S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6640
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 25, 2023
___________
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:
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 TWENTY-
THREE, 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 TWENTY-
THREE, 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 pensioners who have attained age fifty-five and have been
retired for ten 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:
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08563-02-3
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a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-
THREE, 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 TWENTY-
THREE, 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 2023, COLA will be payable to pensioners
who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired at least five
years.
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 is enacted during
the 2023 legislative session, the increase in the present value of bene-
fits would be approximately $617 million.
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:
(1) To fund retrospective costs, the State of New York will be
required to pay $409 million as of March 1, 2024.
(2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of all
participating employers in the NYSLERS is 0.09% of billable salary, or
approximately $11.4 million to the State of New York and approximately
$16.5 million to local participating employers in the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2025. This PERMANENT ANNUAL COST will vary in subsequent bill-
ing cycles with changes in the billing 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
A. 6640 3
NYSLPFRS. If this bill were enacted during the 2023 legislative session,
the increase in the present value of benefits would be approximately
$132 million.
NYSLPFRS Increase in present Increase in future
value benefits contributions
Tiers 1 - 5 $111 million $70 million
Tier 6 $21 million $62 million
Total $132 million $132 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 0.3% of billable salary, or
approximately $2.6 million to the State of New York and approximately
$10 million to the local participating employers in the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2025. This PERMANENT ANNUAL COST will vary in subse-
quent billing cycles with changes in the billing rate and salary of the
affected members.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 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, 2022
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 March 30, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-108, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.