HB2553 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 07575 AMC 37744 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB2553

Introduced 2/18/2005, by Rep. Jay C. Hoffman

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

40 ILCS 5/14-103.05	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 14-103.05
40 ILCS 5/14-104	from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 14-104

Amends the State Employee Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that certain individuals who represent or are employed as officers or employees of a statewide labor organization that represents members of the State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois may elect to participate in that System. Provides that certain persons who return to State employment after layoff may establish creditable service for the period of the layoff. Effective immediately.

PENSION IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing Sections 14-103.05 and 14-104 as follows:

(40 ILCS 5/14-103.05) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 14-103.05)

Sec. 14-103.05. Employee.

(a) Any person employed by a Department who receives salary for personal services rendered to the Department on a warrant issued pursuant to a payroll voucher certified by a Department and drawn by the State Comptroller upon the State Treasurer, including an elected official described in subparagraph (d) of Section 14-104, shall become an employee for purpose of membership in the Retirement System on the first day of such employment.

A person entering service on or after January 1, 1972 and prior to January 1, 1984 shall become a member as a condition of employment and shall begin making contributions as of the first day of employment.

A person entering service on or after January 1, 1984 shall, upon completion of 6 months of continuous service which is not interrupted by a break of more than 2 months, become a member as a condition of employment. Contributions shall begin the first of the month after completion of the qualifying period.

The qualifying period of 6 months of service is not applicable to: (1) a person who has been granted credit for service in a position covered by the State Universities Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, the General Assembly Retirement System, or the Judges Retirement System of Illinois unless that service has been forfeited under the laws of those systems; (2) a person entering service on or after July 1, 1991 in a noncovered position; or (3) a person to whom Section 14-108.2a or 14-108.2b applies.

(b) The term "employee" does not include the following:

(1) members of the State Legislature, and persons electing to become members of the General Assembly Retirement System pursuant to Section 2-105;

(2) incumbents of offices normally filled by vote of the people;

(3) except as otherwise provided in this Section, any person appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate unless that person elects to participate in this system;

(3.1) any person serving as a commissioner of an ethics commission created under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act unless that person elects to participate in this system with respect to that service as a commissioner;

(3.2) any person serving as a part-time employee in any of the following positions: Legislative Inspector General, Special Legislative Inspector General, employee of the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, Executive Director of the Legislative Ethics Commission, or staff of the Legislative Ethics Commission, regardless of whether he or she is in active service on or after July 8, 2004 (the effective date of Public Act 93-685), unless that person elects to participate in this System with respect to that service; in this item (3.2), a "part-time employee" is a person who is not required to work at least 35 hours per week;

(3.3) any person who has made an election under Section 1-123 and who is serving either as legal counsel in the Office of the Governor or as Chief Deputy Attorney General;

(4) except as provided in Section 14-108.2 or 14-108.2c, any person who is covered or eligible to be covered by the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, the State Universities Retirement System, or the Judges Retirement System of Illinois;

(5) an employee of a municipality or any other political subdivision of the State;

(6) any person who becomes an employee after June 30, 1979 as a public service employment program participant under the Federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act and whose wages or fringe benefits are paid in whole or in part by funds provided under such Act;

(7) enrollees of the Illinois Young Adult Conservation Corps program, administered by the Department of Natural Resources, authorized grantee pursuant to Title VIII of the "Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973", 29 USC 993, as now or hereafter amended;

(8) enrollees and temporary staff of programs administered by the Department of Natural Resources under the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970;

(9) any person who is a member of any professional licensing or disciplinary board created under an Act administered by the Department of Professional Regulation or a successor agency or created or re-created after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997, and who receives per diem compensation rather than a salary, notwithstanding that such per diem compensation is paid by warrant issued pursuant to a payroll voucher; such persons have never been included in the membership of this System, and this amendatory Act of 1987 (P.A. 84-1472) is not intended to effect any change in the status of such persons;

(10) any person who is a member of the Illinois Health Care Cost Containment Council, and receives per diem compensation rather than a salary, notwithstanding that such per diem compensation is paid by warrant issued pursuant to a payroll voucher; such persons have never been included in the membership of this System, and this amendatory Act of 1987 is not intended to effect any change in the status of such persons;

(11) any person who is a member of the Oil and Gas Board created by Section 1.2 of the Illinois Oil and Gas Act, and receives per diem compensation rather than a salary, notwithstanding that such per diem compensation is paid by warrant issued pursuant to a payroll voucher; or

(12) a person employed by the State Board of Higher Education in a position with the Illinois Century Network as of June 30, 2004, who remains continuously employed after that date by the Department of Central Management Services in a position with the Illinois Century Network and participates in the Article 15 system with respect to that employment.

