2009 Nebraska Code
Chapter 79 SCHOOLS
79-947.01 Benefits; adjustment.

79-947.01. Benefits; adjustment.

(1) Beginning July 1, 2000, and each July 1 thereafter, current benefits paid to a member or beneficiary shall be adjusted so that the purchasing power of the benefit being paid is not less than seventy-five percent of the purchasing power of the initial benefit. The purchasing power of the initial benefit in any year following the year in which the initial benefit commenced shall be calculated by dividing the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor on June 30 of the current year by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor on June 30 of the year in which the benefit commenced. The result shall be multiplied by the product that results when the amount of the initial benefit is multiplied by seventy-five percent. In any year in which applying the adjustment provided in subsection (2) of this section results in a benefit which would be less than seventy-five percent of the purchasing power of the initial benefit as calculated above, the adjustment shall instead be equal to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor from the prior year to the current year. In all other years, the adjustment provided under subsection (2) of this section shall be provided. The adjustment pursuant to this subsection shall not cause a current benefit to be reduced.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (1) of this section:

(a) Beginning July 1, 2000, and until July 1, 2001, the current benefit of a member or the beneficiary of such a member shall be increased annually by the lesser of (i) the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor for the prior year or (ii) two percent; and

(b) Beginning July 1, 2001, the current benefit to a member or the beneficiary of such a member shall be increased annually by the lesser of (i) the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor for the prior year or (ii) two and one-half percent.

(3) The state shall contribute to the Annuity Reserve Fund an annual level dollar payment certified by the board. For the 1996-97 fiscal year through the 2012-13 fiscal year, the annual level dollar payment certified by the board shall equal 81.7873 percent of six million eight hundred ninety-five thousand dollars.

(4) The retirement board shall adjust the annual benefit adjustment provided in this section so that the total amount of all cost-of-living adjustments provided to the eligible retiree at the time of the annual benefit adjustment does not exceed the percentage change in the National Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers factor published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between June 30 of the prior year to June 30 of the present year. If the consumer price index used in this section is discontinued or replaced, a substitute index published by the United States Department of Labor shall be selected by the board which shall be a reasonable representative measurement of the cost of living for retired employees.

(5) In addition to the adjustments provided in subsections (1), (2), and (4) of this section, the current benefit to a member or beneficiary of such member, and for which the first payment was dated on or before June 30, 2007, shall be subject to adjustment of the greater of (a) the annuity payable to the member or beneficiary as adjusted, if applicable, under the provisions of subsection (1), (2), or (4) of this section or (b) eighty-five percent of the annuity which results when the original annuity that was paid to the member or beneficiary, before any cost-of-living adjustments under this section, is adjusted by the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the period between the commencement date of the annuity and June 30, 2007.

Source

Laws 1996, LB 700, § 7;
Laws 1999, LB 674, § 5;
Laws 2001, LB 711, § 3;
Laws 2004, LB 1097, § 27;
Laws 2007, LB596, § 1;
Laws 2008, LB1147, § 9;
Laws 2010, LB950, § 15.
Operative Date: July 1, 2010