S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
3919
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
February 20, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- 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 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 FIFTEEN,
5 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
6 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
7 FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
8 who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
9 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
10 for five years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death
11 benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
12 years.
13 S 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 FIFTEEN,
17 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
18 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
19 FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years; AND (ii) [all pension-
20 ers who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten
21 years; and (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
22 been retired for five years.
23 S 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:
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00494-02-5
S. 3919 2
1 a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
2 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
3 in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
4 FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
5 who have attained age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
6 (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
7 for five years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death
8 benefit regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
9 years.
10 S 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
11 city of New York, as amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2001, is
12 amended to read as follows:
13 a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
14 A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members of the
15 New York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teachers'
16 retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the New York
17 city fire department pension fund, the New York city board of education
18 retirement system or the relief and pension fund of the department of
19 street cleaning provided for in subchapter one of this chapter on the
20 basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired members who have
21 attained age [sixty-two] FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five
22 years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained age fifty-five and
23 have been retired for ten years; (iii)] all members who retired for
24 disability regardless of age who have been retired for five years; and
25 [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death benefit regardless of
26 age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
27 S 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 2015, 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 $440 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 $69.7 million. The estimated first year cost
would be approximately $1.49 million to the State of New York and
approximately $6.87 million to the participating employers in the PFRS.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2014 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2014
Report of the Actuary and the 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2010,
2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial
Assumptions, and the Codes Rules and Regulations of the State of New
York: Audit and Control
S. 3919 3
The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2014
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 estimate, dated February 12, 2015 and intended for use only
during the 2015 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2015-64,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Employees'
Retirement System and the New York State and Local Police and Fire
Retirement System.