2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IV - Civil Service, Retirements and Pensions › Chapter 32 - Retirement Systems and Pensions › Section 102 - Cost-of-Living; Annual Determination of Changes; Supplemental Payments; Adjustments in Amounts of Pensions and Annuities

Section 102. (a) The actuary in the commission shall annually in the month of January file with the clerk of the house of representatives the report prepared in accordance with paragraph (f) of subdivision (3) of section 21. If the general court thereafter determines by law that a cost of living increase is required and establishes the percentage thereof, the retirement allowance, pension or annuity of every member of the state employees' system and the teachers' retirement system who has received a retirement allowance, pension or annuity on June 30 of the preceding fiscal year, or of a spouse or other beneficiary of such member who has received a retirement allowance, pension or annuity on June 30 of the prior fiscal year, shall be increased by the percentage as determined by such law. Said cost of living increase shall be funded from the investment income account of the state employees' and state teachers' systems. The sum of the dollar amount of each cost of living increase, together with the amount of retirement allowance, pension or annuity to which the cost of living per cent factor is applied, shall become the fixed retirement allowance, pension or annuity for all future purposes, including the application of subsequent cost of living adjustments in future years.
(b) Whenever the amount of any retirement allowance, pension, or annuity is revised in accordance with the provisions of this section, the monthly payment provided for in section thirteen shall be recomputed on the basis of such revised retirement allowance, pension, or annuity, and one twelfth of such new figure shall be due and payable each month. In any case where such revised retirement allowance, pension, or annuity cannot be administratively determined in time for adjusting the monthly payment for July pursuant to said section thirteen, such cost-of-living adjustment shall be added to the monthly retirement allowance, pension or annuity in August or September, as the case may be.
(c) In any case where such former employee, spouse, or other beneficiary is receiving an annual retirement allowance, pension or annuity which is $13,000 or more exclusive of additional annuity obtained by special purchase under paragraph (g) of subdivision (1) of section 22 or any similar law, the cost of living adjustment shall be in an amount determined by applying the percentum of change determined pursuant to paragraph (a) to the sum of $13,000. Whenever a cost of living adjustment is granted pursuant to said paragraph (a), the dollar amount of such increase as determined in said paragraph (a) shall be added to each retirement allowance, pension or annuity which is in excess of said maximum base amount. The sum of the dollar amount of such cost of living adjustments, together with the amount of retirement allowance, pension or annuity to which the cost of living percentum factor is applied and any amounts in excess of $13,000 shall become the fixed retirement allowance, pension or annuity for all future purposes including the application of subsequent cost of living adjustments in future years; provided, however, that the limitations of this paragraph shall continue to apply.
(d) Whenever the amount of any retirement allowance, pension or annuity is revised in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (c), the monthly payment provided for in section thirteen shall be recomputed on the basis of such revised retirement allowance, pension or annuity and one twelfth of such new figure shall be due and payable each month. In any case where such revised retirement allowance, pension or annuity cannot be administratively determined in time for adjusting the monthly payment for July pursuant to said section thirteen, such cost-of-living adjustment shall be added to the monthly retirement allowance, pension or annuity in August or September, as the case may be.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, the supplemental payments due and payable to a spouse receiving the minimum allowance under the provisions of Option (d) of subdivision (2) of section twelve, or under section one hundred and one, or under the provisions of chapter five hundred and twenty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and sixty-three or to any spouse, child or children under the provisions of section twelve B, shall be, at all times, in an amount equal to the cumulative percentum of change in the cost of living resulting from the determination by the actuary, with the average of the cost of living for the year nineteen hundred and seventy-two serving as the basis of the comparison to be made by the actuary as set forth in paragraph (a).
(f) On January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-five, the cost-of-living percentage used as a basis for determining the nineteen hundred and seventy-four cost-of-living adjustments paid in March, July, September and December of nineteen hundred and seventy-four, pursuant to section one hundred and two of chapter thirty-two, shall be applied to and added to the retirement allowance, pension or annuity of every former employee of the commonwealth or of any county, city, town, district, housing or redevelopment authority or of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or of the spouse or other beneficiary of any such former employee who is receiving a retirement allowance, pension or annuity, and such revised total shall become the fixed retirement allowance, pension or annuity for all future purposes, including the application of subsequent cost-of-living adjustments in nineteen hundred and seventy-five, or any future years.
(g) Whenever a cost of living adjustment is granted pursuant to said paragraph (a), a former employee, or spouse or other beneficiary of such employee, who is receiving a noncontributory pension from the commonwealth under the provisions of this chapter or under corresponding provisions of earlier laws or any other general or special law, shall receive the same cost of living adjustment from the commonwealth in accordance with the applicable provisions of this chapter or under corresponding provisions of earlier laws or any other general or special laws.