Full Text of SB0217 94th General Assembly
SB0217 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006 SB0217
Introduced 2/2/2005, by Sen. John M. Sullivan SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
|
40 ILCS 5/7-139 |
from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 7-139 |
30 ILCS 805/8.29 new |
|
|
Amends the IMRF Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Allows certain former employees who have not yet begun to receive a retirement annuity to purchase service credit for certain military service. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately.
|
| |
|
|
FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY |
PENSION IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY |
STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT |
|
|
A BILL FOR
|
|
|
|
|
SB0217 |
|
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
| 2 |
| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 |
| Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing | 5 |
| Section 7-139 as follows:
| 6 |
| (40 ILCS 5/7-139) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 7-139)
| 7 |
| Sec. 7-139. Credits and creditable service to employees.
| 8 |
| (a) Each participating employee shall be granted credits | 9 |
| and creditable
service, for purposes of determining the amount | 10 |
| of any annuity or benefit
to which he or a beneficiary is | 11 |
| entitled, as follows:
| 12 |
| 1. For prior service: Each participating employee who | 13 |
| is an employee
of a participating municipality or | 14 |
| participating instrumentality on the
effective date shall | 15 |
| be granted creditable service, but no credits under
| 16 |
| paragraph 2 of this subsection (a), for periods of prior | 17 |
| service for which
credit has not been received under any | 18 |
| other pension fund or retirement system
established under | 19 |
| this Code, as follows:
| 20 |
| If the effective date of participation for the | 21 |
| participating municipality
or participating | 22 |
| instrumentality is on or before January 1, 1998, creditable
| 23 |
| service shall be granted for the entire period of prior | 24 |
| service with that
employer without any employee | 25 |
| contribution.
| 26 |
| If the effective date of participation for the | 27 |
| participating municipality
or participating | 28 |
| instrumentality is after January 1, 1998, creditable
| 29 |
| service shall be granted for the last 20% of the period of | 30 |
| prior service with
that employer, but no more than 5 years, | 31 |
| without any employee contribution. A
participating | 32 |
| employee may establish creditable service for the |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 2 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| remainder of
the period of prior service with that employer | 2 |
| by making an application in
writing, accompanied by payment | 3 |
| of an employee contribution in an
amount determined by the | 4 |
| Fund, based on the employee contribution rates in
effect at | 5 |
| the time of application for the creditable service and the | 6 |
| employee's
salary rate on the effective date of | 7 |
| participation for that employer, plus
interest at the | 8 |
| effective rate from the date of the prior service to the | 9 |
| date
of payment. Application for this creditable service | 10 |
| may be made at any time
while the employee is still in | 11 |
| service.
| 12 |
| A municipality that (i) has at least 35 employees; (ii) | 13 |
| is located in a county with at least 2,000,000 inhabitants; | 14 |
| and (iii) maintains an independent defined benefit pension | 15 |
| plan for the benefit of its eligible employees may restrict | 16 |
| creditable service in whole or in part for periods of prior | 17 |
| service with the employer if the governing body of the | 18 |
| municipality adopts an irrevocable resolution to restrict | 19 |
| that creditable service and files the resolution with the | 20 |
| board before the municipality's effective date of | 21 |
| participation.
| 22 |
| Any person who has withdrawn from the service of a | 23 |
| participating
municipality
or participating | 24 |
| instrumentality prior to the effective date, who reenters
| 25 |
| the service of the same municipality or participating | 26 |
| instrumentality after
the effective date and becomes a | 27 |
| participating employee is entitled to
creditable service | 28 |
| for prior service as otherwise provided in this
subdivision | 29 |
| (a)(1) only if he or she renders 2 years of service as a
| 30 |
| participating employee after the effective date. | 31 |
| Application
for such service must be made while in a | 32 |
| participating status.
