103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3492

 

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Sonya M. Harper

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
40 ILCS 5/16-150.1

    Amends the Downstate Teacher Article of the Illinois Pension Code. In the provision defining "eligible employment" for the purpose of allowing a teacher to return to teaching in subject shortage areas without impairing his or her retirement status or retirement annuity, removes a provision requiring the ending date of the employment to be no later than June 30, 2024.


LRB103 30346 RPS 56776 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB3492LRB103 30346 RPS 56776 b

1    AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by
5changing Section 16-150.1 as follows:
 
6    (40 ILCS 5/16-150.1)
7    Sec. 16-150.1. Return to teaching in subject shortage
8area.
9    (a) As used in this Section, "eligible employment" means
10employment beginning on or after July 1, 2003 and ending no
11later than June 30, 2024, in a subject shortage area at a
12qualified school, in a position requiring certification under
13the law governing the certification of teachers.
14    As used in this Section, "qualified school" means a public
15elementary or secondary school that meets all of the following
16requirements:
17        (1) At the time of hiring a retired teacher under this
18    Section, the school is experiencing a shortage of teachers
19    in the subject shortage area for which the teacher is
20    hired.
21        (2) The school district to which the school belongs
22    has complied with the requirements of subsection (e), and
23    the regional superintendent has certified that compliance

 

 

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1    to the System.
2        (3) If the school district to which the school belongs
3    provides group health benefits for its teachers generally,
4    substantially similar health benefits are made available
5    for teachers participating in the program under this
6    Section, without any limitations based on pre-existing
7    conditions.
8    (b) An annuitant receiving a retirement annuity under this
9Article (other than a disability retirement annuity) may
10engage in eligible employment at a qualified school without
11impairing his or her retirement status or retirement annuity,
12subject to the following conditions:
13        (1) the eligible employment does not begin within the
14    school year during which service was terminated;
15        (2) the annuitant has not received any early
16    retirement incentive under Section 16-133.3, 16-133.4, or
17    16-133.5;
18        (3) if the annuitant retired before age 60 and with
19    less than 34 years of service, the eligible employment
20    does not begin within the year following the effective
21    date of the retirement annuity;
22        (4) if the annuitant retired at age 60 or above or with
23    34 or more years of service, the eligible employment does
24    not begin within the 90 days following the effective date
25    of the retirement annuity; and
26        (5) before the eligible employment begins, the

 

 

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1    employer notifies the System in writing of the annuitant's
2    desire to participate in the program established under
3    this Section.
4    (c) An annuitant engaged in eligible employment in
5accordance with subsection (b) shall be deemed a participant
6in the program established under this Section for so long as he
7or she remains employed in eligible employment.
8    (d) A participant in the program established under this
9Section continues to be a retirement annuitant, rather than an
10active teacher, for all of the purposes of this Code, but shall
11be deemed an active teacher for other purposes, such as
12inclusion in a collective bargaining unit, eligibility for
13group health benefits, and compliance with the laws governing
14the employment, regulation, certification, treatment, and
15conduct of teachers.
16    With respect to an annuitant's eligible employment under
17this Section, neither employee nor employer contributions
18shall be made to the System and no additional service credit
19shall be earned. Eligible employment does not affect the
20annuitant's final average salary or the amount of the
21retirement annuity.
22    (e) Before hiring a teacher under this Section, the school
23district to which the school belongs must do the following:
24        (1) If the school district to which the school belongs
25    has honorably dismissed, within the calendar year
26    preceding the beginning of the school term for which it

 

 

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1    seeks to employ a retired teacher under the program
2    established in this Section, any teachers who are legally
3    qualified to hold positions in the subject shortage area
4    and have not yet begun to receive their retirement
5    annuities under this Article, the vacant positions must
6    first be tendered to those teachers.
7        (2) For a period of at least 90 days during the 6
8    months preceding the beginning of either the fall or
9    spring term for which it seeks to employ a retired teacher
10    under the program established in this Section, the school
11    district must, on an ongoing basis, (i) advertise its
12    vacancies in the subject shortage area in employment
13    bulletins published by college and university placement
14    offices located near the school; (ii) search for teachers
15    legally qualified to fill those vacancies through the
16    Illinois Education Job Bank; and (iii) post all vacancies
17    on the school district's website and list the vacancy in
18    an online job portal or database.
19    A school district replacing a teacher who is unable to
20continue employment with the school district because of
21documented illness, injury, or disability that occurred after
22being hired by a school district under this Section shall be
23exempt from the provisions of paragraph (2) for 90 school
24days. However, the school district must on an ongoing basis
25comply with items (i), (ii), and (iii) of paragraph (2).
26    The school district must submit documentation of its

 

 

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1compliance with this subsection to the regional
2superintendent. Upon receiving satisfactory documentation from
3the school district, the regional superintendent shall certify
4the district's compliance with this subsection to the System.
5    (f) This Section applies without regard to whether the
6annuitant was in service on or after the effective date of this
7amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.
8(Source: P.A. 101-49, eff. 7-12-19; 102-440, eff. 8-20-21.)