The amounts transferred pursuant to section 5B of chapter 29 of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 163 of chapter 26 of the Acts of 2003, shall be made available for the Commonwealth’s Pension Liability Fund established under section 22 of chapter 32 of the General Laws. The amounts transferred pursuant to said section 5B of said chapter 29 shall meet the commonwealth’s obligations under section 22C of said chapter 32, including retirement benefits payable by the state employees’ and the state teachers’ retirement systems, for the costs associated with a 3 per cent cost-of-living adjustment pursuant to section 102 of said chapter 32, the reimbursement of local retirement systems for previously authorized cost-of-living adjustments pursuant to section 102 of said chapter 32, and for the costs of increased survivor benefits pursuant to chapter 389 of the Acts of 1984. Subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the treasurer, the state retirement board and each city, town, county and district shall verify the cost thereof and the treasurer may make such payments upon a transfer of funds to reimburse certain cities and towns for pensions to retired teachers and including any other obligations which the commonwealth has assumed on behalf of any retirement system other than the state employees’ or state teachers’ retirement systems and including the commonwealth’s share of the amounts to be transferred pursuant to section 22B of said chapter 32 and the amounts to be transferred pursuant to subsection (a) of the last paragraph of section 21 of chapter 138 of the General Laws. All payments for the purposes described in this item shall be made only pursuant to distribution of monies from the fund, and any such distribution and the payments for which distributions are required shall be detailed in a written report filed quarterly by the commissioner of administration with the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on public service in advance of such distribution. Such distributions shall not be made in advance of the date on which a payment is actually to be made. The state retirement board may expend an amount for the purposes of the higher education coordinating council’s optional retirement program pursuant to section 40 of chapter 15A of the General Laws. To the extent that the amount transferred pursuant to section 5B of said chapter 29 exceeds the amount necessary to adequately fund the annual pension obligations, the excess amount shall be credited to the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund of the commonwealth for the purpose of reducing the unfunded pension liability of the commonwealth.
Summary: This section provides for a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for retired employees of the state employees' and the state teachers’ retirement systems among other provisions.