A message from PEF Retirees
President Ray Ferraro
Pataki signs COLA Bill
Hallelujah!
On July 11, Gov. George Pataki signed the pension COLA
2000 legislation.
We have all worked very hard to achieve this valuable
legislation. Thanks to all the retiree groups and unions
who supported our efforts for this legislation. We
especially thank PEF President Roger Benson and the PEF
legislative staff for all of their hard work in helping
this legislation become a reality.
Basically, the COLA is automatic, permanent and based on
50 percent of the Consumer Price Index {CPI}. It also
contains a “catch-up clause” for those who
retired before 1997.
State Comptroller H. Carl McCall has already sent
retirees a general outline of the legislation and how it
will benefit them. He also plans to soon send each public
retiree their specific pension benefits and increases
under this new legislation.
To receive any COLA. adjustment, you must be:
• Age 62 or older and retired five or more years, or
• Age 55 and retired for 10 or more years, or
• Receiving a disability pension from the Retirement
System for at least five years.
Those who qualify for these benefits will receive the
payment in their October pension check.
We must remember that winning one battle does not mean
that the war is over. We must now focus on getting
legislation to protect our health insurance coverage
after retirement from reductions in coverage and
increased costs.
Chapter
Meetings:
• Albany meets at noon Sept. 5 at PEF headquarters.
• Syracuse meets at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 15 at the Old
Country Buffet.
• Long Island meets at noon Sept. 27 at the PEF
Region 12 office.
• Utica — to be announced.
• New York — to be announced.