(c) An individual who represents or is employed as an officer or employee of a statewide labor organization that represents members of this System may participate in the System and shall be deemed an employee, provided that (1) the individual has previously earned creditable service under this Article, (2) the individual files with the System an irrevocable election to become a participant, and (3) the individual does not receive credit for that employment under any other provision of this Code. An employee under this subsection (c) is responsible for paying to the System both (i) employee contributions based on the actual compensation received for service with the labor organization and (ii) employer contributions based on the percentage of payroll certified by the board; all or any part of these contributions may be paid on the employee's behalf or picked up for tax purposes (if authorized under federal law) by the labor organization.

A person who is an employee as defined in this subsection may establish service credit for similar employment prior to becoming an employee under this subsection by paying to the System for that employment the contributions specified in this subsection, plus interest at the effective rate from the date of service to the date of payment. However, credit shall not be granted under this subsection for any such prior employment for which the applicant received credit under any other provision of this Code, or during which the applicant was on a leave of absence.

(Source: P.A. 92-14, eff. 6-28-01; 93-685, eff. 7-8-04; 93-839, eff. 7-30-04; 93-1069, eff. 1-15-05.)

(40 ILCS 5/14-104) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 14-104)

Sec. 14-104. Service for which contributions permitted. Contributions provided for in this Section shall cover the period of service granted. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the contributions shall be based upon the employee's compensation and contribution rate in effect on the date he last became a member of the System; provided that for all employment prior to January 1, 1969 the contribution rate shall be that in effect for a noncovered employee on the date he last became a member of the System. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, contributions permitted under this Section shall include regular interest from the date an employee last became a member of the System to the date of payment.

These contributions must be paid in full before retirement either in a lump sum or in installment payments in accordance with such rules as may be adopted by the board.

(a) Any member may make contributions as required in this Section for any period of service, subsequent to the date of establishment, but prior to the date of membership.

(b) Any employee who had been previously excluded from membership because of age at entry and subsequently became eligible may elect to make contributions as required in this Section for the period of service during which he was ineligible.

(c) An employee of the Department of Insurance who, after January 1, 1944 but prior to becoming eligible for membership, received salary from funds of insurance companies in the process of rehabilitation, liquidation, conservation or dissolution, may elect to make contributions as required in this Section for such service.

(d) Any employee who rendered service in a State office to which he was elected, or rendered service in the elective office of Clerk of the Appellate Court prior to the date he became a member, may make contributions for such service as required in this Section. Any member who served by appointment of the Governor under the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois and did not participate in this System may make contributions as required in this Section for such service.

(e) Any person employed by the United States government or any instrumentality or agency thereof from January 1, 1942 through November 15, 1946 as the result of a transfer from State service by executive order of the President of the United States shall be entitled to prior service credit covering the period from January 1, 1942 through December 31, 1943 as provided for in this Article and to membership service credit for the period from January 1, 1944 through November 15, 1946 by making the contributions required in this Section. A person so employed on January 1, 1944 but whose employment began after January 1, 1942 may qualify for prior service and membership service credit under the same conditions.

(f) An employee of the Department of Labor of the State of Illinois who performed services for and under the supervision of that Department prior to January 1, 1944 but who was compensated for those services directly by federal funds and not by a warrant of the Auditor of Public Accounts paid by the State Treasurer may establish credit for such employment by making the contributions required in this Section. An employee of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois, who performed services for and under the supervision of that Department prior to June 1, 1963, but was compensated for those services directly by federal funds and not paid by a warrant of the Auditor of Public Accounts paid by the State Treasurer, and who did not contribute to any other public employee retirement system for such service, may establish credit for such employment by making the contributions required in this Section.

