Bill Text: IL HB2654 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Pension Code. Authorizes an active member of a downstate firefighters' pension fund to transfer up to 6 years of creditable service to that fund from a downstate police pension fund that is administered by the same unit of local government. Requires application within 6 months after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Authorizes reinstatement of service that was terminated by a refund. Provides that if the transferred police service was Tier 1, then the firefighter shall be considered to be a Tier 1 firefighter. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-27 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2654 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HB2654-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Section 4-108 and by adding Section 3-110.12 as follows:
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6 | (40 ILCS 5/3-110.12 new) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Sec. 3-110.12. Transfer to Article 4 fund. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | (a) At any time during the
6 months following the effective | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | date of this Section, an active member of an Article 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | firefighters' pension fund may apply for transfer to that fund | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | of up to 6 years of his or her creditable service accumulated
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12 | in the police pension fund under this Article that is | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | administered by the same unit of local government. The | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | creditable service shall be transferred upon payment by
the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | police pension fund to the Article 4 fund of an amount
equal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | to: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | (1) the amounts accumulated to the credit of the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | applicant on the books
of the fund on the date of transfer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
19 | for the service to be transferred; and | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | (2) employer contributions in an amount equal to the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
21 | amount determined
under item (1); and | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
22 | (3) any interest paid by the applicant in order to | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
23 | reinstate service. |
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1 | Participation in the police pension fund with respect to | ||||||
2 | the transferred creditable service shall terminate on the date | ||||||
3 | of transfer. | ||||||
4 | (b) At the time of applying for transfer of creditable | ||||||
5 | service under this Section, an active member of an Article 4 | ||||||
6 | firefighters' pension fund may, for the purpose of that | ||||||
7 | transfer, reinstate creditable service that was
terminated by | ||||||
8 | receipt of a refund, by payment to the police pension fund of | ||||||
9 | the
amount of the refund with interest thereon at the rate of | ||||||
10 | 6% per year,
compounded annually, from the date of the refund | ||||||
11 | to the date of payment.
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12 | (40 ILCS 5/4-108) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-108)
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13 | Sec. 4-108. Creditable service.
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14 | (a) Creditable service is the time served as a firefighter | ||||||
15 | of a
municipality. In computing creditable service, furloughs | ||||||
16 | and leaves of
absence without pay exceeding 30 days in any one | ||||||
17 | year shall not be counted,
but leaves of absence for illness or | ||||||
18 | accident regardless of length, and
periods of disability for | ||||||
19 | which a firefighter received no disability
pension payments | ||||||
20 | under this Article, shall be counted.
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21 | (b) Furloughs and leaves of absence of 30 days or less in | ||||||
22 | any one year may
be counted as creditable service, if the | ||||||
23 | firefighter makes the contribution
to the fund that would have | ||||||
24 | been required had he or she not been
on furlough or leave of | ||||||
25 | absence. To qualify for this creditable service,
the |
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1 | firefighter must pay the required contributions to the fund not | ||||||
2 | more
than 90 days subsequent to the termination of the furlough | ||||||
3 | or leave of
absence, to the extent that the municipality has | ||||||
4 | not made such contribution
on his or her behalf.
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5 | (c) Creditable service includes:
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6 | (1) Service in the military, naval or air forces of the
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7 | United States entered upon when the person was an active
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8 | firefighter, provided
that, upon applying for a permanent | ||||||
9 | pension, and in accordance with the
rules of the board the | ||||||
10 | firefighter pays into the fund the amount that would
have | ||||||
11 | been contributed had he or she been a regular contributor | ||||||
12 | during such
period of service, if and to the extent that | ||||||
13 | the municipality which the
firefighter served made no such | ||||||
14 | contributions in his or her behalf. The
total amount of | ||||||
15 | such creditable service shall not exceed 5 years, except
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16 | that any firefighter who on July 1, 1973 had more than 5 | ||||||
17 | years of such
creditable service shall receive the total | ||||||
18 | amount thereof as of that date.