The salary rate to be used in the | 33 |
| calculation of the required employee
contribution, if any, | 34 |
| shall be the employee's salary rate at the time of first
| 35 |
| reentering service with the employer after the employer's | 36 |
| effective date of
participation.
|
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 3 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| 2. For current service, each participating employee | 2 |
| shall be
credited with:
| 3 |
| a. Additional credits of amounts equal to each | 4 |
| payment of additional
contributions received from him | 5 |
| under Section 7-173, as of the
date the corresponding | 6 |
| payment of earnings is payable to him.
| 7 |
| b. Normal credits of amounts equal to each payment | 8 |
| of normal
contributions received from him, as of the | 9 |
| date the corresponding payment of
earnings is payable | 10 |
| to him, and normal contributions made for the purpose | 11 |
| of
establishing out-of-state service credits as | 12 |
| permitted under the conditions set
forth in paragraph 6 | 13 |
| of this subsection (a).
| 14 |
| c. Municipality credits in an amount equal to 1.4 | 15 |
| times the normal
credits, except those established by | 16 |
| out-of-state service credits, as of
the date of | 17 |
| computation of any benefit if these credits would | 18 |
| increase
the benefit.
| 19 |
| d. Survivor credits equal to each payment of | 20 |
| survivor contributions
received from the participating | 21 |
| employee as of the date the
corresponding payment of | 22 |
| earnings is payable, and survivor contributions made
| 23 |
| for the purpose of establishing out-of-state service | 24 |
| credits.
| 25 |
| 3. For periods of temporary and total and permanent | 26 |
| disability
benefits, each employee receiving disability | 27 |
| benefits shall be granted
creditable service for the period | 28 |
| during which disability benefits are
payable. Normal and | 29 |
| survivor credits, based upon the rate of earnings
applied | 30 |
| for disability benefits, shall also be granted if such | 31 |
| credits
would result in a higher benefit to any such | 32 |
| employee or his
beneficiary.
| 33 |
| 4. For authorized leave of absence without pay: A | 34 |
| participating
employee shall be granted credits and | 35 |
| creditable service for periods of
authorized leave of | 36 |
| absence without pay under the following
conditions:
|
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 4 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| a. An application for credits and creditable | 2 |
| service is submitted to the
board while the employee is | 3 |
| in a status of
active employment, and within 2 years | 4 |
| after termination of the
leave of absence period for | 5 |
| which credits and creditable service are
sought.
| 6 |
| b. Not more than 12 complete months of creditable | 7 |
| service
for authorized leave of absence without pay | 8 |
| shall be counted for purposes of
determining any | 9 |
| benefits payable under this Article.
| 10 |
| c. Credits and creditable service shall be granted | 11 |
| for leave of
absence only if such leave is approved by | 12 |
| the governing body of the
municipality, including | 13 |
| approval of the estimated cost thereof to the
| 14 |
| municipality as determined by the fund, and employee | 15 |
| contributions, plus
interest at the effective rate | 16 |
| applicable for each year from the end of
the period of | 17 |
| leave to date of payment, have been paid to the fund in
| 18 |
| accordance with Section 7-173. The contributions shall | 19 |
| be computed upon the
assumption earnings continued | 20 |
| during the period of leave at the rate in
effect when | 21 |
| the leave began.
| 22 |
| d. Benefits under the provisions of Sections | 23 |
| 7-141, 7-146, 7-150
and 7-163 shall become payable to | 24 |
| employees on authorized leave of
absence, or their | 25 |
| designated beneficiary, only if such leave of absence
| 26 |
| is creditable hereunder, and if the employee has at | 27 |
| least one year of
creditable service other than the | 28 |
| service granted for leave of absence.
Any employee | 29 |
| contributions due may be deducted from any benefits
| 30 |
| payable.
| 31 |
| e. No credits or creditable service shall be | 32 |
| allowed for leave of
absence without pay during any | 33 |
| period of prior service.
| 34 |
| 5. For military service: The governing body of a | 35 |
| municipality or
participating instrumentality may elect to | 36 |
| allow creditable service to
participating employees who |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 5 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| leave their employment to serve in the armed
forces of the | 2 |
| United States for all periods of such service, provided
| 3 |
| that the person returns to active employment within 90 days | 4 |
| after
completion
of full time active duty, but no | 5 |
| creditable service shall be allowed such
person for any | 6 |
| period that can be used in the computation of a pension
or | 7 |
| any other pay or benefit, other than pay for active duty, | 8 |
| for service
in any branch of the armed forces of the United | 9 |
| States. If necessary to
the computation of any benefit, the | 10 |
| board shall establish municipality
credits for | 11 |
| participating employees under this paragraph on the
| 12 |
| assumption that the employee received earnings at the rate | 13 |
| received at
the time he left the employment to enter the | 14 |
| armed forces. A
participating employee in the armed forces | 15 |
| shall not be considered an
employee during such period of | 16 |
| service and no additional death and no
disability benefits | 17 |
| are payable for death or disability during such period.
