SENATE DOCKET, NO. 678        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1386

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Thomas P. Kennedy

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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 authorizing certain public employees creditable retirement service for service in the armed forces.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 678        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1386

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1239 OF 2013-2014.]

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 authorizing certain public employees creditable retirement service for service in the armed forces.

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. Paragraph (h) of subdivision (1) of section 4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as last amended by section (2) of chapter 71 of the acts of 1996, is hereby amended in the first sentence of the last paragraph by striking out the words “is a veteran who served in the armed services of the United States” and inserting in place thereof the words:— has received an honorable discharge from the armed services of the United States.

SECTION 2. Paragraph (h) of subdivision (1) of section 4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended in the last paragraph by striking out the second to last sentence on lines 125 to 127 and inserting in place thereof the following new sentence:— A member in service in the retirement system as defined in section one who was honorably discharged or who is currently serving in the Massachusetts National Guard or an Active Reserve component of the armed services of the United States and who has completed ten or more years of membership service shall receive creditable service pursuant to this subdivision, provided, however that in the case of a member presently serving in the Massachusetts National Guard at the time of his retirement has honorably served in the Massachusetts National Guard and provided, further, that in the case of a member who is presently serving in an Active Reserve component has received an honorable discharge from the armed services of the United States at the time of his retirement.

SECTION 3. For the retirement system of any political sub-division, the provisions of this act shall take effect on the effective date of this act by majority vote of the board of such system and by the local legislative body. For the purposes 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 commissioners for a county 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 commissioner.

Members in service of a retirement system eligible for said creditable service under this act shall make application for said creditable service within one hundred and eighty days of being notified by the retirement board of their eligibility after becoming vested in the retirement system, or for currently eligible members, within one hundred and eighty days of the acceptance of this act by the local legislative body.

Terms used in this act shall have the same meaning as those terms defined in section one of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws.

SECTION 4. The provisions of this act shall not apply to those members who previously benefited from the creditable service provisions of Chapter 71 of the Acts of 1996.