Amendment #1 to H4821

Governor's Amendment

Mr. Speliotis of Danvers recommended the following amendment:

The committee on Bills in the Third Reading, to whom was referred the

Engrossed Bill relative to the payment of pensioners for services after retirement (see House, No. 4821) being section 29 contained in the bill making appropriations for the fiscal year 2019 for the maintenance of the departments, boards, commissions, institutions and certain activities of the commonwealth, for interest, sinking fund and serial bond requirements and for certain permanent improvements (see House, No. 4800), which was returned by His Excellency the Governor pursuant to Article LVI with recommendation of amendment specified by him, (see Attachment C of House, No. 4833)

Reports recommending that the amendment recommended by His Excellency the Governor be considered in the following form:

By striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the following 3 sections:-

“SECTION 1.  Section 91 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 97 and 113, the words “nine hundred and sixty” and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the following figure:- 975.

SECTION 2. Said section 91 of said chapter 32 is hereby further amended by inserting after paragraph (d), the following:-

(d 1/2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a) to (d), inclusive, in any period during which there is a critical shortage of qualified individuals available for employment for a particular public safety position in any department or agency of the commonwealth, county, city, town, district or authority, said department or agency may employ any person who has retired from a system. Any such retired person who renders service in a public safety position for said department or agency shall be subject to all laws, rules and regulations governing the employment in such positions. Such person shall not be deemed to have resumed active membership in a system and said service shall not be counted as creditable service toward retirement; but in the first two years immediately following the effective date of retirement, the earnings received by such person who retired pursuant to this chapter when added to any pension or retirement allowance the person is receiving shall not exceed the salary that is being paid for the position from which the person was retired or in which employment was terminated.

The secretary of administration and finance may exempt a position for any calendar year from the requirements of paragraphs (a) to (d), inclusive and may deem a department or agency of the commonwealth, county, city, town, district or authority to have a critical shortage of qualified public safety personnel for the purposes of this paragraph upon request of the department or agency to have a great hardship in qualified public safety personnel and demonstration to the secretary that the department or agency has made a good-faith effort to hire qualified public safety personnel who have not retired under this chapter and have been unable to fill the exempt position. The period of a determination of a critical shortage of qualified public safety personnel shall not exceed 1 year, but a public entity may seek to invoke this provision in consecutive years upon a new demonstration of a good-faith effort to hire personnel who have not retired. The secretary shall notify the appropriate public entity of each determination of a critical shortage made for the purposes of this paragraph.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2019.”