Senate Bill S6049A

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6049--A
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 10, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
   -- recommitted to the Committee  on  Civil  Service  and  Pensions  in
   accordance  with  Senate  Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
   amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
   tee
 
 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:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision a of section 78-a of the retirement and  social
 security law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to
 read as follows:
   a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN,
 A  cost-of-living  adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
 FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years;  (ii)  [all  pensioners
 who  have  attained  age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
 for five years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an  accidental  death
 benefit  regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
 years.
   § 2. Subdivision a of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu-
 rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of  2000,  is  amended  to
 read as follows:
   a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN,
 A  cost-of-living  adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
 FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years; AND (ii) [all  pension-
 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.
              

                                                            LBD11287-03-8

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 years; and (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age  who  have
 been retired for five years.
   §  3. Subdivision a of section 532-a of the education law, as added by
 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
   a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN,
 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis  provided  for
 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
 FIFTY-FIVE  and  have  been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
 who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired  for  ten  years;
 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
 for  five  years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death
 benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for  five
 years.
   § 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
 city  of  New  York,  as  amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2001, is
 amended to read as follows:
   a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN,
 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members  of  the
 New  York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teachers'
 retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the  New  York
 city  fire department pension fund, the New York city board of education
 retirement system or the relief and pension fund of  the  department  of
 street  cleaning  provided  for in subchapter one of this chapter on the
 basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired members who  have
 attained  age  [sixty-two]  FIFTY-FIVE  and  have  been retired for five
 years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained  age  fifty-five  and
 have  been  retired  for  ten  years; (iii)] all members who retired for
 disability regardless of age who have been retired for five  years;  and
 [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death benefit regardless of
 age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
   § 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 2018, 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 $418 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 $77 million. The estimated first year cost would
 be approximately $1.8 million to the State of New York and approximately
 $7.5 million to the participating employers in the PFRS.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   The membership data used in  measuring  the  impact  of  the  proposed
 change  was  the same as that used in the March 31, 2017 actuarial valu-
 ation.  Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the  2017
 Report  of  the  Actuary  and  the  2017  Comprehensive Annual Financial
 Report.

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   The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the  2015,
 2016,  and  2017  Annual  Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
 tions, 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, 2017
 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 estimate, dated January 19,  2018,  and  intended  for  use  only
 during  the  2018  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2018-37,
 prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement
 System.