| 18 |
| Any participating employee who left his employment | 19 |
| with a
municipality or participating instrumentality to | 20 |
| serve in the armed
forces of the United States and who | 21 |
| again became a participating
employee within 90 days after | 22 |
| completion of full time active duty by
entering the service | 23 |
| of a different municipality or participating
| 24 |
| instrumentality, which has elected to allow creditable | 25 |
| service for
periods of military service under the preceding | 26 |
| paragraph, shall also be
allowed creditable service for his | 27 |
| period of military service on the
same terms that would | 28 |
| apply if he had been employed, before entering
military | 29 |
| service, by the municipality or instrumentality which | 30 |
| employed
him after he left the military service and the | 31 |
| employer costs arising in
relation to such grant of | 32 |
| creditable service shall be charged to and
paid by that | 33 |
| municipality or instrumentality.
| 34 |
| Notwithstanding the foregoing, any participating | 35 |
| employee
shall be entitled to creditable service as | 36 |
| required by any federal law
relating to re-employment |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 6 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| rights of persons who served in the United States
Armed | 2 |
| Services. Such creditable service shall be granted upon | 3 |
| payment by
the member of an amount equal to the employee | 4 |
| contributions which would
have been required had the | 5 |
| employee continued in service at the same
rate of earnings | 6 |
| during the military leave period, plus interest at
the | 7 |
| effective rate.
| 8 |
| 5.1. In addition to any creditable service established | 9 |
| under
paragraph 5 of this subsection (a), creditable | 10 |
| service may be granted for
up to 24 months of service in | 11 |
| the armed forces of the United States.
| 12 |
| In order to receive creditable service for military | 13 |
| service under this
paragraph 5.1, a participating employee | 14 |
| must (1) apply to the Fund
in writing and provide evidence | 15 |
| of the military service that is satisfactory
to the Board; | 16 |
| (2) obtain the written approval of the current employer; | 17 |
| and (3)
make contributions to the Fund equal to (i)
the | 18 |
| employee contributions that would have been required had | 19 |
| the service been
rendered as a member, plus (ii) an amount | 20 |
| determined by the board to be equal
to the employer's | 21 |
| normal cost of the benefits accrued for that military
| 22 |
| service, plus (iii) interest on items (i) and (ii) from the | 23 |
| date of first
membership in the Fund to the date of | 24 |
| payment. If payment is made during
the 6-month period that | 25 |
| begins 3 months after the effective date of this
amendatory | 26 |
| Act of 1997, the required interest shall be at the rate of | 27 |
| 2.5%
per year, compounded annually; otherwise, the | 28 |
| required interest shall be
calculated at the regular | 29 |
| interest rate.
| 30 |
| 5.2. In lieu of establishing any creditable service | 31 |
| under
paragraph 5.1, a person who (A) has creditable | 32 |
| service in this Fund but is no longer actively employed | 33 |
| under this Fund and has not yet begun to receive a | 34 |
| retirement annuity under this Article and (B) is an active | 35 |
| participant in the Article 16 retirement system may | 36 |
| establish creditable service in this Fund for
up to 24 |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 7 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| months of service in the armed forces of the United States, | 2 |
| subject to the following requirements:
| 3 |
| a. The person must apply to the Fund
in writing | 4 |
| within 60 days after the effective date of this | 5 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly and provide | 6 |
| evidence of eligibility and military service that is | 7 |
| satisfactory
to the Board. | 8 |
| b. The person must contribute to the Fund before | 9 |
| retirement an amount to be determined by the Board, | 10 |
| equal to (i)
the employee contributions that would have | 11 |
| been required had the service been
rendered as a | 12 |
| participating employee, plus (ii) an amount determined | 13 |
| by the Board to be equal
to the employer's normal cost | 14 |
| of the benefits accrued for that military
service, plus | 15 |
| (iii) regular interest on items (i) and (ii) from the | 16 |
| date of first
membership in the Fund to the date of | 17 |
| payment. | 18 |
| c. The person must not have established creditable | 19 |
| service under this or any other Article of this Code | 20 |
| for that same period of military service (but may have | 21 |
| established creditable service for other periods of | 22 |
| military service under other provisions of this Code).
