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92_SB1817 LRB9215794EGfg 1 AN ACT in relation to 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 5 changing Section 4-108 and adding Section 7-139.10 as 6 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- LRB9215794EGfg 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- LRB9215794EGfg 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- LRB9215794EGfg 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) Up to 3 years of time during which the 5 firefighter receives a disability pension under Section 6 4-110, 4-110.1, or 4-111, provided that (i) the 7 firefighter returns to active service after the 8 disability for a period at least equal to the period for 9 which credit is to be established and (ii) the 10 firefighter makes contributions to the fund based on the 11 rates specified in Section 4-118.1 and the salary upon 12 which the disability pension is based. These 13 contributions may be paid at any time prior to the 14 commencement of a retirement pension. The firefighter 15 may, but need not, elect to have the contributions 16 deducted from the disability pension or to pay them in 17 installments on a schedule approved by the board. If not 18 deducted from the disability pension, the contributions 19 shall include interest at the rate of 6% per year, 20 compounded annually, from the date for which service 21 credit is being established to the date of payment. If 22 contributions are paid under this subdivision (c)(7) in 23 excess of those needed to establish the credit, the 24 excess shall be refunded. This subdivision (c)(7) 25 applies to persons receiving a disability pension under 26 Section 4-110, 4-110.1, or 4-111 on the effective date of 27 this amendatory Act of the 91st General Assembly, as well 28 as persons who begin to receive such a disability pension 29 after that date. 30 (8) Service as a member of a municipal fire 31 department for which the firefighter earned credit in the 32 Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, provided that (A) 33 credit for that service has been transferred to this Fund 34 under Section 7-139.10, and (B) the firefighter -5- LRB9215794EGfg 1 contributes to the Fund the amount, if any, by which the 2 total amount transferred to the Fund under Section 3 7-139.10 for that service is less than the sum of (i) an 4 amount representing employee contributions for the 5 service to be transferred, based on the salary and 6 contribution rate in effect for the firefighter at the 7 date of entry into the Fund, plus (ii) an amount 8 representing employer contributions for the service to be 9 transferred, plus (iii) interest on items (i) and (ii) at 10 the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, from the 11 date of entry into the Fund to the date of payment, all 12 as determined by the Board. 13 (Source: P.A. 91-466, eff. 8-6-99.) 14 (40 ILCS 5/7-139.10 new) 15 Sec. 7-139.10. Transfer of fire department service credit 16 to Article 4 pension fund. 17 (a) Until January 1, 2004, a person who has credit in 18 this Fund for service as a member of a municipal fire 19 department and has become an active participant in a 20 firefighters' pension fund established under Article 4 of 21 this Code may apply for transfer to that Article 4 fund of 22 his or her creditable service accumulated under this Article 23 for service as a member of a municipal fire department. At 24 the time of the transfer the Fund shall pay to the Article 4 25 pension fund an amount equal to: 26 (1) the amounts accumulated to the credit of the 27 applicant for service as a member of a municipal fire 28 department, including interest; and 29 (2) the municipality credits based on that service, 30 including interest; and 31 (3) any interest paid by the applicant in order to 32 reinstate that service. 33 Participation in this Fund with respect to the transferred -6- LRB9215794EGfg 1 credits shall terminate on the date of transfer. 2 For the purposes of this Section, "member of a municipal 3 fire department" includes the chief of the department. 4 (b) An active member of a pension fund established under 5 Article 4 of this Code may reinstate credit for service as a 6 member of a municipal fire department under this Article that 7 was terminated by receipt of a refund, by paying to the Fund 8 the amount of the refund plus interest thereon at the rate of 9 6% per year, compounded annually, from the date of refund to 10 the date of repayment. 11 Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding 12 Section 8.26 as follows: 13 (30 ILCS 805/8.26 new) 14 Sec. 8.26. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 15 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required 16 for the implementation of any mandate created by this 17 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly. 18 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 19 becoming law.