New York Assembly Bill A07571

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 4/1/25
• Refer: 4/1/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Authorizes Liliana Fernandez-Clemente, the widow of Daniel Clemente, 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.

Summary

This bill is a private pension relief measure for the widow of Daniel Clemente, a deceased member of the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System (NYSLERS). It authorizes Liliana Fernandez-Clemente to submit a new service retirement application and option election form on behalf of her husband, even though he died after beginning retirement paperwork but before his selected retirement date. The bill deems his retirement date to have been December 8, 2024, and requires the election of a joint allowance full option. The authorization must be requested within one year of the act’s effective date. The bill also provides that any pre-retirement ordinary death benefit already paid under the Retirement and Social Security Law will be waived and offset against the retirement benefits payable under this special authorization. In effect, it allows the surviving spouse to receive the retirement benefit structure the member was in the process of selecting, rather than leaving the family limited to the ordinary death benefit alone. The act takes effect immediately and assigns any additional cost to the State of New York.

Impact

The bill creates a narrow, case-specific exception to the normal rules governing retirement applications, option elections, and death benefits under the Retirement and Social Security Law as administered by NYSLERS. It authorizes the State Comptroller to accept a posthumous retirement filing and treat the member as if he retired on a specified date, which can alter the benefit payable to the surviving spouse and require recalculation of system obligations. The fiscal note estimates an immediate past service cost of about $634,000, to be borne by the state as a one-time payment.

Sentiment

The available materials suggest the bill is remedial and sympathetic in nature, aimed at correcting an outcome that appears to have disadvantaged the deceased member’s widow because death occurred after retirement paperwork had begun but before the retirement date took effect. There are no recorded committee transcripts or votes indicating opposition or debate, so the overall sentiment appears favorable or at least uncontroversial in the available record. The fiscal note acknowledges a state cost, but the bill text and context frame that cost as the price of providing individualized relief.

Contention

The main potential point of contention is fiscal: the bill imposes an estimated one-time cost on the state and requires the retirement system to process a posthumous retirement election outside the usual administrative timeline. A secondary issue is policy consistency, since the measure creates a special exception for one named individual and could be viewed as setting a precedent for similar private pension bills. No specific objections from legislators, the retirement system, or other stakeholders are included in the provided record.