| 23 |
| 6. For out-of-state service: Creditable service shall | 24 |
| be granted for
service rendered to an out-of-state local | 25 |
| governmental body under the
following conditions: The | 26 |
| employee had participated and has irrevocably
forfeited | 27 |
| all rights to benefits in the out-of-state public employees
| 28 |
| pension system; the governing body of his participating | 29 |
| municipality or
instrumentality authorizes the employee to | 30 |
| establish such service; the
employee has 2 years current | 31 |
| service with this municipality or
participating | 32 |
| instrumentality; the employee makes a payment of
| 33 |
| contributions, which shall be computed at 8% (normal) plus | 34 |
| 2% (survivor)
times length of service purchased times the | 35 |
| average rate of earnings for the
first 2
years of service | 36 |
| with the municipality or participating
instrumentality |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 8 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| whose governing body authorizes the service established
| 2 |
| plus interest at the effective rate on the date such | 3 |
| credits are
established, payable from the date the employee | 4 |
| completes the required 2
years of current service to date | 5 |
| of payment. In no case shall more than
120 months of | 6 |
| creditable service be granted under this provision.
| 7 |
| 7. For retroactive service: Any employee who could have | 8 |
| but did not
elect to become a participating employee, or | 9 |
| who should have been a
participant in the Municipal Public | 10 |
| Utilities Annuity and Benefit Fund
before that fund was | 11 |
| superseded, may receive creditable service for the
period | 12 |
| of service not to exceed 50 months; however, a current or | 13 |
| former
elected or appointed official of a participating | 14 |
| municipality may establish credit under this paragraph 7 | 15 |
| for more than 50
months of service as an official of that | 16 |
| municipality, if the excess over 50 months is approved by | 17 |
| resolution of the
governing body of the affected | 18 |
| municipality filed with
the Fund before January 1, 2002.
| 19 |
| Any employee who is a
participating employee on or | 20 |
| after September 24, 1981 and who was
excluded from | 21 |
| participation by the age restrictions removed by Public Act
| 22 |
| 82-596 may receive creditable service for the period, on or | 23 |
| after January
1, 1979, excluded by the age restriction and, | 24 |
| in addition, if the governing
body of the participating | 25 |
| municipality or participating instrumentality elects
to | 26 |
| allow creditable service for all employees excluded by the | 27 |
| age restriction
prior to January 1, 1979, for service | 28 |
| during the period prior to that date
excluded by the age | 29 |
| restriction. Any employee who was excluded from
| 30 |
| participation by the age restriction removed by Public Act | 31 |
| 82-596 and who is
not a participating employee on or after | 32 |
| September 24, 1981 may receive
creditable service for | 33 |
| service after January 1,
1979. Creditable service under | 34 |
| this paragraph
shall be granted upon payment of the | 35 |
| employee contributions
which would have been required had | 36 |
| he participated, with interest at the
effective rate for |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 9 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| each year from the end of the period of service
established | 2 |
| to date of payment.
| 3 |
| 8. For accumulated unused sick leave: A participating | 4 |
| employee who is
applying for a retirement annuity shall be | 5 |
| entitled to creditable service
for that portion of the | 6 |
| employee's accumulated unused sick leave
for which payment | 7 |
| is not received, as follows:
| 8 |
| a. Sick leave days shall be limited to those | 9 |
| accumulated under a sick
leave plan established by a | 10 |
| participating municipality or participating
| 11 |
| instrumentality which is available to all employees or | 12 |
| a class of employees.
| 13 |
| b. Only sick leave days accumulated with a | 14 |
| participating municipality or
participating | 15 |
| instrumentality with which the employee was in service | 16 |
| within
60 days of the effective date of his retirement | 17 |
| annuity shall be credited;
If the employee was in | 18 |
| service with more than one employer during this
period | 19 |
| only the sick leave days with the employer with which | 20 |
| the employee
has the greatest number of unpaid sick | 21 |
| leave days shall be considered.
| 22 |
| c. The creditable service granted shall be | 23 |
| considered solely for the
purpose of computing the | 24 |
| amount of the retirement annuity and shall not be
used | 25 |
| to establish any minimum service period required by any | 26 |
| provision of the
Illinois Pension Code, the effective | 27 |
| date of the retirement annuity, or the
final rate of | 28 |
| earnings.
| 29 |
| d. The creditable service shall be at the rate of | 30 |
| 1/20 of a month for
each full sick day, provided that | 31 |
| no more than 12 months may be credited
under this | 32 |
| subdivision 8.
| 33 |
| e. Employee contributions shall not be required | 34 |
| for creditable service
under this subdivision 8.
