OSERS COLA issue
LB1102 changes OSERS COLA payment date, and moves benefit payments to the end of the month.
LB 1102 was amended into LB 820, and passed by the Unicameral on April 10, 2026 on a vote of 49-0. it makes three changes in the way that the OSERS benefits are paid:
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All pension benefits will be credited to OSERS retirees on the first day of the month, and paid to retirees on the last working day of the month.
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Retirees eligible for the Medical COLA will receive the payment on the last working day of September starting in September, 2026 (previously the Medical COLA was paid on October 3).
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The annual COLA will be paid to retirees on the last working day of September, beginning in September, 2026 (previously it was paid in Jan/Feb).
The changes will harmonize the payment dates for OSERS retirees with the payment dates for the other retirement plans administered by NPERS.
OSERS retirees will receive two checks in September 2026 -- one on Sept. 3 (for the August pension), and a second check on the last working day of September (for the September pension). This second check will also include the automatic COLA for 2026 AND the Medical COLA increase for those retirees eligible to receive this benefit.
To read the text for LB 1102, click here.
An article on the legislative history of the skipped OSERS COLA issue and LB 1102 is in the May 2026 issue of Voices of Experience.
Background on OSERS COLA issue (from 2025)
OSERS retirees have received an automatic cost-of-living adjustment on January 3 every year for the past 25 years. The COLA is authorized by Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-9,103(8), which states:
(8) Beginning January 1, 2000, and on January 1 of every year thereafter, for employees of Class V school districts who were members prior to July 1, 2013, a cost-of-living adjustment shall be made for any formula annuity being paid pursuant to the act, or pursuant to the provisions of the retirement system established by statute for employees of Class V school districts in effect prior to September 1, 1951, and on which the first payment was dated on or before October 3 preceding such January 1 adjustment date. The cost-of-living adjustment for any such annuity shall be the lesser of (a) one and one-half percent or (b) the increase in the consumer price index from the date such annuity first became payable through the August 31 preceding the January 1 adjustment date as reduced by the aggregate cost-of-living adjustments previously made to the annuity pursuant to this section.
The COLA payment was skipped on January 3, 2025.
A group of retirees attended the July 17, 2025 OPS Board of Education meeting to ask that the Board support restoring the COLA payment so that retirees receive a full calendar year of COLA increases each year. A brief history of the COLA payment was presented to the Board by one retiree. To read the history of the annual COLA, click here.
Click on the link below to see the coverage of this meeting by KMTV.
To read the Omaha World-Herald article on the OSERS COLA issue, click here.