Chapter 89 of the laws of 2020, which provided for an accidental death
benefit to active members of the New York State and Local Retirement
System directed to be present in their normal workplace or assigned
workplace on or after March 1, 2020 and who subsequently died from
COVID-19 as a result of being exposed to illness while in the workplace.
Janice Korzeniewski was such an employee in the Town of Lancaster. She
suffered a stroke and formally retired in August of 2020 before passing
away in October of that year. This legislation recognizes her long and
faithful. service to the people of the State of New York by correcting a
deficiency of Chapter 89 of the laws of 2020 to grant Janice
Korzeniewski's widower, Lawrence Korzeniewski, the option to apply for
and receive an accidental death benefit on behalf of his wife.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023/24: A.5824-A - referred to governmental employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7693
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 4, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CHLUDZINSKI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT granting Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of
Janice Korzeniewski, accidental death benefits
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 the retirement and
2 social security law or of any general, special or local law to the
3 contrary, Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary of Janice
4 Korzeniewski, a member of the New York state and local employees'
5 retirement system, who as directed by her employer worked from March 1,
6 2020 through April 16, 2020 and who contracted COVID-19 within forty-
7 five days of reporting to work and died from the disease on October 19,
8 2020, as documented on such member's death certificate, shall be deemed
9 eligible to request conversion of the member's service or disability
10 retirement benefit into an accidental death benefit, if within one year
11 of the effective date of this act, he shall have filed a written request
12 with the state comptroller.
13 § 2. All past service costs of implementing the provisions of this act
14 shall be borne by the state of New York.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Lawrence Korzeniewski, the statutory beneficiary
of deceased retiree Janice Korzeniewski, to request conversion of Janice
Korzeniewski's service retirement benefit into an accidental death bene-
fit. Janice Korzeniewski retired from the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System effective August 10, 2020. The service
retirement benefit is not currently eligible for conversion pursuant to
§ 607-i of the Retirement and Social Security Law, which requires the
deceased to have retired prior to July 1, 2020.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02916-02-5
A. 7693 2
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, there
will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $192,000 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 February 3, 2025, and intended for use only
during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-27. 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.
