STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5307 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 13, 2025 ___________ 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: 1 Section 1. Subdivision f 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 f. Commencing September first, two thousand, all retired members who 5 have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 6 and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this 7 section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the 8 basis provided for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be 9 equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index (all urban 10 consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published 11 by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the year 12 of retirement through calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 13 according to the following schedule: 14 Year of retirement Percentage 15 1968 through 1996 50% 16 1966 and 1967 55% 17 1965 60% 18 1964 65% 19 1963 70% 20 1962 80% 21 1961 90% 22 prior to 1961 100% EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06255-02-5
A. 5307 2 1 Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to 2 exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise 3 payable, computed without optional modification. Any benefit received 4 pursuant to this subdivision shall be in lieu of any benefit received 5 pursuant to section seventy-eight of this title. 6 Commencing September first, two thousand twenty-five, all retired 7 members who have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred 8 ninety-seven and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivi- 9 sion a of this section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly 10 installments on the basis provided for in this subdivision. Said 11 adjusted benefit shall be equal to a percentage of the change in consum- 12 er price index (all urban consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all 13 items, 1982-84=100), published by the United States bureau of labor 14 statistics, measured from the year of retirement through calendar year 15 nineteen hundred ninety-seven according to the following schedule: 16 Year of retirement Percentage 17 1973 through 1996 50% 18 1971 and 1972 55% 19 1970 60% 20 1969 65% 21 1968 70% 22 1967 80% 23 1966 90% 24 prior to 1966 100% 25 Said adjusted benefit commencing September first, two thousand twenty- 26 five, shall be computed on the base benefit amount of the retirement 27 allowance otherwise payable, computed without optional modification, set 28 forth herein above. Any benefit received pursuant to this subdivision 29 shall be in lieu of any benefit received pursuant to section seventy- 30 eight of this title. 31 § 2. Subdivision f of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu- 32 rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to 33 read as follows: 34 f. Commencing September first, two thousand, all retired members who 35 have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 36 and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this 37 section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the 38 basis provided for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be 39 equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index (all urban 40 consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published 41 by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the year 42 of retirement through calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 43 according to the following schedule: 44 Year of retirement Percentage 45 1968 through 1996 50% 46 1966 and 1967 55% 47 1965 60% 48 1964 65% 49 1963 70% 50 1962 80% 51 1961 90% 52 prior to 1961 100% 53 Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to 54 exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise
A. 5307 3 1 payable, computed without optional modification. Any benefit received 2 pursuant to this subdivision shall be in lieu of any benefit received 3 pursuant to section three hundred seventy-eight of this title. 4 Commencing September first, two thousand twenty-five, all retired 5 members who have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred 6 ninety-seven and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivi- 7 sion a of this section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly 8 installments on the basis provided for in this subdivision. Said 9 adjusted benefit shall be equal to a percentage of the change in consum- 10 er price index (all urban consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all 11 items, 1982-84=100), published by the United States bureau of labor 12 statistics, measured from the year of retirement through calendar year 13 nineteen hundred ninety-seven according to the following schedule: 14 Year of retirement Percentage 15 1973 through 1996 50% 16 1971 and 1972 55% 17 1970 60% 18 1969 65% 19 1968 70% 20 1967 80% 21 1966 90% 22 prior to 1966 100% 23 Said adjusted benefit commencing September first, two thousand twenty- 24 five, shall be computed on the base benefit amount of the retirement 25 allowance otherwise payable, computed without optional modification, set 26 forth herein above. Any benefit received pursuant to this subdivision 27 shall be in lieu of any benefit received pursuant to section three 28 hundred seventy-eight of this title. 29 § 3. Subdivision f of section 532-a of the education law, as added by 30 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 31 f. Commencing September first, two thousand, all retired members who 32 have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 33 and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this 34 section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the 35 basis provided for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be 36 equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index (all urban 37 consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published 38 by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the year 39 of retirement through calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 40 according to the following schedule: 41 Year of retirement Percentage 42 1968 through 1996 50% 43 1966 and 1967 55% 44 1965 60% 45 1964 65% 46 1963 70% 47 1962 80% 48 1961 90% 49 prior to 1961 100% 50 Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to 51 exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise 52 payable, computed without optional modification excluding any annuity 53 derived from voluntary contributions made by members, except those made 54 pursuant to elections under subdivision one of section five hundred 55 eleven-a or paragraph c of subdivision three of section five hundred
