Bill Text: OR HB2455 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to maximum benefit payable under Public Employees Retirement System; declaring an emergency.
Spectrum: Unknown
Status: (Failed) 2011-06-30 - In committee upon adjournment. [HB2455 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2011-HB2455-Introduced.html
76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 2187
House Bill 2455
Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5).
Presession filed (at the request of House Interim Committee on
Rules)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Limits retirement allowance or pension payable to retired
member of Public Employees Retirement System to final average
salary of member. Applies only to members who retire on or after
effective date of Act.
Declares emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to maximum benefit payable under Public Employees
Retirement System; creating new provisions; amending ORS
238.300, 238.320 and 238A.125; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 238.300 is amended to read:
238.300. Upon retiring from service at normal retirement age or
thereafter, a member of the { + Public Employees Retirement + }
System shall receive a service retirement allowance
{ - which - } { + . The service retirement allowance may not
exceed the member's final average salary, and + } shall consist
of the following annuity and pensions:
(1) A refund annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of
accumulated contributions, if any, by the member and interest
thereon credited at the time of retirement, which annuity shall
provide an allowance payable during the life of the member and at
death a lump sum equal in amount to the difference between
accumulated contributions at the time of retirement and the sum
of the annuity payments actually made to the member during life
shall be paid to such person, if any, as the member nominates by
written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the board or
shall otherwise be paid according to the provisions of this
chapter for disposal of an amount credited to the member account
of a member at the time of death in the event the member
designates no beneficiary to receive the amount or no such
beneficiary is able to receive the amount. If death of the member
occurs before the first payment is due, the member account of the
member shall be treated as though death had occurred before
retirement.
(2)(a) A life pension (nonrefund) for current service provided
by the contributions of employers, which pension, subject to
paragraph (b) of this subsection, shall be an amount which, when
added to the sum of the annuity, if any, under subsection (1) of
this section and the annuity, if any, provided on the same basis
and payable from the Variable Annuity Account, both annuities
considered on a refund basis, results in a total of:
(A) For service as a police officer or firefighter, two percent
of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of
membership in the system as a police officer or firefighter
before the effective date of retirement.
(B) For service as other than a police officer or firefighter,
including service as a member of the Legislative Assembly, 1.67
percent of final average salary multiplied by the number of years
of membership in the system as other than a police officer or
firefighter before the effective date of retirement.
(b) A pension under this subsection shall be at least:
(A) For a member who first establishes membership in the system
before July 1, 2003, the actuarial equivalent of the annuity
provided by the accumulated contributions of the member. A person
establishes membership in the system before July 1, 2003, for the
purposes of this subparagraph if:
(i) The person is a member of the system, or a judge member of
the system, on the day immediately before July 1, 2003; or
(ii) The person performed any period of service for a
participating public employer before July 1, 2003, that is
credited to the six-month period of employment required of an
employee under ORS 238.015 before an employee may become a member
of the system.
(B) For a member who made contributions before August 21, 1981,
the equivalent of a pension computed pursuant to this subsection
as it existed immediately before that date.
(c) As used in this subsection, 'number of years of membership'
means the number of full years of creditable service plus any
remaining fraction of a year of creditable service. Except as
otherwise provided in this paragraph, in determining a remaining
fraction a full month shall be considered as one-twelfth of a
year and a major fraction of a month shall be considered as a
full month. Membership of a school district employee, an employee
of the State Board of Higher Education engaged in teaching or
other school activity at an institution of higher education or an
employee of the Department of Human Services, the Oregon Youth
Authority, the Department of Corrections or the State Board of
Education engaged in teaching or other school activity at an
institution supervised by the authority, board or department, for
all portions of a school year in a calendar year in which the
district school, institution of higher education or school
activity at an institution so supervised in which the member is
employed is normally in session shall be considered as a full
one-half year of membership. The number of years of membership of
a member who received a refund of contributions as provided in
ORS 237.976 (2) is limited to the number of years after the day
before the date on which the refund was received. The number of
years of membership of a member who is separated, for any reason
other than death or disability, from all service entitling the
member to membership in the system, who withdraws the amount
credited to the member account of the member in the fund during
absence from such service and who thereafter reenters the service
of an employer participating in the system but does not repay the
amount so withdrawn as provided in this chapter, is limited to
the number of years after the day before the date of so
reentering.
(3) An additional life pension (nonrefund) for prior service
credit, including military service, credited to the member at the
time of first becoming a member of the system, as elsewhere
provided in this chapter, which pension shall be provided by the
contributions of the employer.
SECTION 2. ORS 238.320 is amended to read:
238.320. (1) Whenever an employee who is a member of the { +
Public Employees Retirement + } System is found, after being
examined by one or more physicians selected by the board, to be
mentally or physically incapacitated for an extended duration, as
determined by medical examination, and thereby unable to perform
any work for which qualified, by injury or disease sustained
while in actual performance of duty and not intentionally
self-inflicted, the member shall receive a disability retirement
allowance consisting of:
(a) A disability retirement refund annuity based on the
contributions, if any, credited to the member account of the
member.
(b) A current service pension provided by the contributions of
employers equal to:
(A) For a police officer or firefighter, the pension to which
the member would have been entitled if the member had worked
continuously until attaining the age of 55, or if the member has
attained the age of 55, the pension which the member would
receive were the member to retire for service, as provided in
this chapter.
(B) For a member other than a police officer or firefighter,
the pension to which the member would have been entitled if the
member had worked continuously until attaining the age of 58, or
if the member has attained the age of 58, the pension which the
member would receive were the member to retire for service, as
provided in this chapter.
