SB2520ham002 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Angelo Saviano

Filed: 5/28/2008

09500SB2520ham002 LRB095 17536 AMC 51623 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 2520

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 2520, AS AMENDED, with reference to page and line numbers of House Amendment No. 1, on page 1, line 5, by replacing "4-109.3," with "4-107, 4-108, 4-109.3, 4-118,"; and

on page 3, immediately below line 12, by inserting the following:

"(40 ILCS 5/4-107) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-107)

Sec. 4-107. Qualifications.

(a) A firefighter who has not contributed to the fund during the entire period of service, to be entitled to the benefits of this Article, must contribute to the fund the amount he or she would have paid had deductions been made from his or her salary during the entire period of his or her creditable service.

(b) Any person appointed as a firefighter in a municipality shall, within 3 months after receiving his or her first appointment and within 3 months after any reappointment make written application to the board to come under the provisions of this Article.

(c) A person otherwise qualified to participate who was excluded from participation by reason of the age or fitness requirements removed by this amendatory Act of 1995 may elect to participate by making a written application to the Board before July 1, 1996. Persons so electing shall begin participation on the first day of the month following the month in which the application is received by the Board. These persons may also elect to establish creditable service for periods of employment as a firefighter during which they did not participate by paying into the pension fund, before January 1, 1997, the amount that the person would have contributed had deductions from salary been made for this purpose at the time the service was rendered, together with interest thereon at 6% per annum, compounded annually, from the time the service was rendered until the date of payment.

(d) A person described in subsection (h) of Section 15-107 shall not participate in any pension fund established under this Article with respect to employment for which he or she is a participating employee in the State Universities Retirement System.

(e) A person qualified to participate in a pension fund established pursuant to this Article who was mandatorily retired at age 65 pursuant to applicable law without having obtained 20 years of creditable service and who applies in writing to the fund within 6 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly may establish up to 5 years of creditable service for periods of employment under this Article for which creditable service is not otherwise established by contributing into the pension fund the amount that the firefighter would have contributed had deductions from salary been made for this purpose. The amount contributed by the firefighter shall also include interest thereon at the actuarially assumed rate, compounded annually, from the time the service was rendered until the date of payment.

A firefighter electing to establish creditable service pursuant to this subsection (e) shall receive an adjustment to his or her monthly pension pursuant to Section 4-109.

(Source: P.A. 89-52, eff. 6-30-95; 90-576, eff. 3-31-98.)

(40 ILCS 5/4-108) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-108)

Sec. 4-108. Creditable service.

(a) Creditable service is the time served as a firefighter of a municipality. In computing creditable service, furloughs and leaves of absence without pay exceeding 30 days in any one year shall not be counted, but leaves of absence for illness or accident regardless of length, and periods of disability for which a firefighter received no disability pension payments under this Article, shall be counted.

(b) Furloughs and leaves of absence of 30 days or less in any one year may be counted as creditable service, if the firefighter makes the contribution to the fund that would have been required had he or she not been on furlough or leave of absence. To qualify for this creditable service, the firefighter must pay the required contributions to the fund not more than 90 days subsequent to the termination of the furlough or leave of absence, to the extent that the municipality has not made such contribution on his or her behalf.

(c) Creditable service includes:

(1) Service in the military, naval or air forces of the United States entered upon when the person was an active firefighter, provided that, upon applying for a permanent pension, and in accordance with the rules of the board the firefighter pays into the fund the amount that would have been contributed had he or she been a regular contributor during such period of service, if and to the extent that the municipality which the firefighter served made no such contributions in his or her behalf. The total amount of such creditable service shall not exceed 5 years, except that any firefighter who on July 1, 1973 had more than 5 years of such creditable service shall receive the total amount thereof as of that date.

(1.5) Up to 24 months of service in the military, naval, or air forces of the United States that was served prior to employment by a municipality or fire protection district as a firefighter. To receive the credit for the military service prior to the employment as a firefighter, the firefighter must apply in writing to the fund within 6 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly and must make contributions to the fund equal to (i) the employee contributions that would have been required had the service been rendered as a member, plus (ii) an amount determined by the fund to be equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefits accrued for that military service, plus (iii) interest at the actuarially assumed rate, compounded annually, from the first date of membership in the fund to the date of payment on items (i) and (ii). The changes to this paragraph (1.5) by this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly apply only to participating employees in service on or after its effective date.

(2) Service prior to July 1, 1976 by a firefighter initially excluded from participation by reason of age who elected to participate and paid the required contributions for such service.

(3) Up to 8 years of service by a firefighter as an officer in a statewide firefighters' association when he is on a leave of absence from a municipality's payroll, provided that (i) the firefighter has at least 10 years of creditable service as an active firefighter, (ii) the firefighter contributes to the fund the amount that he would have contributed had he remained an active member of the fund, and (iii) the employee or statewide firefighter association contributes to the fund an amount equal to the employer's required contribution as determined by the board.

(4) Time spent as an on-call fireman for a municipality, calculated at the rate of one year of creditable service for each 5 years of time spent as an on-call fireman, provided that (i) the firefighter has at least 18 years of creditable service as an active firefighter, (ii) the firefighter spent at least 14 years as an on-call firefighter for the municipality, (iii) the firefighter applies for such creditable service within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1989, (iv) the firefighter contributes to the Fund an amount representing employee contributions for the number of years of creditable service granted under this subdivision (4), based on the salary and contribution rate in effect for the firefighter at the date of entry into the Fund, to be determined by the board, and (v) not more than 3 years of creditable service may be granted under this subdivision (4).

