New York A 6015: Provides a cost-of-living adjustment for members of retirement systems

Bill Text

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 (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
[ ] 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.