Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately provide for an early retirement incentive program for employees of authorities and districts, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 133 of the acts of 1992 is hereby amended by striking out section 48 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 48. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, and upon the acceptance of this section by the legislative and executive authority within a city, town, county or an authority or district within a city, town or county retirement system, the provisions of this section providing for a retirement program for city, town, or county members of a retirement system shall apply to a member who is a Group 1, Group 2, or Group 4 employee as defined in section three of said chapter thirty-two, who is a member of the appropriate city, town or county retirement system and who (i) shall be an employee of the city, town, county, authority or district, or an active member-in-service of such retirement system on the effective date of this section, (ii) shall be eligible to receive a superannuation retirement allowance in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (1) of section five or subdivision (1) of section ten of said chapter thirty-two upon the effective retirement date specified in his written application to said board and (iii) shall have filed a written application after July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two, but no later than July fifteenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-three to retire for superannuation as of the date which shall be specified in such application; provided, however, that said date for retirement shall be no earlier than September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two and no later than forty-five days after the acceptance of this act by the city, town, county, authority or district. For the purposes of this section the legislative authority shall mean a town meeting in a town, the city council in a city, the county advisory board in a county other than the counties of Suffolk, Nantucket and Barnstable in which cases the county commissioners shall serve as the legislative authority or in the county of Hampshire in which case the county advisory council shall serve as the legislative authority, the governing body of the authority in an authority, and the district meeting in a district; and the executive authority shall mean the board of selectmen in a town, the mayor in a city, and the county commissioners in a county. Said program shall be administered by the appropriate city, town or county retirement system, which shall also promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of said program.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, no city, town, county, authority or district within a city, town or county may adopt the provisions of this section unless said city, town or county has established a retirement system funding schedule pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-two D of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws or subdivision (6A) of section twenty-two of said chapter thirty-two prior to December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two or adopts the provisions of section twenty-two D of said chapter thirty-two after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two.

Notwithstanding any provisions of said chapter thirty-two to the contrary, the normal yearly amount of the retirement allowance for an eligible employee who is employed by a city, town, county, authority or district which accepts the applicable provisions of this act and who has paid the full amount of regular deductions on the total amount of regular compensation as determined under paragraph (a) of subdivision (2) of section five of said chapter thirty-two, shall be based on the average annual rate of regular compensation as determined under said paragraph (a) and shall be computed according to the table contained in said paragraph (a) based on the age of such member and his number of years and full months of creditable service at the time of his retirement increased by up to five years of age or by up to five years of creditable service or by a combination of additional years of age and service the sum of which shall not be greater than five; provided, however that the executive authority in a city, town, county, authority or district may limit the amount of additional credit for service or age or a combination of service or age offered and the number of employees for whom it will approve a retirement calculated under the provisions of this section; provided, further that if participation is limited, the retirement of employees with greater creditable service shall be approved before approval is given to employees with lesser creditable service.

For the purpose of this section words shall have the same meanings as in chapter thirty-two of the General Laws, unless otherwise expressly provided or unless the context clearly requires otherwise. An employee who retires and receives an additional benefit in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be retired for superannuation under the provision of said chapter thirty-two and shall be so subject to any and all provisions of said chapter thirty-two.

The total normal yearly amount of the retirement allowance, as determined in accordance with the provisions of section five of said chapter thirty-two, of any employee who retires and receives an additional benefit under the retirement incentive program in accordance with the provisions of this section shall not exceed four-fifths of the average annual rate of his regular compensation received during any period of three consecutive years of creditable service for which the rate of compensation was the highest or of the average annual rate of his regular compensation received during the periods, whether or not consecutive, constituting his last three years of creditable service preceding retirement, whichever is greater.

The commissioner of the public employee retirement administration shall analyze, study, and valuate the costs and the actuarial liabilities attributable to the additional benefits payable in accordance with the provisions of this section of the retirement incentive program established by this section for each retirement system; provided, however, that said commissioner shall file a report in writing of his findings to the board on or before December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and shall send a copy thereof to the county commissioners, the mayor, the board of selectmen, the governing body of an authority, or the district committee as the case may be; provided, further, that said reports shall be filed with the joint committee on public service on or before December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-three.

The applicable retirement board shall prepare a funding schedule which shall reflect the costs and the actuarial liabilities attributable to the additional benefits payable under the retirement incentive program in accordance with the provisions of this section and said schedule shall be designed to reduce the applicable retirement system's additional pension liability attributable to such costs and liabilities to zero on or before June thirtieth, two thousand and eight; provided, however, that in preparing such schedule, the board shall consider the analysis of the commissioner of public employee retirement administration filed in accordance with the provisions of this section; and provided, further, that said board shall triennially update such schedule until said June thirtieth, two thousand and eight. Said board shall file such funding schedule with the joint committee on public service and the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and shall file updates thereto triennially on or before March first of each year. In each of the fiscal years until the actuarial liability determined under this section shall be reduced to zero, it shall be deemed an obligation of the applicable city, town, county, authority or district to fund such liability and there shall be appropriated to the applicable pension reserve fund in each such fiscal year the amount required by the funding schedule and the updates thereto.

SECTION 2. Section 22D of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 8 to 13, inclusive, the words ", that no such funding schedule shall be adopted which would set forth total annual payments in any of its first six fiscal years which are less in any such year than the total estimated cost of benefits to be paid in such year for such system or for such other assumed liabilities; provided further".

SECTION 3. Said section 22D of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 39, the word "ninety-one" and inserting in place thereof the following word:- ninety-five.

SECTION 4. Said section 22D of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out, in lines 71 and 72, the words "December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-four.

SECTION 5. Subdivision (4) of said section 22D of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out paragraph (e).

SECTION 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (i) of paragraph (c) of subdivision (7) of section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, in any retirement system having accepted the provisions of section twenty-two D of said chapter thirty-two prior to December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two, the amount determined by the actuary of the public employee retirement administration on or before December fifteenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-one as the required payments into the pension fund of such retirement system for the fiscal year commencing July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-two, in accordance with said clause (i), shall be revised in accordance with the amount required in an actuarial funding schedule which fulfills the requirements of subdivision (1) of said section twenty-two D of said chapter thirty-two and has been approved by said actuary. Such revised amount shall be in accordance with such approved actuarial funding schedule; provided, however, that any such schedule shall be submitted to said actuary on or before January fifteenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-three and the resulting revised appropriations shall be issued by said actuary no later than January thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-three.