Raising cost of living increase for certain municipal employees

SB 930 amends West Virginia law to increase the amount of pension benefits subject to annual cost-of-living adjustments for municipal police, firefighters, and employees of waterworks, sewage, and combined water/sewage systems. The bill raises the threshold for calculating these adjustments from $15,000 to $45,000 of an annual pension benefit, meaning a larger portion of their retirement income will now be tied to inflation. This change applies to existing retirees and future beneficiaries under the pension system, without altering the 4% annual cap on adjustments or the two-year waiting period for new retirees. The policy directly affects these municipal workers by potentially increasing their annual pension increases based on inflation data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.