SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

Legislation provides that when a New York State Senator or Member of Assembly dies in Office, New York State will provide the beneficiary with a benefit equal to the remainder of the legislator’s annual salary. In the event of a legislator’s death, the appropriate Business Unit needs to submit an accounts payable claim. In order to do so, the Business Unit must establish the beneficiary as a single payment vendor within the Statewide Financial System.

Process and Document Preparation:

Create a voucher in accordance to Section 5 - Agency Payment Preparation and Submittal of this Chapter, with special consideration given to the following fields of the voucher.

VENDOR ID

Obtain a single payment vendor ID from the Office of the State Comptroller’s (OSC) Vendor Management Unit. Enter this single payment vendor ID into the voucher. For instructions on how to request a single payment vendor ID, refer to Chapter X, Section 5.B – Requesting a Single Payment Vendor ID.

WITHHOLDING STATUS

Enter “07”, the code for the withholding status for beneficiaries.

OSC NOTIFICATION

Once the Business Unit obtains the single payment vendor ID and submits the claim for payment, the Business Unit will notify the OSC’s Bureau of State Expenditures, by email at [email protected] that it is processing the deceased legislator’s benefit payment.

The Bureau of State Expenditures will keep a record of such notification. This record will contain the benefit amount of how much is remaining of the deceased legislator’s salary. When a claim for payment is submitted, the Bureau of State Expenditures will contact OSC’s Bureau of Payroll Services to verify the amount of the benefit payment equals the remaining salary of the deceased legislator.

For questions regarding the processing or payment of deceased legislator benefits, please contact the Bureau of State Expenditures’ Customer Service Help Desk at (518) 474-4868, or by email addressed to [email protected].

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 03/19/2012