Chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 12B the following section:-

Section 12C. Notwithstanding section 12, if a former member of the uniformed division of the state police who is a member inactive as a result of their retirement dies and leaves a spouse to whom such member has been married for at least 1 year and with whom such member was living at the time of the death of such member, or who the board finds had been living apart from said member for justifiable cause other than desertion or moral turpitude on the part of such spouse who is eligible to receive a member-survivor allowance under the provisions of option (d) subdivision (2) of section 12, such surviving spouse shall receive a lifetime, monthly allowance equal to the amount they would receive if the deceased member had, upon retirement, elected option (c) of said subdivision (2) of said section 12 and nominated their spouse as their sole surviving eligible beneficiary; provided, however, that the retirement board shall withhold from each payment made to such surviving spouse during the first year of such payments, such an amount, in equal increments, as is necessary to account for the difference in the total amount the deceased member received pursuant to whichever option they elected at the time of their retirement from the date of their retirement to the date of their death and the total amount they would have received had they elected said option (c) from the date of their retirement. Any retirement benefit provided to a surviving spouse pursuant to this paragraph shall be in lieu of, and not in addition to, any benefits they may have otherwise received from the state retirement board as the deceased member’s beneficiary.