S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  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:

  Section  1. Subdivision a of section 78-a of the retirement and social
security law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of 2000, is amended to
read as follows:
  a. [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND  FIFTEEN,
A  cost-of-living  adjustment shall be payable on the basis provided for
in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
FIFTY-FIVE and have been retired for five years;  (ii)  [all  pensioners
who  have  attained  age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
(iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
for five years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an  accidental  death
benefit  regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
years.
  S 2. Subdivision a of section 378-a of the retirement and social secu-
rity law, as added by chapter 125 of the laws of  2000,  is  amended  to
read as follows:
  a.  [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis  provided  for
in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
FIFTY-FIVE  and have been retired for five years; AND (ii) [all pension-
ers who have attained age fifty-five  and  have  been  retired  for  ten
years;  and  (iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have
been retired for five years.
  S 3. Subdivision a of section 532-a of the education law, as added  by
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

  a.  [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable on the basis  provided  for
in this section to: (i) all pensioners who have attained age [sixty-two]
FIFTY-FIVE  and  have  been retired for five years; (ii) [all pensioners
who  have  attained  age fifty-five and have been retired for ten years;
(iii)] all disability pensioners regardless of age who have been retired
for five years; and [(iv)] (III) all recipients of an  accidental  death
benefit  regardless of age who have been receiving such benefit for five
years.
  S 4. Subdivision a of section 13-696 of the administrative code of the
city of New York, as amended by chapter 288 of  the  laws  of  2001,  is
amended to read as follows:
  a.  [A] EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN,
A cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable to retired members  of  the
New  York city employees' retirement system, the New York city teachers'
retirement system, the New York city police pension fund, the  New  York
city  fire department pension fund, the New York city board of education
retirement system or the relief and pension fund of  the  department  of
street  cleaning  provided  for in subchapter one of this chapter on the
basis provided for in this section to: (i) all retired members who  have
attained  age  [sixty-two]  FIFTY-FIVE  and  have  been retired for five
years; (ii) [all retired members who have attained  age  fifty-five  and
have  been  retired  for  ten  years; (iii)] all members who retired for
disability regardless of age who have been retired for five  years;  and
[(iv)] (III) all recipients of an accidental death benefit regardless of
age who have been receiving such benefit for five years.
  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

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  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.