Title: COLA Act of 2020
Policy area: Social Welfare

Summary:
Certainty for Older Living Americans Act of 2020 or the COLA Act of 2020
This bill sets out an alternative method to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits and requires the Social Security Administration to use whichever method results in a greater increase each year.
The current method is based on the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which may result in no or small increases to benefits in years with deflation or low inflation. The alternative method established by this bill is based on a 10-year average of cost-of-living adjustments.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7765 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7765

 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide for a minimum 
 annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security benefits, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2020

 Mr. Walberg introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide for a minimum 
 annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security benefits, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Certainty for Older Living Americans 
Act of 2020'' or the ``COLA Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. COMPUTATION OF COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES.

    (a) In General.--Section 215(i) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 415(i)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``with respect to 
        which the applicable increase percentage is greater than 
        zero;''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) in clause (ii), in the matter following 
                        subclause (III), by striking ``applicable 
                        increase percentage'' and inserting ``the 
                        increase percentage determined under clause 
                        (iv) for such year''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(iv) The increase percentage determined under this clause for a 
year shall be the greater of--
            ``(I) the applicable increase percentage with respect to a 
        cost-of-living computation quarter in such year; or
            ``(II) the arithmetical mean of the increase percentages 
        determined under this clause for each of the years in the 10-
        year period ending with the year before such year.''; and
                    (B) in the first sentence of subparagraph (D), by 
                striking ``and the percentage thereof'' and inserting 
                ``, the percentage thereof, and the increase percentage 
                determined under subparagraph (A)(iv) for the following 
                year''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to cost-of-living computation quarters ending on or 
after September 30, 2020.
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