(g) Any employee who executed a waiver of membership within 60 days prior to January 1, 1944 may, at any time while in the service of a department, file with the board a rescission of such waiver. Upon making the contributions required by this Section, the member shall be granted the creditable service that would have been received if the waiver had not been executed.

(h) Until May 1, 1990, an employee who was employed on a full-time basis by a regional planning commission for at least 5 continuous years may establish creditable service for such employment by making the contributions required under this Section, provided that any credits earned by the employee in the commission's retirement plan have been terminated.

(i) Any person who rendered full time contractual services to the General Assembly as a member of a legislative staff may establish service credit for up to 8 years of such services by making the contributions required under this Section, provided that application therefor is made not later than July 1, 1991.

(j) By paying the contributions otherwise required under this Section, plus an amount determined by the Board to be equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefit plus interest, but with all of the interest calculated from the date the employee last became a member of the System or November 19, 1991, whichever is later, to the date of payment, an employee may establish service credit for a period of up to 2 years spent in active military service for which he does not qualify for credit under Section 14-105, provided that (1) he was not dishonorably discharged from such military service, and (2) the amount of service credit established by a member under this subsection (j), when added to the amount of military service credit granted to the member under subsection (b) of Section 14-105, shall not exceed 5 years. The change in the manner of calculating interest under this subsection (j) made by this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly applies to credit purchased by an employee on or after its effective date and does not entitle any person to a refund of contributions or interest already paid.

(k) An employee who was employed on a full-time basis by the Illinois State's Attorneys Association Statewide Appellate Assistance Service LEAA-ILEC grant project prior to the time that project became the State's Attorneys Appellate Service Commission, now the Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, an agency of State government, may establish creditable service for not more than 60 months service for such employment by making contributions required under this Section.

(l) By paying the contributions otherwise required under this Section, plus an amount determined by the Board to be equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefit plus interest, a member may establish service credit for periods of less than one year spent on authorized leave of absence from service, provided that (1) the period of leave began on or after January 1, 1982 and (2) any credit established by the member for the period of leave in any other public employee retirement system has been terminated. A member may establish service credit under this subsection for more than one period of authorized leave, and in that case the total period of service credit established by the member under this subsection may exceed one year. In determining the contributions required for establishing service credit under this subsection, the interest shall be calculated from the beginning of the leave of absence to the date of payment.

(m) Any person who rendered contractual services to a member of the General Assembly as a worker in the member's district office may establish creditable service for up to 3 years of those contractual services by making the contributions required under this Section. The System shall determine a full-time salary equivalent for the purpose of calculating the required contribution. To establish credit under this subsection, the applicant must apply to the System by March 1, 1998.

(n) Any person who rendered contractual services to a member of the General Assembly as a worker providing constituent services to persons in the member's district may establish creditable service for up to 8 years of those contractual services by making the contributions required under this Section. The System shall determine a full-time salary equivalent for the purpose of calculating the required contribution. To establish credit under this subsection, the applicant must apply to the System by March 1, 1998.

(o) A member who participated in the Illinois Legislative Staff Internship Program may establish creditable service for up to one year of that participation by making the contribution required under this Section. The System shall determine a full-time salary equivalent for the purpose of calculating the required contribution. Credit may not be established under this subsection for any period for which service credit is established under any other provision of this Code.

(p) By paying the contributions required under this Section, plus an amount determined by the Board to be equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefit plus interest, an employee who was laid off but returned to State employment under circumstances in which the employee is considered to have been in continuous service for purposes of determining seniority may establish creditable service for the period of the layoff, provided that the applicant does not receive credit for that period under any other provision of this Code. For service established under this subsection, the required employee contribution shall be based on the rate of compensation earned by the employee on the date of returning to employment after the layoff and the contribution rate then in effect, and the required interest shall be calculated from the date of returning to employment after the layoff to the date of payment.

(Source: P.A. 92-54, eff. 7-12-01.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.