Legislation Search

H.R. 491: Equal COLA Act

This bill, titled the Equal COLA Act, aims to make changes to how cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are applied to retirement annuities for federal employees. Specifically, it intends to achieve parity between the adjustments made for the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The key points of this bill are as follows:

1. Adjustments to Annuity Increases

The bill proposes that starting December 1 of each year, all annuities from the FERS will be increased based on the percent change in the price index from the previous year. This means that the adjustments are designed to reflect inflation and the changes in living costs.

2. Application of the Adjustment

The proposed amendment will apply to:

Any COLA made after the enactment of this Act: This means that all future adjustments will take into account the new method of calculation.
Any annuity that is under the section: This includes annuities that commenced before, on, or after the enactment date of the bill.

3. Purpose of the Changes

The motivation behind the bill is to provide equal treatment regarding cost-of-living increases between the two retirement systems—ensuring that federal employees covered by FERS receive adjustment increases that are consistent with those provided to CSRS beneficiaries.

4. Legislative Process

The bill was introduced by Mr. Connolly and co-sponsored by several other representatives. It has been referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for further consideration.

5. Implications

If passed, this bill is expected to adjust the way federal employees' retirement benefits are calculated in relation to inflation, potentially benefiting many retirees who are covered by the FERS.

Relevant Companies

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This is an AI-generated summary of the bill text. There may be mistakes.

Actions

3 actions

Date	Action
Sep. 16, 2025	ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that he may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 491, a bill originally introduced by Representative Connolly, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.
Jan. 16, 2025	Introduced in House
Jan. 16, 2025	Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

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