Bill Text: NY A10058 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides a cost-of-living adjustment for New York public retirement systems.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-04-29 - referred to governmental employees [A10058 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A10058-Introduced.html

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                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.