SB3534 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 19096 AMC 34487 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB3534

Introduced 2/10/2010, by Sen. Kwame Raoul

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

40 ILCS 5/17-106	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-106
40 ILCS 5/17-114	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-114
40 ILCS 5/17-131	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-131
40 ILCS 5/17-132	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-132
40 ILCS 5/17-134	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-134

Amends the Chicago Teacher Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Changes references from "city" to "City of Chicago", "Board" to "Pension Board", and "Board of Education" to "Chicago Board of Education". In provisions concerning computation of service, changes one reference from "contributor" to "contributor or member". Effective immediately.

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 Sections 17-106, 17-114, 17-131, 17-132, and 17-134 as follows:

(40 ILCS 5/17-106) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-106)

Sec. 17-106. Contributor, member or teacher. "Contributor", "member" or "teacher": All members of the teaching force of the City of Chicago city, including principals, assistant principals, the general superintendent of schools, deputy superintendents of schools, associate superintendents of schools, assistant and district superintendents of schools, members of the Board of Examiners, all other persons whose employment requires a teaching certificate issued under the laws governing the certification of teachers, any educational, administrative, professional, or other staff employed in a charter school operating in compliance with the Charter Schools Law who is certified under the law governing the certification of teachers, and employees of the Board, but excluding persons contributing concurrently to any other public employee pension system in Illinois for the same employment or receiving retirement pensions under another Article of this Code for that same employment, persons employed on an hourly basis, and persons receiving pensions from the Fund who are employed temporarily by an Employer and not on an annual basis.

In the case of a person who has been making contributions and otherwise participating in this Fund prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly, and whose right to participate in the Fund is established or confirmed by this amendatory Act, such prior participation in the Fund, including all contributions previously made and service credits previously earned by the person, are hereby validated.

The changes made to this Section and Section 17-149 by this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly apply without regard to whether the person was in service on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act, notwithstanding Sections 1-103.1 and 17-157.

(Source: P.A. 91-887, eff. 7-6-00; 92-416, eff. 8-17-01; 92-599, eff. 6-28-02.)

(40 ILCS 5/17-114) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-114)

Sec. 17-114. Computation of service. When computing validated service, 10 months or more shall constitute one year of service unless a lesser number of months is established as a school year by an Employer. Salary representing 5 days' or more employment paid in a semi-monthly or bi-weekly payroll period, whichever the case may be, shall be considered for the purpose of computing service credit and shall entitle a contributor or member to 1/2 month of service. When computing total service rendered, 3 to 10 days' employment in the final total of such service shall entitle a contributor to 1/2 month of service.

(Source: P.A. 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)

(40 ILCS 5/17-131) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-131)

Sec. 17-131. Administration of payroll deductions. During any period in which salaries are paid, such deductions by an Employer or the Pension Board shall be made on the basis of the full salary rates, exclusive of salaries for overtime, special services or any employment on an optional basis, such as in summer school. If salaries represent adjustments on account of error, deductions by the Employer or the Pension Board shall be at rates in force during the applicable payroll period. If teachers receive salaries for the school year, as established by an Employer, or if they receive salaries for more than 10 calendar months, the amount required for each year of service shall be deducted by such Employer in installments. The total amounts for each semimonthly payroll period, or bi-weekly payroll period, as the case may be, shall be deducted only when salary payments represent 5 days' pay or more. If an Employer or the Pension Board pays salaries to members of the teaching force for vacation periods, the salary shall be considered part of the teacher's annual salary, shall be subject to the standard deductions for pension contributions, and shall be considered to represent pay for 5 or more days' employment in a bi-weekly or semi-monthly payroll period for purposes set forth in this Section. If deductions from salaries result in amounts of less than one cent, the fractional sums shall be increased to the next higher cent. Any excess of these fractional increases over the prescribed annual contributions shall be credited to the teachers' accounts.

In the event that, pursuant to Section 17-130.1, employee contributions are picked up or made by the Board of Education on behalf of its employees from the proceeds of the tax levied under Section 34-60 of the School Code, then the amount of the employee contributions which are picked up or made in that manner shall not be deducted from the salaries of such employees.

(Source: P.A. 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)

(40 ILCS 5/17-132) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-132)

Sec. 17-132. Payments and certification of salary deductions. An Employer shall cause the Fund to receive all teachers' pension contributions within 15 business days of the predesignated paydays. Amount not received by the fifth day shall be deemed delinquent and subject to late interest penalty (calculated at the average short-term rate of interest earned by the Fund for the calendar month preceding the calendar month in which the delinquency occurs) starting from the predesignated payday and ending on the date payment is received. The appropriate officers of the Employer shall certify at least monthly to the Fund all amounts deducted from the salaries of contributors. The certification shall constitute a confirmation of the accuracy of such deductions according to the provisions of this Article. For the purpose of this Section the predesignated payday shall be determined in accordance with each Employer's payroll schedule for contributions to the Fund.

The Pension Board has the authority to conduct payroll audits of a charter school to determine the existence of any delinquencies in contributions to the Fund, and such charter school shall be required to provide such books and records and contribution information as the Pension Board or its authorized representative may require. The Pension Board is also authorized to collect delinquent contributions from charter schools and develop procedures for the collection of such delinquencies. Collection procedures may include legal proceedings in the courts of the State of Illinois. Expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, incurred in the collection of delinquent contributions may be assessed by the Pension Board against the charter school.

