Bill > S495

Introduced Session

This bill reinstates automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for annual pension, ordinary disability pension, or accidental disability pension retirement benefits for certain members of the State Police Retirement System (SPRS). Provisions contained in P.L.2011, c.78 (C.43:3C-16 et al.), signed into law on June 28, 2011, had suspended the automatic annual adjustment for current and future retirees and beneficiaries of the SPRS and other State-administered retirement systems until those systems reach a target funded ratio. Decades of underfunding those systems by the State had placed the systems in precarious financial conditions. Although this bill does not reinstate COLAs for other retirees, this bill serves as an initial step in reinstating COLAs for all retirees of the State-administered retirement systems. Through the prioritization of the SPRS, the State will begin this process with retired State police to provide them greater financial security and stability at a time when inflation has significantly eroded the value of their retirement benefit payments, which are already based on the lower salaries of years ago. To that end, the bill includes restrictions intended to limit costs and focus on segments among retirees of the SPRS expected to be most in need of an immediate benefit. Under the bill, members of the SPRS will receive automatic COLAs for annual pension, ordinary disability pension, and accidental disability pension benefits if the member has been retired and receiving retirement benefits for a minimum of ten years. Longer-term retirees generally will have lower pension benefits and be less able to obtain employment to offset the erosion of their benefits. Members of the SPRS who are hired more than 30 days following the effective date of this act will not be considered eligible to receive these automatic COLAs. The COLAs will only apply to future pension benefit payments. The adjustment in eligible members' pension benefits will be calculated based on an amount up to $75,000 of a retiree's benefit for the first year following the enactment of this bill. Eligible members receiving up to $75,000 of pension benefits will receive a COLA tied to the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. This will ensure that greater initial benefits will be provided to those likely to be most in need. The adjustment in eligible member's pension benefits will be limited to one percent if the member receives more than $75,000 in benefits for the first year following the enactment of the bill. After the first calendar year following the enactment of the bill, the $75,000 threshold will be adjusted annually according to the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, except that the adjustment will be calculated at a rate not to exceed three percent. The bill also grants the cost-of-living adjustment to the monthly pension or survivorship benefit of a surviving spouse, child, or beneficiary that is provided by SPRS. Under the bill, if the Board of Trustees of SPRS fails to comply with the provisions of this bill within six months following the effective date, then the State Treasurer will be responsible for implementing the cost-of-living adjustments. The bill requires the Legislature to appropriate monies from the General Fund as necessary to effectuate the cost-of-living adjustments established under the bill. The bill further provides that this appropriation will take precedence over any additional funding added to the annual State budget by the Legislature through resolutions or through changes to the Governor's budget message.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Owen Henry (R)*,  Carmen Amato (R), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document