STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6639--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO, KELLES, WILLIAMS -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to
the Committee on Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly
Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, the education
law and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation
to providing cost-of-living adjustments
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision g of section 78-a of the retirement and social
2 security law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day
5 of September, two thousand twenty-five, the surviving spouse of a
6 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that
7 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the
8 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits
9 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred
10 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving
11 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a
12 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-five, or (ii)
13 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever
14 is later.
15 § 2. Subdivision g of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu-
16 rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to
17 read as follows:
18 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day
19 of September, two thousand twenty-five, the surviving spouse of a
20 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that
21 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08560-10-4
A. 6639--A 2
1 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits
2 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred
3 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving
4 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a
5 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-five, or (ii)
6 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever
7 is later.
8 § 3. Subdivision g of section 532-a of the education law, as added by
9 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
10 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day
11 of September, two thousand twenty-five, the surviving spouse of a
12 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that
13 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the
14 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits
15 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred
16 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving
17 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a
18 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-five, or (ii)
19 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever
20 is later.
21 § 4. Subdivision g of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
22 city of New York, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is
23 amended to read as follows:
24 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day
25 of September, two thousand twenty-five, the surviving spouse of a
26 deceased retired member of the New York city employees' retirement
27 system, the New York city teachers' retirement system, the New York city
28 police pension fund, the New York city fire department pension fund or
29 the New York city board of education retirement system who retired under
30 an option which provides that benefits are to be continued for life to
31 the surviving spouse after the death of the member, shall be entitled to
32 receive a benefit pursuant to this section. Said benefit shall be
33 [fifty] one hundred percent of the monthly benefit which the pensioner
34 would be receiving if living, and shall commence (i) with a payment for
35 the month of September, two thousand twenty-five, or (ii) the month
36 following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever is later.
37 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would provide an increase in the defined benefit cost-of-
living adjustment (COLA) for New York public retirement systems. Start-
ing with a payment in September 2025, the cost-of-living benefit payable
to a surviving spouse who is eligible for COLA will be increased from
fifty percent to one hundred percent of the benefit that the pensioner
would have received.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System (NYSLERS), pursuant to Section 25 of the Retirement
and Social Security Law, the increased costs would be borne entirely by
the State of New York and would require an itemized appropriation suffi-
cient to pay the cost of the provision. If this bill were enacted during
the 2024 Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of bene-
fits would be approximately $1.7 billion.
In the NYSLERS, this benefit improvement will be funded by (1) billing
a past service cost to cover retrospective benefit increases and (2)
increasing the billing rates charged annually to cover prospective bene-
fit increases, as follows:
A. 6639--A 3
(1) To fund retrospective costs, the State of New York will be
required to pay $1.82 billion (including interest) as of March 1, 2025.
(2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of all
participating employers in NYSLERS is 0.03% of billable salary, or
approximately $4.4 million to the State of New York and approximately
$6.6 million to the local participating employers. This permanent annu-
al cost will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the bill-
ing rate and salary of the affected members.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), the increased costs would be shared
by the State of New York and the local participating employers in the
NYSLPFRS. If this bill were enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session,
the increase in the present value of benefits would be approximately
$180 million.
NYSLPFRS Increase in present Increase in required
value benefits contributions
Tiers 1-5 $173 million $86 million
Tier 6 $7 million $94 million
Total $180 million $180 million
In the NYSLPFRS, this benefit improvement will be funded by increasing
the billing rates charged annually to cover both retrospective and
prospective benefit increases. The annual contribution required of all
participating employers in NYSLPFRS is 0.4% of billable salary, or
approximately $3.4 million to the State of New York and approximately
$14 million to the local participating employers. This permanent annual
cost will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the billing
rate and salary of the affected members.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
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 26, 2024, and intended for use only
during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-45,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