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19 | (1.5) Up to 24 months of service in the military, | ||||||
20 | naval, or air forces of the United States that was served | ||||||
21 | prior to employment by a municipality or fire protection | ||||||
22 | district as a firefighter. To receive the credit for the | ||||||
23 | military service prior to the employment as a firefighter, | ||||||
24 | the firefighter must apply in writing to the fund and must | ||||||
25 | make contributions to the fund equal to (i) the employee | ||||||
26 | contributions that would have been required had the service |
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1 | been rendered as a member, plus (ii) an amount determined | ||||||
2 | by the fund to be equal to the employer's normal cost of | ||||||
3 | the benefits accrued for that military service, plus (iii) | ||||||
4 | interest at the actuarially assumed rate provided by the | ||||||
5 | Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, | ||||||
6 | compounded annually from the first date of membership in | ||||||
7 | the fund to the date of payment on items (i) and (ii). The | ||||||
8 | changes to this paragraph (1.5) by this amendatory Act of | ||||||
9 | the 95th General Assembly apply only to participating | ||||||
10 | employees in service on or after its effective date.
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11 | (2) Service prior to July 1, 1976 by a firefighter | ||||||
12 | initially excluded
from participation by reason of age who | ||||||
13 | elected to participate and paid
the required contributions | ||||||
14 | for such service.
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15 | (3) Up to 8 years of service by a firefighter as an | ||||||
16 | officer in a statewide
firefighters' association when he is | ||||||
17 | on a leave of absence from a
municipality's payroll, | ||||||
18 | provided that (i) the firefighter has at least 10
years of | ||||||
19 | creditable service as an active firefighter, (ii) the | ||||||
20 | firefighter
contributes to the fund the amount that he | ||||||
21 | would have contributed had he
remained an active member of | ||||||
22 | the fund, (iii) the employee or statewide
firefighter | ||||||
23 | association contributes to the fund an amount equal to the
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24 | employer's required contribution as determined by the | ||||||
25 | board, and (iv) for all leaves of absence under this | ||||||
26 | subdivision (3), including those beginning before the |
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1 | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General | ||||||
2 | Assembly, the firefighter continues to remain in sworn | ||||||
3 | status, subject to the professional standards of the public | ||||||
4 | employer or those terms established in statute.
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5 | (4) Time spent as an on-call fireman for a | ||||||
6 | municipality,
calculated at the rate of one year of | ||||||
7 | creditable service for each 5 years
of time spent as an | ||||||
8 | on-call fireman, provided that (i) the firefighter has
at | ||||||
9 | least 18 years of creditable service as an active | ||||||
10 | firefighter, (ii) the
firefighter spent at least 14 years | ||||||
11 | as an on-call firefighter for the
municipality, (iii) the | ||||||
12 | firefighter applies for such creditable service
within 30 | ||||||
13 | days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of | ||||||
14 | 1989,
(iv) the firefighter contributes to the Fund an | ||||||
15 | amount representing
employee contributions for the number | ||||||
16 | of years of creditable service
granted under this | ||||||
17 | subdivision (4), based on the salary and contribution
rate | ||||||
18 | in effect for the firefighter at the date of entry into the | ||||||
19 | Fund, to
be determined by the board, and (v) not more than | ||||||
20 | 3 years of creditable
service may be granted under this | ||||||
21 | subdivision (4).
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22 | Except as provided in Section 4-108.5, creditable | ||||||
23 | service shall not
include time
spent as a volunteer | ||||||
24 | firefighter, whether or not any compensation was received
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25 | therefor. The change made in this Section by Public Act | ||||||
26 | 83-0463 is intended
to be a restatement and clarification |
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1 | of existing law, and does not imply
that creditable service | ||||||
2 | was previously allowed under this Article for time
spent as | ||||||
3 | a volunteer firefighter.
