Bill Text: MO HB2117 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Changes the laws regarding St. Louis public employee retirement benefits
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-16 - Referred: Retirement(H) [HB2117 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2014-HB2117-Introduced.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES LEARA (Sponsor) AND ROORDA (Co-sponsor).
6308H.02I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 86.207 and 95.540, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to St. Louis public employee retirement benefits, with an emergency clause.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 86.207 and 95.540, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 86.207, 86.362, and 95.540, to read as follows:
86.207. 1. Except as provided in section 86.362, all persons who become policemen and all policemen who enter or reenter the service of the city after the first day of October, 1957, become members as a condition of their employment and shall receive no pensions or retirement allowance from any other pension or retirement system supported wholly or in part by the city or the state of Missouri, nor shall they be required to make contributions under any other pension or retirement system of the city or the state of Missouri, anything to the contrary notwithstanding.
2. If any member ceases to be in service for more than one year unless the member has attained the age of fifty-five or has twenty years or more of creditable service, or if the member withdraws the member's accumulated contributions or if the member receives benefits under the retirement system or dies, the member thereupon ceases to be a member; except in the case of a member who has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and has subsequently been reinstated as a policeman. A member who has terminated employment as a police officer, has actually retired and is receiving retirement benefits under the system shall be considered a retired member.
3. A reserve officer shall not be considered a member of the system for the purpose of determining creditable service, nor shall any contributions be due. A reserve officer shall not be entitled to any benefits from the system other than those awarded when the reserve officer originally retired under section 86.250, nor shall service as a reserve officer prohibit distribution of those benefits.
86.362. 1. Employees of the employees retirement system of the city of St. Louis who are earning creditable service in the employees retirement system of the city of St. Louis and who are transferred to the St. Louis metropolitan police department as policemen shall elect within ninety days of the effective date of this section to either remain a member of the employees retirement system of the city of St. Louis or transfer membership and creditable service to the police retirement system of St. Louis. The election shall be made in writing after the employee has received a detailed analysis comparing retirement, life insurance, disability benefits, and medical benefits of a member of the employees retirement system of the city of St. Louis with the corresponding benefits provided an employee of the police retirement system of St. Louis. In electing plan membership, the employee shall acknowledge and agree that an election made under this subsection is irrevocable and constitutes a waiver to receive retirement, life insurance, disability benefits, and medical benefits except as provided by the system elected by the employee. Furthermore, in connection with the election, the employee shall be required to acknowledge that the benefits provided by virtue of membership in either system, and any associated costs to the employee, may be different now or in the future as a result of the election and that the employee agrees to hold both systems harmless with regard to benefit differences resulting from the election.
2. The employees retirement system of the city of St. Louis shall pay to the police retirement system of St. Louis an amount actuarially determined to equal the liability at the time of the transfer for any employee who elects under subsection 1 of this section to transfer to the police retirement system of St. Louis, to the extent that liability is funded as of the most recent actuarial valuation and based on the actuarial value of assets not to exceed one hundred percent. Such transfer shall be made within sixty days of the employee’s election.
3. In no event shall any employee receive service credit for the same period of service under more than one retirement system as a result of the provisions of this section.
95.540. 1. The following words and phrases as used in this section, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall mean:
(1) "Employee", any person regularly employed by any city, within the authorization of this section, who receives remuneration from the city for personal services rendered the city. The term "employee" shall not include any person:
(a) Who is included as an active member in any other pension plan similar in purpose by reason of his employment with the city, except the federal Social Security Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program, as amended; or
(b) Who acts for the city under contracts or is paid wholly on a fee basis; or
(c) Who is a city officer or elected official of the city as defined in this section; or
(d) Who is employed by the city as a "fireman" or "policeman";
(2) "Officer", any officer or elected official of the city who has been delegated some substantial part of the sovereign power to be independently exercised with some continuity and without control of a superior power other than the law;
except that any employee earning creditable service in the pension plan adopted under subsection 2 of this section who is transferred to the St. Louis metropolitan police department as a policeman and elects to remain in the pension plan adopted under subsection 2 of this section as provided in section 86.362 shall be considered an employee of the plan for purposes of retirement, life insurance, disability benefits, and medical benefits.
2. Any city of this state that now has or may hereafter have a population of more than four hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants is hereby authorized to provide by ordinance or otherwise for the pensioning of its employees and officers, in one or more plans, whether performing city or county functions, and the widows and minor children of deceased employees and officers and to appropriate and utilize its municipal revenues and other available funds for such purposes.
3. The employees and officers of any municipally owned public utility may be included within the provisions of any pension plan adopted in pursuance of subsection 2, but the cost of paying pensions to such employees and officers and the widows and minor children thereof, as well as its pro rata share of the expenses of administration and the operation of the pension system, as a whole, shall be borne by the funds or revenues of such municipally owned public utility.
4. The employees and officers of any administrative board or board of control organized and existing under the general laws of the state of Missouri for the purpose of furnishing library services or maintaining and operating an art museum or a zoological park or similar public service to the inhabitants of such city may be included within the provisions of any pension plan adopted in pursuance of subsection 2, but the cost of paying pensions to such employees and officers and widows and minor children thereof, as well as their pro rata share of the expenses of administration and the operation of the pension system, as a whole, shall be borne by the funds or revenues of such administrative board or board of control; provided, however, that the employees and officers of any such board or board of control shall not be included in any such pension plan unless the ordinance of such city providing for the inclusion of such employees and officers shall be accepted by resolution of such administrative board or board of control.
Section B. Because of the need to maintain continuity of retirement benefits, this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.
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