(c) The same prior service pension the member would have
received had the member worked until normal retirement age.
(2) As used in subsection (1) of this section, 'injury ' means
bodily injury causing the disability directly and independently
of all other causes and effected solely through accidental means.
(3) Whenever an employee who is a member of the system and who
has been an employee for 10 years or more of an employer
participating in the system is found, after being examined by one
or more physicians selected by the board, to be mentally or
physically incapacitated for an extended duration, as determined
by medical examination, and thereby unable to perform any work
for which qualified, from cause other than injury or disease
sustained while in actual performance of duty or intentionally
self-inflicted, the member shall receive a disability retirement
allowance as provided in subsection (1) of this section.
(4) Payments under a disability retirement allowance provided
for in subsection (1) or (3) of this section for the first 90-day
period of incapacity shall be withheld until such 90-day period
has elapsed.
(5) An inactive member is not eligible for disability benefits
referred to in subsection (1) or (3) of this section unless the
member applies for such disability benefits within five calendar
years after the date of separation from service with a
participating public employer if the disability is continuous
from such separation date or within six months after the date of
such separation from service if disability occurs after such
separation date.
(6) In computing years of employment for the purpose of
subsection (3) of this section, the following schedule shall be
used: For employment before the employee established membership
in the Public Employees Retirement System, a member shall be
considered to have been employed for one year for each year of
prior service credit allowed, and for any minor fraction of a
year of continuous service as certified by the employer for which
no prior service credit was granted. After having established
membership in the Public Employees Retirement System a member
shall be considered to have been employed one year for each
12-month period or major fraction thereof during which time the
member received compensation for employment which entitled the
member to membership in the system, as evidenced by payroll
records. For the purpose of determining a member's eligibility
for disability benefits, no leave of absence after a member
ceases to work for any participating employer shall be considered
other than accumulated sick leave not in excess of 90 days. The
effective date of the disability shall not in any event be
determined by the board as prior to the last day for which the
disabled member performed services for a participating employer.
No benefits may be paid for any month in which the member
received salary or sick leave benefits from the participating
employer.
(7) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (3) of this
section, a member of the system shall be considered to be
mentally or physically incapacitated for an extended duration if
the mental or physical incapacity can be expected to result in
death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous
period of not less than 90 days.
{ + (8) A disability retirement allowance under this section
may not exceed the member's final average salary. + }
SECTION 3. ORS 238A.125, as amended by section 2, chapter 82,
Oregon Laws 2010, is amended to read:
238A.125. (1) { + Subject to subsection (2) of this
section, + } upon retiring at normal retirement age, a vested
pension program member shall be paid an annual pension for the
life of the member as follows:
(a) For service as a police officer or firefighter, 1.8 percent
of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of
retirement credit attributable to service as a police officer or
firefighter.
(b) For service as other than a police officer or firefighter,
1.5 percent of final average salary multiplied by the number of
years of retirement credit attributable to service as other than
a police officer or firefighter.
{ + (2) The pension payable to a pension program member may
not exceed the member's final average salary. + }
{ - (2) - } { + (3) + } Notwithstanding any provision of
ORS 238A.100 to 238A.245, the annual benefit payable to a member
under the pension program and under any other tax-qualified
defined benefit plan maintained by the participating public
employer may not exceed the applicable limitations set forth in
26 U.S.C. 415(b), as in effect on December 31, 2009. The Public
Employees Retirement Board shall adopt rules for the
administration of this limitation, including adjustments in the
annual dollar limitation to reflect cost-of-living adjustments
authorized by the Internal Revenue Service.
{ - (3) - } { + (4) + } The board shall make no actuarial
adjustment in a member's pension calculated under this section by
reason of the member's retirement after normal retirement age.
SECTION 4. { + The amendments to ORS 238.300, 238.320 and
238A.125 by sections 1 to 3 of this 2011 Act apply only to
members of the Public Employees Retirement System who retire on
or after the effective date of this 2011 Act. + }
SECTION 5. { + (1) Jurisdiction is conferred on the Supreme
Court to determine in the manner provided by this section whether
this 2011 Act breaches any contract between members of the Public
Employees Retirement System and their employers or violates any
constitutional provision, including but not limited to impairment
of contract rights of members of the Public Employees Retirement
System under section 21, Article I of the Oregon Constitution, or
clause 1, section 10, Article I of the United States
Constitution.
(2) A person who is adversely affected by this 2011 Act or who
will be adversely affected by this 2011 Act may institute a
proceeding for review by filing with the Supreme Court a petition
that meets the following requirements:
(a) The petition must be filed within 60 days after the
effective date of this 2011 Act.
(b) The petition must include the following:
(A) A statement of the basis of the challenge; and
(B) A statement and supporting affidavit showing how the
petitioner is adversely affected.
(3) The petitioner shall serve a copy of the petition by
registered or certified mail upon the Public Employees Retirement
Board, the Attorney General and the Governor.
(4) Proceedings for review under this section shall be given
priority over all other matters before the Supreme Court.
(5) The Supreme Court shall allow public employers
participating in the Public Employees Retirement System to
intervene in any proceeding under this section.
(6) In the event the Supreme Court determines that there are
factual issues in the petition, the Supreme Court may appoint a
special master to hear evidence and to prepare recommended
findings of fact. + }
SECTION 6. { + This 2011 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency
is declared to exist, and this 2011 Act takes effect on its
passage. + }
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