SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1140        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1331

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

William N. Brownsberger, (BY REQUEST)

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act establishing creditable service for 03 employees.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1140        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1331

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

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An Act establishing creditable service for 03 employees.

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

Subdivision (1) of section 4 of Chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after paragraph (h1/2) the following paragraph:-

(s) Any member in service of the state employees’ retirement system who, immediately preceding the establishment of membership in that system or re-entry into active service in that system, whose compensation for service to the commonwealth for any department, agency, board or commission of the commonwealth was derived from the subsidiary account 03 of the appropriation of any department may establish that service as as creditable service with the state employees’ retirement system. No credit shall be allowed until the member has paid into the Annuity Savings 0Fund of the state employees’ retirement system before any retirement allowance becomes effective for the member, in a lump sum or in installments, upon the terms and conditions that the state board of retirement prescribes, makeup payments of an amount equal to that which would have been withheld as regular deductions for the service as a contract employee if the service had been rendered as a state employee and the member had been a member of the state employees’ retirement system during the period the service was rendered, plus buyback interest on that amount. Eligible members who worked part-time receiving their compensation from a subsidiary account 03 shall be eligible for creditable service proportionately equal to their part-time service.

Upon completion of the payments, the member shall receive the same credit for the period of previous service as the member would have been allowed if the service had been rendered by the member as a state employee. Members in service of the state retirement system who make application for this creditable service shall, subject to the rules and regulations of the state board of retirement, be notified by the state board of retirement of their eligibility for creditable service and, if they are eligible, shall also be notified by the state board of retirement that they have the following options: (1) to purchase the service in a lump sum within 180 days after the date of the notice; or (2) to enter into an installment agreement within 180 days after the date of the notice to pay for the service. No creditable service shall be allowed under this section unless the member provides documentation of the member’s service as an employee whose compensation for service to the Commonwealth was derived from a subsidiary account 03 satisfying the state board of retirement’s requirements.