Amd SS78-a & 378-a, R & SS L; amd S532-a, Ed L; amd S13-696, NYC Ad Cd
Relates to providing a cost-of-living adjustment for New York public retirement systems; raises the age of eligibility for COLA to age 55 and retired five years.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2785
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 21, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE, BENEDETTO, BOYLAND, CAHILL, COLTON,
DelMONTE, McENENY, ORTIZ, WEISENBERG -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
AUBRY, CHRISTENSEN, CLARK, GREENE, JOHN, PERRY, PHEFFER, J. RIVERA,
N. RIVERA, SWEENEY, WEINSTEIN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee 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 nine, a
5 cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for in
6 this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
7 fifty-five and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
8 who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
9 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
10 for five years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an accidental death
11 benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
12 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 nine, a
17 cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for in
18 this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
19 fifty-five and have been retired for five years; and (ii) [all pension-
20 ers who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05600-01-9
A. 2785 2
1 years; and (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
2 been retired for five years.
3 § 3. Subdivision a of section 532-a of the education law, as added by
4 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
5 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand nine, a
6 cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for in
7 this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
8 fifty-five and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
9 who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
10 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
11 for five years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an accidental death
12 benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
13 years.
14 § 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
15 city of New York, as amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2001, is
16 amended to read as follows:
17 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand nine, a
18 cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members of the New
19 York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teachers'
20 retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the New York
21 city fire department pension fund, the New York city board of education
22 retirement system or the relief and pension fund of the department of
23 street cleaning provided for in subchapter one of this chapter on the
24 basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired members who have
25 attained age [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been retired for five
26 years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained age fifty-five and
27 have been retired for ten years; (iii)] all members who retired for
28 disability regardless of age who have been retired for five years; and
29 [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an accidental death benefit regardless of
30 age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
31 § 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 2009 COLA will be payable to pensioners
who have attained age fifty-five and been retired at least five years.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System and the New York State and Local Police and Fire
Retirement System, if this bill were enacted there would be an estimated
first year cost of approximately $27 million to the State of New York,
$36 million to participating employers in the New York State and Local
Employees' Retirement System and $6.5 million to the participating
employers in the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement
System.
This estimate, dated December 22, 2008 and intended for use only
during the 2009 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2009-13,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System and the New York State and Local Police and Fire
Retirement System.
