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90_HB0657 40 ILCS 5/4-108 from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-108 30 ILCS 805/8.21 new Amends the Downstate Firefighter Article of the Pension Code to allow firefighters to obtain service credit for periods spent on duty or occupational disability by paying employee contributions to the fund. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately. LRB9000406EGfg LRB9000406EGfg 1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Pension Code by changing 2 Section 4-108 and to amend the State Mandates Act. 3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 4 represented in the General Assembly: 5 Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by 6 changing Section 4-108 as follows: 7 (40 ILCS 5/4-108) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-108) 8 Sec. 4-108. Creditable service. 9 (a) Creditable service is the time served as a 10 firefighter of a municipality. In computing creditable 11 service, furloughs and leaves of absence without pay 12 exceeding 30 days in any one year shall not be counted, but 13 leaves of absence for illness or accident regardless of 14 length, and periods of disability for which a firefighter 15 received no disability pension payments under this Article, 16 shall be counted. 17 (b) Furloughs and leaves of absence of 30 days or less 18 in any one year may be counted as creditable service, if the 19 firefighter makes the contribution to the fund that would 20 have been required had he or she not been on furlough or 21 leave of absence. To qualify for this creditable service, 22 the firefighter must pay the required contributions to the 23 fund not more than 90 days subsequent to the termination of 24 the furlough or leave of absence, to the extent that the 25 municipality has not made such contribution on his or her 26 behalf. 27 (c) Creditable service includes: 28 (1) Service in the military, naval or air forces of 29 the United States entered upon when the person was an 30 active firefighter, provided that, upon applying for a 31 permanent pension, and in accordance with the rules of -2- LRB9000406EGfg 1 the board the firefighter pays into the fund the amount 2 that would have been contributed had he or she been a 3 regular contributor during such period of service, if and 4 to the extent that the municipality which the firefighter 5 served made no such contributions in his or her behalf. 6 The total amount of such creditable service shall not 7 exceed 5 years, except that any firefighter who on July 8 1, 1973 had more than 5 years of such creditable service 9 shall receive the total amount thereof as of that date. 10 (2) Service prior to July 1, 1976 by a firefighter 11 initially excluded from participation by reason of age 12 who elected to participate and paid the required 13 contributions for such service. 14 (3) Up to 8 years of service by a firefighter as an 15 officer in a statewide firefighters' association when he 16 is on a leave of absence from a municipality's payroll, 17 provided that (i) the firefighter has at least 10 years 18 of creditable service as an active firefighter, (ii) the 19 firefighter contributes to the fund the amount that he 20 would have contributed had he remained an active member 21 of the fund, and (iii) the employee or statewide 22 firefighter association contributes to the fund an amount 23 equal to the employer's required contribution as 24 determined by the board. 25 (4) Time spent as an on-call fireman for a 26 municipality, calculated at the rate of one year of 27 creditable service for each 5 years of time spent as an 28 on-call fireman, provided that (i) the firefighter has at 29 least 18 years of creditable service as an active 30 firefighter, (ii) the firefighter spent at least 14 years 31 as an on-call firefighter for the municipality, (iii) the 32 firefighter applies for such creditable service within 30 33 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 34 1989, (iv) the firefighter contributes to the Fund an -3- LRB9000406EGfg 1 amount representing employee contributions for the number 2 of years of creditable service granted under this 3 subdivision (4), based on the salary and contribution 4 rate in effect for the firefighter at the date of entry 5 into the Fund, to be determined by the board, and (v) not 6 more than 3 years of creditable service may be granted 7 under this subdivision (4). 8 Creditable service shall not under any other 9 circumstances include time spent as a volunteer 10 firefighter, whether or not any compensation was received 11 therefor. The change made in this Section by Public Act 12 83-0463 is intended to be a restatement and clarification 13 of existing law, and does not imply that creditable 14 service was previously allowed under this Article for 15 time spent as a volunteer firefighter. 16 (5) Time served between July 1, 1976 and July 1, 17 1988 in the position of protective inspection officer or 18 administrative assistant for fire services, for a 19 municipality with a population under 10,000 that is 20 located in a county with a population over 3,000,000 and 21 that maintains a firefighters' pension fund under this 22 Article, if the position included firefighting duties, 23 notwithstanding that the person may not have held an 24 appointment as a firefighter, provided that application 25 is made to the pension fund within 30 days after the 26 effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991, and the 27 corresponding contributions are paid for the number of 28 years of service granted, based upon the salary and 29 contribution rate in effect for the firefighter at the 30 date of entry into the pension fund, as determined by the 31 Board. 32 (6) Service before becoming a participant by a 33 firefighter initially excluded from participation by 34 reason of age who becomes a participant under the -4- LRB9000406EGfg 1 amendment to Section 4-107 made by this amendatory Act of 2 1993 and pays the required contributions for such 3 service. 4 (7) Time during which the firefighter receives a 5 disability pension under Section 4-110 or 4-110.1, for 6 which the firefighter elects to make contributions to the 7 fund based on the rates specified in Section 4-118.1 and 8 the salary upon which the disability pension is based. 9 For periods of disability on or after the effective date 10 of this amendatory Act of 1997 for which the firefighter 11 elects to make contributions, the contributions shall be 12 deducted from the disability pension. For periods of 13 disability before the effective date of this amendatory 14 Act of 1997 for which the firefighter elects to make 15 contributions, the contributions shall include interest 16 at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the 17 date for which service credit is being established to the 18 date of payment and may be paid in installments on a 19 schedule approved by the board. This subdivision (c)(7) 20 applies to persons receiving a disability pension under 21 Section 4-110 or 4-110.1 on the effective date of this 22 amendatory Act of 1997, as well as persons who begin to 23 receive such a disability pension after that date. 24 (Source: P.A. 89-52, eff. 6-30-95.) 25 Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding 26 Section 8.21 as follows: 27 (30 ILCS 805/8.21 new) 28 Sec. 8.21. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 29 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required 30 for the implementation of any mandate created by this 31 amendatory Act of 1997. -5- LRB9000406EGfg 1 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 2 becoming law.