SENATE, No. 109

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

 

 

By Senator CIESLA

 

 

An Act increasing the percentage of adjustment of certain retirement allowances and amending P.L.1969, c.169.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. Section 6 of P.L.1969, c.169 (C.43:3B-7) is amended to read as follows:

    6. a. On or before October 1, 1977 and by the same date in each subsequent year, the Director of the Division of Pensions shall review the index and determine the percentum of change in the index from the benefit year index. In determining the percentum of change the director shall use the index for the year ending the August 31 prior to the date of review, dividing such index by the benefit year index and then subtracting 100% from the resulting quotient expressed to the nearest 1/100 of 1%. The percentage of adjustment shall be 3/5 of the percentum of change. Any adjustment so calculated shall apply to all of the months of the following calendar year for eligible retirants and beneficiaries, except for those qualifying for the first time, it shall apply only to those months of the following calendar year in which the retirant or beneficiary is eligible to receive the adjustment.

    b. For each year succeeding the first year in which a retirant or beneficiary receives the adjustment under this act, the retirant or beneficiary shall receive a 2% increase added to each year's percentage of adjustment, and the percentage of adjustment shall be increased an additional 2% per year until the percentage of adjustment equals 100% of the percentum of change, after which the retirant or beneficiary shall receive an annual adjustment of 100% of the percentum of change in the index.

    c. Any retirant or beneficiary who is already receiving a retirement allowance, pension or survivorship benefit shall receive the same annual increase and in the same manner as is provided under subsection b. of this section, provided that no retirant or beneficiary shall receive such annual increase until he has received a retirement allowance, pension or survivorship benefit for no less than 24 months, provided that in the case of a beneficiary, all or any part of the 24 month period shall include the period in which the retirant was entitled to receive his retirement allowance, pension or survivorship benefit.

    d. The director shall include[(a)]in his corpus appropriation request for the administration of the act on behalf of those retirants and beneficiaries for whom the State assumes the costs attributable to this act, and[, (b)]in his certification of amounts due from each employer in accordance with section 4 of the Pension Adjustment Act, (1) amounts sufficient to adjust the retirement allowances, survivorship benefits or pensions payable to all eligible retirants and beneficiaries by 3/5 of the percentum of change in the index as such retirement allowances, survivorship benefits or pensions may have been originally granted, or increased for certain retirants or beneficiaries in accordance with section 3 of the Pension Adjustment Act and (2) such additional amounts as are necessary to adjust the retirement allowance, pension or survivorship benefit due retirants or beneficiaries under the annual adjustment provisions set forth in subsections b. and c. of this section. In no instance shall the amount of the retirement allowance or pension originally granted and payable to any retirant be reduced as a result of the adjustment made pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1969, c.169.

    [b.]e. For purposes of this act a "retirant" shall mean any retirant who has or shall have received a retirement allowance or pension for no less than 24 months and a "beneficiary" shall mean any beneficiary who has or shall have received for no less than 24 months a pension, or survivorship benefit, or whose increased pension pursuant to the provisions of the statutes stipulated in subsection d(4) of section 1 of the act to which this act is an amendment (C.43:3B-1). In the case of beneficiaries, all or any part of the 24 month period shall include the period in which the retirant was entitled to receive his retirement allowance or pension.

(cf: P.L.1977, c.306, s.4)

 

    2. This act shall take effect July 1, 1993.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill would permanently increase the percentage of adjustment for retirants subject to the Pension Adjustment Act by an amount equal to 2% of the percentum of change in the Consumer Price Index per year, until such time as the retirant reaches an annual adjustment of 100% of that percentum of change, where the retirant's annual adjustment would remain thereafter. The bill also applies to all present retirants, who would receive an annual adjustment of 2% above the present adjustment, until such time as all persons who are already retirants receive an annual adjustment of 100%, where their adjustments would then permanantly remain.

 

 

 

Increases permanently the percentage of adjustment for retirants subject to the Pension Adjustment Act by 2% per year until an annual adjustment of 100% is reached.