(Source: P.A. 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)

(40 ILCS 5/17-134) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-134)

Sec. 17-134. Contributions for leaves of absence; military service; computing service. In computing service for pension purposes the following periods of service shall stand in lieu of a like number of years of teaching service upon payment therefor in the manner hereinafter provided: (a) time spent on a leave of absence granted by the employer; (b) service with teacher or labor organizations based upon special leaves of absence therefor granted by an Employer; (c) a maximum of 5 years spent in the military service of the United States, of which up to 2 years may have been served outside the pension period; (d) unused sick days at termination of service to a maximum of 244 days; (e) time lost due to layoff and curtailment of the school term from June 6 through June 21, 1976; and (f) time spent after June 30, 1982 as a member of the Chicago Board of Education, if required to resign from an administrative or teaching position in order to qualify as a member of the Chicago Board of Education.

(1) For time spent on or after September 6, 1948 on sabbatical leaves of absence or sick leaves, for which salaries are paid, an Employer shall make payroll deductions at the applicable rates in effect during such periods.

(2) For time spent on a leave of absence granted by the employer for which no salaries are paid, teachers desiring credit therefor shall pay the required contributions at the rates in effect during such periods as though they were in teaching service. If an Employer pays salary for vacations which occur during a teacher's sick leave or maternity or paternity leave without salary, vacation pay for which the teacher would have qualified while in active service shall be considered part of the teacher's total salary for pension purposes. No more than 36 months of leave credit may be allowed any person during the entire term of service. Sabbatical leave credit shall be limited to the time the person on leave without salary under an Employer's rules is allowed to engage in an activity for which he receives salary or compensation.

(3) For time spent prior to September 6, 1948, on sabbatical leaves of absence or sick leaves for which salaries were paid, teachers desiring service credit therefor shall pay the required contributions at the maximum applicable rates in effect during such periods.

(4) For service with teacher or labor organizations authorized by special leaves of absence, for which no payroll deductions are made by an Employer, teachers desiring service credit therefor shall contribute to the Fund upon the basis of the actual salary received from such organizations at the percentage rates in effect during such periods for certified positions with such Employer. To the extent the actual salary exceeds the regular salary, which shall be defined as the salary rate, as calculated by the Board, in effect for the teacher's regular position in teaching service on September 1, 1983 or on the effective date of the leave with the organization, whichever is later, the organization shall pay to the Fund the employer's normal cost as set by the Board on the increment.

(5) For time spent in the military service, teachers entitled to and desiring credit therefor shall contribute the amount required for each year of service or fraction thereof at the rates in force (a) at the date of appointment, or (b) on return to teaching service as a regularly certified teacher, as the case may be; provided such rates shall not be less than $450 per year of service. These conditions shall apply unless an Employer elects to and does pay into the Fund the amount which would have been due from such person had he been employed as a teacher during such time. In the case of credit for military service not during the pension period, the teacher must also pay to the Fund an amount determined by the Board to be equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefits accrued from such service, plus interest thereon at 5% per year, compounded annually, from the date of appointment to the date of payment.

The changes to this Section made by Public Act 87-795 shall apply not only to persons who on or after its effective date are in service under the Fund, but also to persons whose status as a teacher terminated prior to that date, whether or not the person is an annuitant on that date. In the case of an annuitant who applies for credit allowable under this Section for a period of military service that did not immediately follow employment, and who has made the required contributions for such credit, the annuity shall be recalculated to include the additional service credit, with the increase taking effect on the date the Fund received written notification of the annuitant's intent to purchase the credit, if payment of all the required contributions is made within 60 days of such notice, or else on the first annuity payment date following the date of payment of the required contributions. In calculating the automatic annual increase for an annuity that has been recalculated under this Section, the increase attributable to the additional service allowable under this amendatory Act of 1991 shall be included in the calculation of automatic annual increases accruing after the effective date of the recalculation.

The total credit for military service shall not exceed 5 years, except that any teacher who on July 1, 1963, had validated credit for more than 5 years of military service shall be entitled to the total amount of such credit.

(6) A maximum of 244 unused sick days credited to his account by an Employer on the date of termination of employment. Members, upon verification of unused sick days, may add this service time to total creditable service.

(7) In all cases where time spent on leave is creditable and no payroll deductions therefor are made by an Employer, persons desiring service credit shall make the required contributions directly to the Fund.

(8) For time lost without pay due to layoff and curtailment of the school term from June 6 through June 21, 1976, as provided in item (e) of the first paragraph of this Section, persons who were contributors on the days immediately preceding such layoff shall receive credit upon paying to the Fund a contribution based on the rates of compensation and employee contributions in effect at the time of such layoff, together with an additional amount equal to 12.2% of the compensation computed for such period of layoff, plus interest on the entire amount at 5% per annum from January 1, 1978 to the date of payment. If such contribution is paid, salary for pension purposes for any year in which such a layoff occurred shall include the compensation recognized for purposes of computing that contribution.

(9) For time spent after June 30, 1982, as a nonsalaried member of the Chicago Board of Education, if required to resign from an administrative or teaching position in order to qualify as a member of the Chicago Board of Education, an administrator or teacher desiring credit therefor shall pay the required contributions at the rates and salaries in effect during such periods as though the member were in service.

Effective September 1, 1974, the interest charged for validation of service described in paragraphs (2) through (5) of this Section shall be compounded annually at a rate of 5% commencing one year after the termination of the leave or return to service.

(Source: P.A. 92-599, eff. 6-28-02.)

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