The 2019 New York State Legislative Session may be winding down, but the number of benefit sweeteners advancing through the legislative process is heating up.  Since the sweetener scorecard was first released, an additional 59 benefit sweeteners have been introduced or identified – bringing the total to 189 bills ( for the full scorecard and download link, click here). One of the new bills, A7413 (Steck)/S5835 (Breslin), would cost an astonishing $943 million annually according to the bill’s fiscal note. The bill would increase the base retirement allowance that is subject to a cost of living adjustment from the first $18,000 to the first $21,000 of a retiree’s pension for all State and local retirees, including New York City.

A majority of bills do not include a fiscal note; however, the cost of all bills with fiscal notes totals more than $1.5 billion in the first year. None of these sweeteners should be adopted.