§ 378-a. Cost-of-living adjustment. a. 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 and have been retired for
five years; (ii) all pensioners 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.

b. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be a percentage of the annual
retirement allowance otherwise payable, computed without optional
modification, but including any benefit derived from subdivision f of
this section and any prior year's cost-of-living adjustment derived from
this section. Said percentage is set forth in subdivision d of this
section.

c. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base benefit
amount not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual retirement
allowance defined in subdivision b of this section.

d. The percentage referred to in this section shall be determined
annually by reference to the consumer price index (all urban consumers,
CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published by the
United States bureau of labor statistics, for each applicable calendar
year. Said percentage shall equal fifty percent of the annual inflation,
as determined from the increase in the consumer price index in the one
year period ending on the March thirty-first prior to the cost-of-living
adjustment effective on the ensuing September first. Said percentage
shall then be rounded up to the next higher one-tenth of one percent and
shall not exceed three percent nor be less than one percent.

e. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be payable in monthly
installments and shall take effect September first of each year
commencing with a payment for the month of September, two thousand one,
or, if later, as soon as practicable after the retired member first
becomes eligible to receive the benefits provided pursuant to
subdivision a of this section.

f. Commencing September first, two thousand, all retired members who
have retired prior to the calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven
and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this
section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the
basis provided for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be
equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index (all urban
consumers, CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published
by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the year
of retirement through calendar year nineteen hundred ninety-seven
according to the following schedule:

Year of retirement Percentage

1968 through 1996 50%

1966 and 1967 55%

1965 60%

1964 65%

1963 70%

1962 80%

1961 90%

prior to 1961 100%
Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not to
exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise
payable, computed without optional modification. Any benefit received
pursuant to this subdivision shall be in lieu of any benefit received
pursuant to section three hundred seventy-eight of this title.

g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the surviving spouse of
a deceased retired member who retired under an option which provides
that benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after
the death of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits
pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be fifty percent of the
monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving pursuant to this
section if living, and shall commence (i) with a payment for the month
of September, two thousand, or (ii) the month following the death of the
deceased retired member, whichever is later.

h. The benefits provided pursuant to this section shall be in lieu of
the benefits presently provided by section five hundred ten or article
four or six of this chapter unless such benefits are in excess of those
provided by this section, in which case such benefits shall be paid by
the retirement system pursuant to such provision.