STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10058
IN ASSEMBLY
April 29, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- 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 two, 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 two, 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:
25 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
26 two, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided
27 for in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09820-07-2
A. 10058 2
1 [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all
2 pensioners who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for
3 ten years; (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
4 been retired for five years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an acci-
5 dental death benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such
6 benefit for five years.
7 § 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
8 city of New York, as amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2001, is
9 amended to read as follows:
10 a. [A] Effective on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-
11 two, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members of
12 the New York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teach-
13 ers' retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the New
14 York city fire department pension fund, the New York city board of
15 education retirement system or the relief and pension fund of the
16 department of street cleaning provided for in subchapter one of this
17 chapter on the basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired
18 members who have attained age [sixty-two] fifty-five and have been
19 retired for five years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained age
20 fifty-five and have been retired for ten years; (iii)] all members who
21 retired for disability regardless of age who have been retired for five
22 years; and [(iv)] (iii) all recipients of an accidental death benefit
23 regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
24 § 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 2022, 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, 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 sufficient to
pay the cost of the provision. If this bill were enacted, the increase
in the present value of benefits would be approximately $532 million.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the increased costs would be shared by
the State of New York and the participating employers in the PFRS. If
this bill were enacted, the increase in the present value of benefits
would be approximately $112 million. The estimated first year cost would
be approximately $2.3 million to the State of New York and approximately
$8.9 million to the participating employers in the PFRS.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2021 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2021 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2021 Report of the Actuary and the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
and 2021 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, 2021
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
A. 10058 3
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 December 28, 2021, and intended for use only
during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-40,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
