Bill Text: NY S05631 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to providing cost-of-living adjustments; increases benefits from fifty to one hundred percent.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-20 - PRINT NUMBER 5631C [S05631 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S05631-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5631--C 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 15, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee -- 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: 1 Section 1. Subdivision g 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 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 5 of September, two thousand twenty-three, the surviving spouse of a 6 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that 7 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the 8 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits 9 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred 10 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving 11 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a 12 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-three, or (ii) 13 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever 14 is later. 15 § 2. Subdivision g of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu- 16 rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to 17 read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09819-06-2S. 5631--C 2 1 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 2 of September, two thousand twenty-three, the surviving spouse of a 3 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that 4 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the 5 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits 6 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred 7 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving 8 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a 9 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-three, or (ii) 10 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever 11 is later. 12 § 3. Subdivision g of section 532-a of the education law, as added by 13 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 14 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 15 of September, two thousand twenty-three, the surviving spouse of a 16 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that 17 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the 18 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits 19 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred 20 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving 21 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a 22 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-three, or (ii) 23 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever 24 is later. 25 § 4. Subdivision g of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the 26 city of New York, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is 27 amended to read as follows: 28 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 29 of September, two thousand twenty-three, the surviving spouse of a 30 deceased retired member of the New York city employees' retirement 31 system, the New York city teachers' retirement system, the New York city 32 police pension fund, the New York city fire department pension fund or 33 the New York city board of education retirement system who retired under 34 an option which provides that benefits are to be continued for life to 35 the surviving spouse after the death of the member, shall be entitled to 36 receive a benefit pursuant to this section. Said benefit shall be 37 [fifty] one hundred percent of the monthly benefit which the pensioner 38 would be receiving if living, and shall commence (i) with a payment for 39 the month of September, two thousand twenty-three, or (ii) the month 40 following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever is later. 41 § 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, the cost-of-living benefit payable to a surviving spouse who is eligible for COLA will be increased from fifty percent to one hundred percent of the benefit that the pensioner would have received. 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 $1.4 billion. Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the increased costs would be shared byS. 5631--C 3 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 $150 million. The estimated first year cost would be approximately $3.0 million to the State of New York and approximately $11 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. 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 January 14, 2022, and intended for use only during the 2022 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2022-50, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
