S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8023
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 15, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 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 cost of living adjustments for certain retirees

   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 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 and have been retired for [five] TWO years; (ii) all pensioners  who
 have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for [ten] FIVE years;
 (iii)  all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
 for [five] TWO years; and (iv) all recipients  of  an  accidental  death
 benefit  regardless  of  age  who  have  been receiving such benefit for
 [five] TWO 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 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  and have been retired for [five] TWO years; (ii) all pensioners who
 have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for [ten] FIVE years;
 and (iii) all disability pensioners regardless  of  age  who  have  been
 retired for [five] TWO 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 cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis  provided
 for  in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age sixty-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11191-02-5
              

 S. 8023                             2
 
 two and have been retired for [five] TWO years; (ii) all pensioners  who
 have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for [ten] FIVE years;
 (iii)  all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
 for  [five]  TWO  years;  and (iv) all recipients of an accidental death
 benefit regardless of age who  have  been  receiving  such  benefit  for
 [five] TWO 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 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 and have been retired for [five]
 TWO years; (ii) all retired members who have attained age fifty-five and
 have been retired for [ten] FIVE years; (iii) all  members  who  retired
 for  disability  regardless  of age who have been retired for [five] TWO
 years; and (iv) all recipients of an accidental death benefit regardless
 of age who have been receiving such benefit for [five] TWO years.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This bill would expand eligibility for the  defined  benefit  cost-of-
 living  adjustment  (COLA)  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
 System.   Effective immediately, COLA will be  payable  to  (1)  service
 pensioners  aged  sixty-two  years  and  retired  two years, (2) service
 pensioners aged fifty-five years and retired five years, (3)  disability
 pensioners  regardless of age once retired two years, and (4) accidental
 death beneficiaries after receiving a benefit for two years.
   Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and  Local  Employees'
 Retirement  System  (NYSLERS), if this bill were enacted during the 2025
 Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of benefits would
 be approximately $1.67 billion.
   In 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, 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,
 of $1.47 billion as of March 1, 2026. (2) To fund prospective costs, the
 increase  in  the  annual  contribution  required  of  all participating
 employers in NYSLERS is 0.12% of billable salary, or  approximately  $16
 million  to  the  State of New York and approximately $24 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.
   This proposal primarily benefits current and former members of Tiers 1
 -  5.  The  cost  of this benefit improvement will primarily be borne by
 current and future members of Tier 6.
   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
 NYSLPFRS  and  spread  over  future  billing  cycles.  If this bill were
 S. 8023                             3
 
 enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, the increase in the present
 value of benefits would be approximately $154 million.
 
 NYSLPFRS                      Increase in present    Increase in required
                               value of benefits      contributions
 Pensioners                    $ 66 mn                $ 0 mn
 Actives Tiers 1-5 (Closed)    $ 58 mn                $ 62 mn
 Actives Tier 6 (Open)         $ 30 mn                $ 92 mn
 Total                         $154 mn                $154 mn
 
   In NYSLPFRS, this benefit improvement will be funded by increasing the
 billing  rates charged annually to cover both retrospective and prospec-
 tive benefit increases. The increase in the annual contribution required
 of all participating employers in NYSLPFRS is 0.3% of  billable  salary,
 or approximately $2.62 million to the State of New York and approximate-
 ly  $11.3  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, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
 2024  Report  of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
 and Supplementary Information.
   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  May 14, 2025, and intended for use only during
 the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-138.  As  Chief
 Actuary  of  the  New  York  State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
 Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
 ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of  Professional
 Conduct  and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of
 Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am  a
 member.