Except as provided in Section 4-108.5, creditable service shall not include time spent as a volunteer firefighter, whether or not any compensation was received therefor. The change made in this Section by Public Act 83-0463 is intended to be a restatement and clarification of existing law, and does not imply that creditable service was previously allowed under this Article for time spent as a volunteer firefighter.

(5) Time served between July 1, 1976 and July 1, 1988 in the position of protective inspection officer or administrative assistant for fire services, for a municipality with a population under 10,000 that is located in a county with a population over 3,000,000 and that maintains a firefighters' pension fund under this Article, if the position included firefighting duties, notwithstanding that the person may not have held an appointment as a firefighter, provided that application is made to the pension fund within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991, and the corresponding contributions are paid for the number of years of service granted, based upon the salary and contribution rate in effect for the firefighter at the date of entry into the pension fund, as determined by the Board.

(6) Service before becoming a participant by a firefighter initially excluded from participation by reason of age who becomes a participant under the amendment to Section 4-107 made by this amendatory Act of 1993 and pays the required contributions for such service.

(7) Up to 3 years of time during which the firefighter receives a disability pension under Section 4-110, 4-110.1, or 4-111, provided that (i) the firefighter returns to active service after the disability for a period at least equal to the period for which credit is to be established and (ii) the firefighter makes contributions to the fund based on the rates specified in Section 4-118.1 and the salary upon which the disability pension is based. These contributions may be paid at any time prior to the commencement of a retirement pension. The firefighter may, but need not, elect to have the contributions deducted from the disability pension or to pay them in installments on a schedule approved by the board. If not deducted from the disability pension, the contributions shall include interest at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the date for which service credit is being established to the date of payment. If contributions are paid under this subdivision (c)(7) in excess of those needed to establish the credit, the excess shall be refunded. This subdivision (c)(7) applies to persons receiving a disability pension under Section 4-110, 4-110.1, or 4-111 on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly, as well as persons who begin to receive such a disability pension after that date.

(Source: P.A. 94-856, eff. 6-15-06.)"; and

on page 10, immediately below line 16, by inserting the following:

"(40 ILCS 5/4-118) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-118)

Sec. 4-118. Financing.

(a) The city council or the board of trustees of the municipality shall annually levy a tax upon all the taxable property of the municipality at the rate on the dollar which will produce an amount which, when added to the deductions from the salaries or wages of firefighters and revenues available from other sources, will equal a sum sufficient to meet the annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund, as determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by the pension fund or municipality. For the purposes of this Section, the annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund are equal to (1) the normal cost of the pension fund, or 17.5% of the salaries and wages to be paid to firefighters for the year involved, whichever is greater, plus (2) the annual amount necessary to amortize the fund's unfunded accrued liabilities over a period of 40 years from July 1, 1993, as annually updated and determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by the pension fund or the municipality. The amount to be applied towards the amortization of the unfunded accrued liability in any year shall not be less than the annual amount required to amortize the unfunded accrued liability, including interest, as a level percentage of payroll over the number of years remaining in the 40 year amortization period.

(b) The tax shall be levied and collected in the same manner as the general taxes of the municipality, and shall be in addition to all other taxes now or hereafter authorized to be levied upon all property within the municipality, and in addition to the amount authorized to be levied for general purposes, under Section 8-3-1 of the Illinois Municipal Code or under Section 14 of the Fire Protection District Act. The tax shall be forwarded directly to the treasurer of the board within 30 business days of receipt by the county (or, in the case of amounts added to the tax levy under subsection (f), used by the municipality to pay the employer contributions required under subsection (b-1) of Section 15-155 of this Code).

(c) The board shall make available to the membership and the general public for inspection and copying at reasonable times the most recent Actuarial Valuation Balance Sheet and Tax Levy Requirement issued to the fund by the Department of Insurance.

(d) The firefighters' pension fund shall consist of the following moneys which shall be set apart by the treasurer of the municipality: (1) all moneys derived from the taxes levied hereunder; (2) contributions by firefighters as provided under Section 4-118.1; (3) all rewards in money, fees, gifts, and emoluments that may be paid or given for or on account of extraordinary service by the fire department or any member thereof, except when allowed to be retained by competitive awards; and (4) any money, real estate or personal property received by the board.

(e) For the purposes of this Section, "enrolled actuary" means an actuary: (1) who is a member of the Society of Actuaries or the American Academy of Actuaries; and (2) who is enrolled under Subtitle C of Title III of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or who has been engaged in providing actuarial services to one or more public retirement systems for a period of at least 3 years as of July 1, 1983.

(f) The corporate authorities of a municipality that employs a person who is described in subdivision (d) of Section 4-106 may add to the tax levy otherwise provided for in this Section an amount equal to the projected cost of the employer contributions required to be paid by the municipality to the State Universities Retirement System under subsection (b-1) of Section 15-155 of this Code.

(g) The corporate authorities of a municipality that has mandatorily retired a firefighter at age 65 may add to the tax levy otherwise provided for in this Section an amount equal to the projected cost of the employer contributions for a firefighter electing to establish creditable service pursuant to subsection (e) of Section 4-107.

(Source: P.A. 94-859, eff. 6-15-06.)".