A. 5307 4 1 sixteen of this article. Any benefits received pursuant to this subdivi- 2 sion shall be in lieu of any benefits received pursuant to section five 3 hundred thirty-two of this article, unless such benefits are in excess 4 of those provided by this section, in which case such benefits shall be 5 paid by the retirement system pursuant to such provision. 6 Commencing September first, two thousand twenty-five, all retired 7 members who have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred 8 ninety-seven and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivi- 9 sion a of this section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly 10 installments on the basis provided for in this subdivision. Said 11 adjusted benefit shall be equal to a percentage of the change in consum- 12 er price index (all urban consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all 13 items, 1982-84=100), published by the United States bureau of labor 14 statistics, measured from the year of retirement through calendar year 15 nineteen hundred ninety-seven according to the following schedule: 16 Year of retirement Percentage 17 1973 through 1996 50% 18 1971 and 1972 55% 19 1970 60% 20 1969 65% 21 1968 70% 22 1967 80% 23 1966 90% 24 prior to 1966 100% 25 Said adjusted benefit, commencing September first, two thousand twenty- 26 five, shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to exceed eighteen 27 thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise payable, computed 28 without optional modification, set forth herein above. Any benefit 29 received pursuant to this subdivision shall be in lieu of any benefit 30 received pursuant to section five hundred thirty-two of this article, 31 unless such benefits are in excess of those provided by this section, in 32 which case such benefits shall be paid by the retirement system pursuant 33 to such provision. 34 § 4. Subdivision f of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the 35 city of New York, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is 36 amended to read as follows: 37 f. Commencing September first, two thousand, all retired members who 38 have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 39 and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this 40 section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the 41 basis provided for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be 42 equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index (all urban 43 consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published 44 by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the year 45 of retirement through calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven 46 according to the following schedule: 47 Year of retirement Percentage 48 1968 through 1996 50% 49 1966 and 1967 55% 50 1965 60% 51 1964 65% 52 1963 70% 53 1962 80% 54 1961 90% 55 prior to 1961 100%
A. 5307 5 1 Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to 2 exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual fixed retirement allow- 3 ance otherwise payable, computed without optional modification. Any 4 benefit received pursuant to this subdivision shall be in lieu of any 5 benefit received pursuant to chapter three hundred ninety of the laws of 6 nineteen hundred ninety-eight, and any preceding provision of law 7 providing for supplementation. 8 Commencing September first, two thousand twenty-five, all retired 9 members who have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred 10 ninety-seven and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivi- 11 sion a of this section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly 12 installments on the basis provided for in this subdivision. Said 13 adjusted benefit shall be equal to a percentage of the change in consum- 14 er price index (all urban consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all 15 items, 1982-84=100), published by the United States bureau of labor 16 statistics, measured from the year of retirement through calendar year 17 nineteen hundred ninety-seven according to the following schedule: 18 Year of retirement Percentage 19 1973 through 1996 50% 20 1971 and 1972 55% 21 1970 60% 22 1969 65% 23 1968 70% 24 1967 80% 25 1966 90% 26 prior to 1966 100% 27 Said adjusted benefit, commencing September first, two thousand twenty- 28 five, shall be computed on the base benefit amount of the retirement 29 allowance otherwise payable, computed without optional modification, set 30 forth herein above. Any benefit received pursuant to this subdivision 31 shall be in lieu of any benefit received pursuant to section 13-695 of 32 this article. 33 § 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 2025, additional payments will be made for those members who retired after 1960 and prior to 1973. 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 2025 Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of bene- fits would be approximately $68,600. To fund these costs, the State of New York will be required to pay $76,600 (including interest) as of March 1, 2026. 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. If this bill were enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, the increase in the present value of benefits would be approximately $188,000. NYSLPFRS Increase in present Increase in required
A. 5307 6 value of benefits contributions Pensioners $ 188,000 $ 0.0 Actives Tiers 1-5 (Closed) $0.0 $ 77,000 Actives Tier 6 (Open) $ 0.0 $ 111,000 Total $ 188,000 $ 188,000 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 annual contribution required of all partic- ipating employers in NYSLPFRS would be approximately $3,500 to the State of New York and approximately $15,000 to the local participating employ- ers. This permanent annual cost will vary in subsequent billing cycles with changes in the billing rate and salary of the affected members. These estimated costs are based on 32 retirees and beneficiaries in NYSLERS and 31 in NYSLPFRS as of March 31, 2024. 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 January 23, 2025, and intended for use only during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-40. As Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable 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.