Bill Text: NY A06639 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relates to providing cost-of-living adjustments; increases benefits from fifty to one hundred percent.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-20 - print number 6639a [A06639 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A06639-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relates to providing cost-of-living adjustments; increases benefits from fifty to one hundred percent.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-20 - print number 6639a [A06639 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A06639-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6639 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY April 25, 2023 ___________ 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 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-four, 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-four, 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: 18 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 19 of September, two thousand twenty-four, the surviving spouse of a 20 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that 21 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the 22 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits 23 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred 24 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08560-04-3A. 6639 2 1 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a 2 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-four, or (ii) 3 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever 4 is later. 5 § 3. Subdivision g of section 532-a of the education law, as added by 6 chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 7 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 8 of September, two thousand twenty-four, the surviving spouse of a 9 deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides that 10 benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after the 11 death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits 12 pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be [fifty] one hundred 13 percent of the monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving 14 pursuant to this section if living, and shall commence (i) with a 15 payment for the month of September, two thousand twenty-four, or (ii) 16 the month following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever 17 is later. 18 § 4. Subdivision g of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the 19 city of New York, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is 20 amended to read as follows: 21 g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective the first day 22 of September, two thousand twenty-four, the surviving spouse of a 23 deceased retired member of the New York city employees' retirement 24 system, the New York city teachers' retirement system, the New York city 25 police pension fund, the New York city fire department pension fund or 26 the New York city board of education retirement system who retired under 27 an option which provides that benefits are to be continued for life to 28 the surviving spouse after the death of the member, shall be entitled to 29 receive a benefit pursuant to this section. Said benefit shall be 30 [fifty] one hundred percent of the monthly benefit which the pensioner 31 would be receiving if living, and shall commence (i) with a payment for 32 the month of September, two thousand twenty-four, or (ii) the month 33 following the death of the deceased retired member, whichever is later. 34 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: As it relates to the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, this bill would amend subdivision g of Section 532-a of the Education Law to increase the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) benefit to surviving spouse beneficiaries of deceased retirees who elected an option which provides a lifetime benefit to their surviving spouse. The COLA survi- vor benefit would be equal to 100% of the monthly benefit which the retiree would be receiving if alive. The current COLA survivor benefit is equal to 50% of the benefit the retiree would be receiving if alive. This increase in spousal survivor benefit would also be applicable to the "catch-up" supplementation provided under subdivision f to eligible retirees who retired before January 1, 1997. This benefit improvement would be effective in September of 2024. The annual cost to the employers of members of NYSTRS for this benefit is estimated to be $39.3 million or 0.21% 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-A. 6639 3 al assumptions and methods are provided in the System's Actuarial Valu- ation Report. The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2023-20 dated March 13, 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. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would bill would provide an increase in the defined benefit cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for New York public retirement systems. Starting with a payment in September 2024, 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 (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 2023 legislative session, the increase in the present value of bene- fits would be approximately $1.5 billion. In the NYSLERS, this benefit improvement will be funded by (1) billing a past service cost to cover retrospective benefit increases and (2) increasing the billing rates charged annually to cover prospective bene- fit increases, as follows: (1) To fund retrospective costs, the State of New York will be required to pay $1.60 billion (including interest) as of March 1, 2024. (2) To fund prospective costs, the annual contribution required of all participating employers in the NYSLERS is 0.04% of billable salary, or approximately $4.5 million to the State of New York and approximately $6.5 million to local participating employers in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. This permanent annual cost will vary in subsequent bill- ing cycles with changes in the billing rate and salary of the affected members. 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 the NYSLPFRS. If this bill were enacted during the 2023 legislative session, the increase in the present value of benefits would be approximately $158 million. NYSLPFRS Increase in present Increase in future value benefits contributions Tiers 1-5 $152 million $85 million Tier 6 $6 million $73 million Total $158 million $158 million In the NYSLPFRS, this benefit improvement will be funded by increasing the billing rates charged annually to cover both retrospective and prospective benefit increases. The annual contribution required of all participating employers in NYSLPFRS is 0.4% of billable salary, or approximately $3.4 million to the State of New York and approximately $14 million to the local participating employers in the fiscal yearA. 6639 4 ending March 31, 2025. This permanent annual cost will vary in subse- quent billing cycles with changes in the billing rate and salary of the affected members. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari- al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump- tions, 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, 2022 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 March 30, 2023, and intended for use only during the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-79, prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
