Bill Text: NJ S4189 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Permits PERS retiree to return to elective public office after retirement under certain circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2022-01-18 - Pocket Veto - Bills not Acted on by Governor-end of Session [S4189 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S4189-Amended.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Senator NILSA I. CRUZ-PEREZ
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Permits PERS retiree to return to elective public office after retirement under certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on December 16, 2021, with amendments.
An Act concerning the 1[retirement of certain elected officials in] return to elective public office by a retired member of1 the Public Employees' Retirement System and supplementing P.L.1954, c.84 (C.43:15A-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. 1[Notwithstanding any provision of P.L.1954, c.84 (C.43:15A-1 et seq.) to the contrary, and except as may be otherwise provided in P.L.1972, c.167 (C.43:15A-135 et seq.), a member of the retirement system shall be eligible to retire while holding public office to which the member was elected and receiving the full salary for that office if the member's retirement allowance is not based solely on the member's service in the public office to which the member was elected. After the member retires, no contributions shall be required of the member covering that service in the public office. A member who retires while holding public office to which the member was elected shall not be paid a salary or stipend for service as an elected official in that public office for a period of one year following the member's date of retirement.]
A former member of the Public Employees' Retirement System who has been granted a retirement allowance prior to, or on or after, the effective date of this act, P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), for any cause other than disability, may return to an elective public office position with the former employer, either by appointment to fill a vacancy or by election, without cancellation of the retirement and reenrollment in the system if: (1) the return commences after the retirement allowance becomes due and payable; (2) the former member had attained the service retirement age, applicable to that member, as of the date of retirement; and (3) the compensation for the elective public office held is less than $12,000 per year.
This section shall be effective if the qualified status of the retirement system under federal law can be maintained upon its application, and such modifications to the system as may be available shall be made to allow for its application.
As used in this section, "former employer" means the public entity from which the former member retired from service performed immediately prior to retirement.1
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
