NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8207
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
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
PURPOSE:
To protect public retirees from the continued erosion of their retire-
ment - income from inflation by providing cost-of-living benefits to
more pensioners.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision a of Section 78-A of the Retirement and
Social Security Law to provide cost-of-living (COLA) pension adjustments
to all pensioners who are at least 55 years old and who have been
retired for 5 years. These benefits shall be paid to eligible retirees
starting September 1, 2023.
Section 2 amends subdivision a of Section 378-A of the Retirement and
Social Security Law to provide COLA pension adjustments to all pension-
ers who are at least 55 years old and who have been retired for 5 years.
These benefits shall be paid to eligible retirees starting September 1,
2023.
Section 3 amends subdivision a of Section 532-A of the Education Law to
provide COLA pension adjustments to all pensioners who are at least 55
years old and who have been retired for 5 years. These benefits shall be
paid to eligible retirees starting September 1, 2023.
Section 4 amends subdivision a of Section 13-696 of the Administrative
Code of the City of New York to provide COLA pension adjustments to all
pensioners who are at least 55 years old and who have been retired for 5
years. These benefits shall be paid to eligible retirees starting
September 1, 2023.
Section 5 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2000, Chapter 125 recognized the need to provide public retirees with
COLA adjustment to prevent them from facing financial hardship because
the amount of their pensions did not change even though it cost more for
them to live. Currently, public employees who retire at age 55 must wait
ten years before receiving a COLA adjustment that would result in an
increased pension, while those who retire at age 62 only have to wait
five years before receiving the COLA adjustment.
This bill will help ensure public retirees achieve a dignified and
secure retirement. The COLA adjustment will allow them to continue to
contribute more effectively to the long term health of our economy.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
-2023-204: A.6640-Referred to Governmental Employees
-2021-2022: S.6651-B -Amend and Recommit to Civil Service and
Pensions/A.10058 - Referred to Governmental Employees
-2019-2020: S.5902-E - Amend and Recommit to Civil Service and Pensions
-2017-2018: S.6049-A - Amend and Recommit to Civil Service and
Pensions/A.10351 - Referred to Governmental Employees
-2015-2016: S.3919 - Referred to Civil Service and Pensions
-2013-2014: S.6785 - Referred to Civil Service and Pensions
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8207
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
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 a 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 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
5 five, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided
6 for in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age
7 [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all
8 pensioners who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for
9 ten years; (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
10 been retired for five years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an acci-
11 dental death benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such
12 benefit for five years.
13 § 2. Subdivision a of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu-
14 rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to
15 read as follows:
16 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
17 five, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided
18 for in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age
19 [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been retired for five years; and (ii)
20 [all pensioners who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired
21 for ten years; and (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age
22 who have been retired for five years.
23 § 3. Subdivision a of section 532-a of the education law, as added by
24 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11216-02-5
A. 8207 2
1 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
2 five, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided
3 for in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age
4 [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all
5 pensioners who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for
6 ten years; (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
7 been retired for five years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an acci-
8 dental death benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such
9 benefit for five years.
10 § 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
11 city of New York, as amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2001, is
12 amended to read as follows:
13 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
14 five, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members of
15 the New York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teach-
16 ers' retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the New
17 York city fire department pension fund, the New York city board of
18 education retirement system or the relief and pension fund of the
19 department of street cleaning provided for in subchapter one of this
20 chapter on the basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired
21 members who have attained age [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been
22 retired for five years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained age
23 fifty-five and have been retired for ten years; (iii)] all members who
24 retired for disability regardless of age who have been retired for five
25 years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an accidental death benefit
26 regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
27 § 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 the September 2025 payment, COLA will be payable to pensioners
who have attained age fifty-five and retired for at least 5 years.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System (NYSLERS), the increased costs would be shared by the
State of New York and the local participating employers in NYSLERS. If
this bill were enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, the increase
in the present value of benefits would be approximately $599 million.
In 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:
(1) To fund retrospective costs, pursuant to Section 25 of the Retire-
ment and Social Security Law, the State of New York will be required to
pay $373 million as of March 1, 2026.
(2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of all
participating employers in NYSLERS is 0.09% of billable salary, or
approximately $12 million to the State of New York and approximately $18
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.
This proposal primarily benefits current and former members of Tiers 1
- 5. The cost of this benefit improvement will primarily be borne by
current and future members of Tier 6.
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
A. 8207 3
NYSLPFRS. If this bill were enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session,
the increase in the present value of benefits would be approximately
$126 million.
NYSLPFRS Increase in present Increase in required
value of benefits contributions
Pensioners $ 55 mn $ 0 mn
Actives Tiers 1-5 $ 43 mn $ 51 mn
(Closed)
Actives Tier 6 $ 28 mn $ 75 mn
(Open)
Total $126 mn $126 mn
In NYSLPFRS, this benefit improvement will be funded by increasing the
billing rates charged annually to cover both retrospective and prospec-
tive benefit increases. The annual contribution required of all partic-
ipating employers in NYSLPFRS is 0.2% of billable salary, or approxi-
mately $1.7 million to the State of New York and approximately $7.5
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, 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 April 22, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-140. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
ble 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.
