S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6160--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 31, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, ADDABBO, HARCKHAM -- 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 committee
 
 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-
 FOUR, 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 acci-
 dental  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-
 FOUR, 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

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD08563-06-4
              

 S. 6160--A                          2

 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:
   a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-
 FOUR, 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 acci-
 dental  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-
 FOUR, A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members of
 the New York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teach-
 ers' 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 2024, 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 were enacted during
 the 2024 Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of bene-
 fits would be approximately $611 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 $398 million (including interest) as of March 1, 2025.
   (2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of all
 participating  employers  in  NYSLERS  is  0.09%  of billable salary, or
 approximately $11 million to the State of New York and approximately $17
 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.
 S. 6160--A                          3
 
   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
 NYSLPFRS. If this bill were enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session,
 the  increase  in  the  present value of benefits would be approximately
 $131 million.
 
    NYSLPFRS         Increase in present      Increase in required
                       value benefits           contributions
       Tiers 1 - 5      $107 million             $62 million
            Tier 6      $24 million              $69 million
            Total       $131 million             $131 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
 $11 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, 2023 was used in measuring the  impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
 al  valuation.  Distributions  and  other statistics can be found in the
 2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual  Comprehensive  Financial
 Report.
   The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
 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, 2023
 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  February  6,  2024,  and intended for use only
 during the Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-46, prepared  by
 the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.