Bill Text: NJ S2085 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows municipality with life guard pension fund to close enrollment to new employees or to terminate fund altogether.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-04-25 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S2085 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S2085-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator STEPHEN M. SWEENEY
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Senator KEVIN J. O'TOOLE
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Allows municipality with life guard pension fund to close enrollment to new employees or to terminate fund altogether.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning life guard pension funds and amending R.S.43:13-29.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.43:13-29 is amended to read as follows:
43:13-29. Management and control of fund; treasurer; investments; payments
a. The life guard pension commission shall have the management and control of the fund and may make all necessary rules and regulations not inconsistent with this article.
All moneys belonging to the fund shall be paid over to the city treasurer, who shall give bond in such amount, from time to time, as the governing body of the city determines. All moneys not needed for the immediate payment of the pensions shall be invested by the life guard pension commission in interest bearing bonds of the city or in other interest bearing securities in which savings banks of this state may invest their funds. No moneys shall be paid out of the fund by the treasurer except upon the warrant of the life guard pension commission, to be signed by such member or members of the commission as shall be designated by the commission.
b. (1) The governing body of a municipality that has established a pension fund for life guards pursuant to article 3 of chapter 13 of Title 43 of the Revised Statutes (C.43:13-23 through 43:13-29) may adopt an ordinance directing that the provisions of that article shall not apply to any person becoming a member of the life guard force subsequent to the passage of such ordinance.
(2) The governing body of a municipality that has established a pension fund for life guards pursuant to article 3 of chapter 13 of Title 43 of the Revised Statutes (C.43:13-23 through 43:13-29) may adopt an ordinance terminating its pension fund for life guards.
Upon the termination of the pension fund, the rights of all members of the fund to benefits accrued to the date of the termination, to the extent then funded, are non-forfeitable. The termination and distribution of the corpus and income from the pension fund shall conform to the required termination and distribution provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code and the regulations issued by the United States Department of the Treasury under that Code.
In accordance with the provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code, and subject to such exceptions as may be permitted for governmental plans under the Code, at no time prior to the satisfaction of all liabilities with respect to members and their beneficiaries under the pension fund shall any part of the corpus or income of the respective retirement systems, within the taxable year or thereafter, be used for or diverted to purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of the members or their beneficiaries.
(cf: R.S.43:13-29)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Current statutes provide for the establishment of a pension fund for members of the life guard force of cities of the fourth class, which are seaside or summer resort cities bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic City, for example, pays more than $1 million to its retired life guards each year. The seven statutes governing these life guard pension funds were enacted in 1928 and last amended in 1936.
This bill provides that the governing body of a municipality that has established a pension fund for life guards, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:13-23 through 43:13-29, may adopt an ordinance (1) directing that those provisions of the law will not apply to any person becoming a member of the life guard force subsequent to the passage of such ordinance, or (2) terminating the pension fund for life guards altogether.
The bill provides that upon termination of a pension fund for life guards, the rights of all members of the fund to benefits accrued to the date of the termination or discontinuance, to the extent then funded, are non-forfeitable, and the form and timing of all distributions from the fund will conform to the required distribution provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code.