| 35 |
| f. Each participating municipality and | 36 |
| participating instrumentality
with which an employee |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 10 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| has service within 60 days of the effective date of
his | 2 |
| retirement annuity shall certify to the board the | 3 |
| number of accumulated
unpaid sick leave days credited | 4 |
| to the employee at the time of termination
of service.
| 5 |
| 9. For service transferred from another system: | 6 |
| Credits and
creditable service shall be granted for service | 7 |
| under Article 3, 4, 5, 14
or 16 of this Act, to any active | 8 |
| member of this Fund, and to any
inactive member who has | 9 |
| been a county sheriff, upon
transfer of such credits | 10 |
| pursuant to Section 3-110.3, 4-108.3, 5-235,
14-105.6 or | 11 |
| 16-131.4, and payment by the member of the amount by
which | 12 |
| (1) the employer and employee contributions that would have | 13 |
| been required
if he had participated in this Fund as a | 14 |
| sheriff's law enforcement employee
during the period for | 15 |
| which credit is
being transferred, plus interest thereon at | 16 |
| the effective rate for each
year, compounded annually, from | 17 |
| the date of termination of the service for
which credit is | 18 |
| being transferred to the date of payment, exceeds (2) the
| 19 |
| amount actually transferred to the Fund.
Such transferred | 20 |
| service shall be deemed to be service as a sheriff's law
| 21 |
| enforcement employee for the purposes of Section 7-142.1.
| 22 |
| (b) Creditable service - amount:
| 23 |
| 1. One month of creditable service
shall be allowed for | 24 |
| each month for which a participating employee made
| 25 |
| contributions as required under Section 7-173, or for which | 26 |
| creditable
service is otherwise granted hereunder. Not | 27 |
| more than 1 month of
service shall be credited and counted | 28 |
| for 1 calendar month, and not more
than 1 year of service | 29 |
| shall be credited and counted for any calendar
year. A | 30 |
| calendar month means a nominal month beginning on the first | 31 |
| day
thereof, and a calendar year means a year beginning | 32 |
| January 1 and ending
December 31.
| 33 |
| 2. A seasonal employee shall be given 12 months of | 34 |
| creditable
service if he renders the number of months of | 35 |
| service normally required
by the position in a 12-month | 36 |
| period and he remains in service for the
entire 12-month |
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 11 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| period. Otherwise a fractional year of service in the
| 2 |
| number of months of service rendered shall be credited.
| 3 |
| 3. An intermittent employee shall be given creditable | 4 |
| service for
only those months in which a contribution is | 5 |
| made under Section 7-173.
| 6 |
| (c) No application for correction of credits or creditable | 7 |
| service shall
be considered unless the board receives an | 8 |
| application for correction while
(1) the applicant is a | 9 |
| participating employee and in active employment
with a | 10 |
| participating municipality or instrumentality, or (2) while | 11 |
| the
applicant is actively participating in a pension fund or | 12 |
| retirement
system which is a participating system under the | 13 |
| Retirement Systems
Reciprocal Act. A participating employee or | 14 |
| other applicant shall not be
entitled to credits or creditable | 15 |
| service unless the required employee
contributions are made in | 16 |
| a lump sum or in installments made in accordance
with board | 17 |
| rule.
| 18 |
| (d) Upon the granting of a retirement, surviving spouse or | 19 |
| child
annuity, a death benefit or a separation benefit, on | 20 |
| account of any
employee, all individual accumulated credits | 21 |
| shall thereupon terminate.
Upon the withdrawal of additional | 22 |
| contributions, the credits applicable
thereto shall thereupon | 23 |
| terminate. Terminated credits shall not be applied
to increase | 24 |
| the benefits any remaining employee would otherwise receive | 25 |
| under
this Article.
| 26 |
| (Source: P.A. 92-424, eff. 8-17-01; 93-933, eff. 8-13-04.)
| 27 |
| Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding | 28 |
| Section 8.29 as
follows:
| 29 |
| (30 ILCS 805/8.29 new)
| 30 |
| Sec. 8.29. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 | 31 |
| of this
Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the | 32 |
| implementation of
any mandate created by this amendatory Act of | 33 |
| the 94th General Assembly.
|
|
|
|
SB0217 |
- 12 - |
LRB094 05447 EFG 35492 b |
|
| 1 |
| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 2 |
| becoming law.
|
|