Bill Text: NY A06015 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides a cost-of-living adjustment for members of retirement systems by increasing the base benefit amount for computation to $21,000.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to governmental employees [A06015 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06015-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6015

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 30, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. STECK, GUNTHER, ZINERMAN, LUPARDO -- 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 c 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    c. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base  benefit
     5  amount  not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual retirement
     6  allowance defined in subdivision b of this section.   Effective  on  the
     7  first  day  of  September, two thousand twenty-four, said cost-of-living
     8  adjustment shall be computed on a base  benefit  amount  not  to  exceed
     9  twenty-one  thousand  dollars of the annual retirement allowance defined
    10  in subdivision b of this section.
    11    § 2. Subdivision c of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu-
    12  rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of  2000,  is  amended  to
    13  read as follows:
    14    c.  Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base benefit
    15  amount not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual  retirement
    16  allowance  defined  in  subdivision b of this section.  Effective on the
    17  first day of September, two thousand  twenty-four,  said  cost-of-living
    18  adjustment  shall  be  computed  on  a base benefit amount not to exceed
    19  twenty-one thousand dollars of the annual retirement  allowance  defined
    20  in subdivision b of this section.
    21    §  3. Subdivision c of section 532-a of the education law, as added by
    22  chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
    23    c. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base  benefit
    24  amount  not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual retirement

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06045-02-3
        A. 6015                             2

     1  allowance defined in subdivision b of this section.   Effective  on  the
     2  first  day  of  September, two thousand twenty-four, said cost-of-living
     3  adjustment shall be computed on a base  benefit  amount  not  to  exceed
     4  twenty-one  thousand  dollars of the annual retirement allowance defined
     5  in subdivision b of this section.
     6    § 4. Subdivision c of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
     7  city of New York, as added by chapter  125  of  the  laws  of  2000,  is
     8  amended to read as follows:
     9    c.  Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base benefit
    10  amount not to exceed eighteen  thousand  dollars  of  the  annual  fixed
    11  retirement  allowance  defined in subdivision b of this section.  Effec-
    12  tive on the first day of September, two thousand twenty-four, said cost-
    13  of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base benefit amount  not  to
    14  exceed  twenty-one  thousand  dollars of the annual retirement allowance
    15  defined in subdivision b of this section.
    16    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This bill would amend subdivision c of Section 532-a of the  Education
        Law  to  apply the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) percentage to a base
        benefit amount not to exceed $21,000 of annual retirement  benefit.  The
        current  cap  on  the  annual  base  benefit amount for COLA purposes is
        $18,000. This benefit improvement would be effective in September 2024.
          The annual cost to the employers of members  of  the  New  York  State
        Teachers'  Retirement  System  for this benefit is estimated to be $78.6
        million or .43% of payroll if this bill is enacted.
          Member data is from  the  System's  most  recent  actuarial  valuation
        files,  consisting  of  data provided by the employers to the Retirement
        System. Data distributions and statistics can be found in  the  System's
        Annual  Report.  System assets are as reported in the System's financial
        statements and can also be found in the System's Annual Report. Actuari-
        al assumptions and methods are provided in the System's Actuarial  Valu-
        ation Report.
          The  source  of  this  estimate is Fiscal Note 2023-19 dated March 10,
        2023 prepared by the Office of the Actuary of the New York State  Teach-
        ers'  Retirement  System  and  is  intended for use only during the 2023
        Legislative Session. I, Richard A. Young, am the Chief Actuary  for  the
        New  York State Teachers' Retirement System. I am a member of the Ameri-
        can Academy of Actuaries and I meet the Qualification Standards  of  the
        American  Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained
        herein.