SB1371 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 10515 AMC 30731 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
SB1371

Introduced 2/9/2007, by Sen. Dan Kotowski

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

40 ILCS 5/9-121.6

from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 9-121.6

Amends the Cook County Article of the Illinois Pension Code with respect to the optional plan of additional benefits and contributions for elected county officers and their survivors. Limits application of the special formula to service in an elected county office that the participant held for at least 8 years. Provides for a refund of additional contributions if service in the office lasts less than 8 years. Changes the manner of calculating the salary upon which benefits are based to a 4-year average final rate of earnings and applies a separate rate for each qualifying office held. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

PENSION IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing Section 9-121.6 as follows:

(40 ILCS 5/9-121.6) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 9-121.6)

Sec. 9-121.6. Alternative annuity for county officers.

(a) Any county officer elected by vote of the people may elect to establish alternative credits for an alternative annuity by electing in writing to make additional optional contributions in accordance with this Section and procedures established by the board. These alternative credits are available only for periods of service as an elected county officer. The Such elected county officer may discontinue making the additional optional contributions by notifying the Fund in writing in accordance with this Section and procedures established by the board.

Additional optional contributions for the alternative annuity shall be as follows:

(1) For service as an elected county officer after the option is elected, an additional contribution of 3% of salary shall be contributed to the Fund on the same basis and under the same conditions as contributions required under Sections 9-170 and 9-176.

(2) For service as an elected county officer before the option is elected, an additional contribution of 3% of the salary for the applicable period of service, plus interest at the effective rate from the date of service to the date of payment. All payments for past service must be paid in full before credit is given. No additional optional contributions may be made for any period of service for which credit has been previously forfeited by acceptance of a refund, unless the refund is repaid in full with interest at the effective rate from the date of refund to the date of repayment.

(b) In lieu of the retirement annuity otherwise payable under this Article, any county officer elected by vote of the people who (1) has elected to participate in the Fund and make additional optional contributions in accordance with this Section, (2) has held and made additional optional contributions with respect to the same elected county office for at least 8 years, and (3) (2) has attained age 60 with at least 10 years of service credit, or has attained age 65 with at least 8 years of service credit, may elect to have his retirement annuity computed as follows: 3% of the participant's final rate of earnings salary at the time of termination of service for each of the first 8 years of service credit, plus 4% of such final rate of earnings salary for each of the next 4 years of service credit, plus 5% of such final rate of earnings salary for each year of service credit in excess of 12 years, subject to a maximum of 80% of such final rate of earnings salary.

This formula applies only to service in an elected county office that the officer held for at least 8 years, and only to service for which additional optional contributions have been paid under this Section. If an elected county officer qualifies to have this formula applied to service in more than one elected county office, the qualifying service shall be accumulated for purposes of determining the applicable accrual percentages, but the salary used for each office shall be the separate salary calculated for that office, as defined in subsection (f).

To the extent such elected county officer has service credit that does not qualify for this formula, made additional optional contributions with respect to only a portion of his years of service credit, his or her retirement annuity will first be determined in accordance with this formula with respect to the service to which this formula applies Section to the extent such additional optional contributions were made, and then in accordance with the remaining Sections of this Article to the extent of years of service credit with respect to the service to which this formula does not apply additional optional contributions were not made.

(c) In lieu of the disability benefits otherwise payable under this Article, any county officer elected by vote of the people who (1) has elected to participate in the Fund, and (2) has become permanently disabled and as a consequence is unable to perform the duties of his office, and (3) was making optional contributions in accordance with this Section at the time the disability was incurred, may elect to receive a disability annuity calculated in accordance with the formula in subsection (b). For the purposes of this subsection, such elected county officer shall be considered permanently disabled only if: (i) disability occurs while in service as an elected county officer and is of such a nature as to prevent him from reasonably performing the duties of his office at the time; and (ii) the board has received a written certification by at least 2 licensed physicians appointed by it stating that such officer is disabled and that the disability is likely to be permanent.

(d) Refunds of additional optional contributions shall be made on the same basis and under the same conditions as provided under Section 9-164, 9-166 and 9-167. Interest shall be credited at the effective rate on the same basis and under the same conditions as for other contributions. Optional contributions shall be accounted for in a separate Elected County Officer Optional Contribution Reserve. Optional contributions under this Section shall be included in the amount of employee contributions used to compute the tax levy under Section 9-169.

If an elected county officer fails to hold that same elected county office for at least 8 years, he or she shall be entitled after leaving office to receive a refund of the additional optional contributions made with respect to that office, plus interest at the effective rate.

(e) The effective date of this plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions shall be January 1, 1988, or the date upon which approval is received from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, whichever is later. The plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions shall not be available to any former county officer or employee receiving an annuity from the Fund on the effective date of the plan, unless he re-enters service as an elected county officer and renders at least 3 years of additional service after the date of re-entry.

(f) If an elected county officer qualifies to have the formula in subsection (b) applied to service in more than one elected county office, a separate final rate of earnings shall be calculated and applied with respect to each such office.

(g) For the purposes of this Section and Section 9-121.7, "final rate of earnings" means the monthly earnings obtained by dividing the total salary, as that term is defined in Section 9-112, received by the employee during the period of either (1) the 48 consecutive months of service within the last 120 months of service in which his or her total salary were the highest or (2) the employee's total period of service, by the number of months of service in such period.

(g) The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly apply to persons who first make an additional optional contribution under this Section on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act.

(Source: P.A. 85-964.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.