SENATE DOCKET, NO. 477        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1044

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to the annual allowance for widows and widowers of certain public employees..

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.   Section 12 of Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting in line 212 after the words “two hundred and fifty dollars a month” the following words:-

or five hundred dollars a month, whichever is applicable to such spouse.

SECTION 2.   Section 12 of Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after line 221 the following paragraph:-

Beginning July first, two thousand and nine, the normal monthly member-survivor allowance provided for under this option to a spouse of a deceased member shall not be less than five-hundred dollars for members of the state teachers’ and state employees’ retirement system.  The provisions of this paragraph shall take effect for the members of a retirement system of any other political subdivision by a majority vote of the board of such system and by the local legislative body.  For the purpose of this paragraph, local legislative body shall mean a town meeting for a town system, the city council subject to the provisions of its charter for a city system, the county retirement board advisory council for a county system, the regional retirement board advisory council for a regional system, the district members for a district system and the governing body of an authority for an authority system.  Acceptance shall be deemed to have occurred upon the filing of a certification of such vote with the commission. 

SECTION 3.   Section 101 of Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting in line 8 after the words “six thousand dollars,” the following words:-

or in the amount of nine thousand dollars in a retirement system accepting the supplemental annual allowance provided for by this section.

SECTION 4.   Section 101 of Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting at the end thereof the following words:- 

Any retirement system may accept the supplemental annual allowance, provided for by this section and fixed at the rate of nine thousand dollars, by a majority vote of the board of each such system, subject to the approval of the legislative body. For the purposes of this section, “legislative body” shall mean, in the case of a city, the city council in accordance with its charter, in the case of a town, the town meeting, in the case of a county, the county retirement board advisory council, in the case of a region, the regional retirement board advisory council, in the case of a district, the district members, and, in the case of an authority, the governing body.  Acceptance shall be deemed to have occurred upon the filing of a certification of such votes with the commission.  For purposes of this section, the state teachers’ and state employees’ retirement systems shall be deemed to have accepted the supplemental annual allowance provided for by this section.