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4 | (5) Time served between July 1, 1976 and July 1, 1988 | ||||||
5 | in
the position of protective inspection officer or | ||||||
6 | administrative assistant
for fire services, for a | ||||||
7 | municipality with a population under 10,000 that is
located | ||||||
8 | in a county with a population over 3,000,000 and that | ||||||
9 | maintains a
firefighters' pension fund under this Article, | ||||||
10 | if the position included
firefighting duties, | ||||||
11 | notwithstanding that the person may not have held an
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12 | appointment as a firefighter, provided that application is | ||||||
13 | made to the
pension fund within 30 days after the effective | ||||||
14 | date of this amendatory Act
of 1991, and the corresponding | ||||||
15 | contributions are paid for the number of
years of service | ||||||
16 | granted, based upon the salary and contribution rate in
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17 | effect for the firefighter at the date of entry into the | ||||||
18 | pension fund, as
determined by the Board.
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19 | (6) Service before becoming a participant by a | ||||||
20 | firefighter initially
excluded from participation by | ||||||
21 | reason of age who becomes a participant
under the amendment | ||||||
22 | to Section 4-107 made by this amendatory Act of 1993 and
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23 | pays the required contributions for such service.
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24 | (7) Up to 3 years of time during which the firefighter | ||||||
25 | receives a
disability pension under Section 4-110, | ||||||
26 | 4-110.1, or 4-111, provided that (i)
the firefighter |
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1 | returns to active service after the disability for a period | ||||||
2 | at
least equal to the period for which credit is to be | ||||||
3 | established and (ii) the
firefighter makes contributions | ||||||
4 | to the fund based on the rates specified in
Section 4-118.1 | ||||||
5 | and the salary upon which the disability pension is based.
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6 | These contributions may be paid at any time prior to the | ||||||
7 | commencement of a
retirement pension. The firefighter may, | ||||||
8 | but need not, elect to have the
contributions deducted from | ||||||
9 | the disability pension or to pay them in
installments on a | ||||||
10 | schedule approved by the board. If not deducted from the
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11 | disability pension, the contributions
shall include | ||||||
12 | interest at the rate of 6% per year, compounded annually, | ||||||
13 | from
the date for which service credit is being established | ||||||
14 | to the date of payment.
If contributions are paid under | ||||||
15 | this subdivision (c)(7) in excess of those
needed to | ||||||
16 | establish the credit, the excess shall be refunded. This
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17 | subdivision (c)(7) applies to persons receiving a | ||||||
18 | disability pension under
Section 4-110, 4-110.1, or 4-111 | ||||||
19 | on the effective date of this amendatory Act
of the 91st | ||||||
20 | General Assembly, as well as persons who begin to receive | ||||||
21 | such a
disability pension after that date.
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22 | (8) Up to 6 years of service as a police officer and | ||||||
23 | participant in an Article 3 police pension fund | ||||||
24 | administered by the unit of local government that employs | ||||||
25 | the firefighter under this Article, provided that the | ||||||
26 | service has been transferred to, and the required payment |
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1 | received by, the Article 4 fund in accordance with Section | ||||||
2 | 3-110.12 of this Code. If a firefighter who establishes | ||||||
3 | creditable service under this item (8) first became a | ||||||
4 | police officer and participant in the Article 3 fund before | ||||||
5 | January 1, 2011, then for the purposes of this Article the | ||||||
6 | firefighter shall be considered to be a person who first | ||||||
7 | became a firefighter under this Article before January 1, | ||||||
8 | 2011. | ||||||
9 | (Source: P.A. 97-651, eff. 1-5-12.)
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10 | Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding | ||||||
11 | Section 8.39 as follows:
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12 | (30 ILCS 805/8.39 new) | ||||||
13 | Sec. 8.39. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 | ||||||
14 | of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the | ||||||
15 | implementation of any mandate created by this amendatory Act of | ||||||
16 | the 99th General Assembly.
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17 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
18 | becoming law.
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