Bill Text: MI HB5990 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Retirement; other; forfeiture of employer contributions to a defined contribution plan if public employee is convicted of certain felonies; provide for. Amends secs. 2, 3 & 4 of 1994 PA 350 (MCL 38.2702 et seq.).

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 13-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-11-09 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 10/19/2016 [HB5990 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2015-HB5990-Introduced.html

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL No. 5990

 

 

October 19, 2016, Introduced by Reps. Runestad, Darany, Johnson, Graves, Kelly, Chatfield, Hooker, Howell, Glenn, Barrett, Somerville, Tedder, Cole, Vaupel and Robinson and referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice.

 

     A bill to amend 1994 PA 350, entitled

 

"Public employee retirement benefits forfeiture act,"

 

by amending sections 2, 3, and 4 (MCL 38.2702, 38.2703, and

 

38.2704), sections 2 and 4 as amended by 1996 PA 467.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Felony arising out of his or her service as a public

 

employee" means 1 or more of the following:

 

     (i) A felony resulting from the misuse of public funds.

 

     (ii) A felony resulting from the receipt of a bribe or other

 

financial benefit in that person's individual's capacity as a

 

public employee.

 

     (b) "Member" means a member, vested former member, or deferred

 

member, or participant of a retirement system.

 

     (c) "Retirant" means a person an individual who has retired

with a retirement benefit payable from a retirement system.

 

     (d) "Retirement benefit" means an annuity, a retirement

 

allowance, a pension, a benefit from employer contributions to a

 

defined contribution plan, an optional benefit, a postretirement

 

benefit, and any other right accrued or accruing to a member under

 

a retirement system. Retirement benefit does not include health

 

benefits provided to a retirant or his or her beneficiaries by a

 

retirement system.

 

     (e) "Retirement system" means a public employee retirement

 

system established by this state or a political subdivision of this

 

state.

 

     Sec. 3. A member or retirant who is convicted of or who enters

 

a nolo contendere plea accepted by a court for a felony arising out

 

of his or her service as a public employee is considered to have

 

breached the public trust and may have his or her rights to an

 

otherwise vested retirement benefit and all accumulated employer

 

contributions, including earnings on the employer contributions,

 

standing to that person's credit in the retirement system forfeited

 

as provided in this act. This act applies only to the retirement

 

system of which the person individual was a member or retirant at

 

the time the felony was committed and only to the retirement system

 

established by the entity affected by the felony.

 

     Sec. 4. (1) If a member or retirant is convicted of or enters

 

a nolo contendere plea accepted by the court for a felony arising

 

out of his or her service as a public employee, the court may shall

 

order forfeiture as provided in this section. If a court orders

 

forfeiture under this section, the order shall must contain all of

the following, as applicable:

 

     (a) The portion of the member's or retirant's retirement

 

benefit under a retirement system established by that person's

 

individual's employer at the time the act or acts that resulted in

 

the felony were committed that accrued to that the member or

 

retirant on or after the date the first act that resulted in the

 

felony was committed is forfeited.

 

     (b) The employer contributions to a member's or retirant's

 

individual account under a defined contribution plan established by

 

the retirement system, including earnings on the employer

 

contributions, on or after the date the first act that resulted in

 

the felony was committed are forfeited.

 

     (c) (b) The member's or retirant's accumulated contributions

 

standing to that person's individual's credit in the individual

 

account established for that purpose in the retirement system shall

 

must be refunded to the member or retirant.

 

     (d) (c) The Except for a retirement benefit that is a benefit

 

from employer contributions to a defined contribution plan

 

forfeited under subdivision (b), the retirement system shall pay to

 

an individual, if any, who would otherwise be a beneficiary of the

 

member or retirant whose retirement benefit is being forfeited

 

under this act an actuarially equivalent monthly retirement

 

allowance at the age that the member or retirant would have become

 

eligible for unreduced retirement benefits under that retirement

 

system.

 

     (e) (d) The retirement system shall provide hospitalization

 

and medical coverage insurance to the member or retirant whose

retirement benefit is being forfeited under this act and to his or

 

her beneficiaries in the same manner and under the same

 

restrictions as is provided to other retirants and beneficiaries of

 

that retirement system.

 

     (2) If a court enters an order described in subsection (1),

 

the clerk of the court shall deliver the order to the retirement

 

system.