HOUSE BILL 344

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2014

INTRODUCED BY

William R. Rehm

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; AMENDING THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT TO PROVIDE THAT RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS MAY RETURN TO LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYMENT WITHOUT SUSPENDING THEIR PENSIONS DURING REEMPLOYMENT; PROVIDING EXCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN REEMPLOYED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND THEIR AFFILIATED PUBLIC EMPLOYERS REGARDING THE PAYMENT OF MEMBER AND EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 10-11-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987, Chapter 253, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:

     "10-11-8. NORMAL RETIREMENT--RETURN TO EMPLOYMENT--BENEFITS CONTINUED--CONTRIBUTIONS.--

          A. A member may retire upon fulfilling the following requirements prior to the selected date of retirement:

                (1) a written application for normal retirement, in the form prescribed by the association, is filed with the association;

                (2) employment is terminated with all employers covered by any state system or the educational retirement system;

                (3) the member selects an effective date of retirement that is the first day of a calendar month; and

                (4) the member meets the age and service credit requirement for normal retirement specified in the coverage plan applicable to the member.

          B. The amount of normal retirement pension is determined in accordance with the coverage plan applicable to the member.

          C. Except as provided in Subsection E or G of this section, on or after July 1, 2010, a retired member may be subsequently employed by an affiliated public employer only pursuant to the following provisions:

                (1) the retired member has not been employed as an employee of an affiliated public employer or retained as an independent contractor by the affiliated public employer from which the retired member retired for at least twelve consecutive months from the date of retirement to the commencement of the subsequent employment or reemployment with an affiliated public employer;

                (2) the [previously] retired member's pension shall be suspended upon commencement of the subsequent employment;

                (3) except as provided in Subsection [G] H of this section, during the subsequent employment, the [previously] retired member shall not become a member and thus the [previously] retired member shall not accrue service credit, and the [previously] retired member and that person's affiliated public employer shall not make contributions under any coverage plan pursuant to the Public Employees Retirement Act; and

                (4) upon termination of the subsequent employment, the [previously] retired member's pension shall resume in accordance with the provisions of Subsection A of this section.

          D. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection B of Section 10-11-118 NMSA 1978, on and after July 1, 2013, if a retired member becomes employed with an employer pursuant to the Educational Retirement Act:

                (1) the retired member's cost-of-living pension adjustment shall be suspended upon commencement of the employment; and

                (2) upon termination of the employment, the retired member's suspended cost-of-living pension adjustment shall be reinstated as provided under Subsection B of Section 10-11-118 NMSA 1978.

          E. The provisions of Subsections C and [H] I of this section do not apply to:

                (1) a retired member employed by the legislature for legislative session work;

                (2) a retired member employed temporarily as a precinct board member for a municipal election or an election covered by the Election Code; [or]

                (3) a county undersheriff;

                (4) a retired law enforcement officer who is subsequently employed as an instructor at the New Mexico law enforcement academy or a state, local or municipal police academy or sheriff's law enforcement academy and who is paid a salary for that employment in an amount less than or equal to thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) in any fiscal year; or

                [(3)] (5) a retired member who is elected to serve a term as an elected official; provided that:

                     (a) the retired member files an irrevocable exemption from membership with the association within thirty days of taking office; and

                     (b) the irrevocable exemption shall be for the elected official's term of office.

          F. A retired member who returns to employment during retirement pursuant to Subsection E of this section:

                (1) is entitled to receive retirement benefits but is not entitled to accrue service credit or to [acquire or] purchase service credit in the future for the period of the [previously] retired member's [reemployment] subsequent employment with an affiliated public employer; and

                (2) shall not pay the member contributions, and the retired member's affiliated public employer shall not pay the employer contributions, under the applicable member coverage plan pursuant to the Public Employees Retirement Act during the period of subsequent employment.

          G. On and after July 1, 2014, a retired law enforcement officer may return to employment with an affiliated public employer as a law enforcement employee without suspension of the employee's pension if:

                (1) the retired law enforcement officer has not been employed by an affiliated public employer or retained as an independent contractor by the affiliated public employer from which the law enforcement officer retired for at least twelve consecutive months from the date of retirement to the commencement of the subsequent employment with an affiliated public employer;

                (2) during the subsequent employment, the employee is paid by the affiliated public employer a salary in an amount not to exceed sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) in any fiscal year; and

                (3) during the subsequent employment, the law enforcement officer shall not accrue service credit and is not entitled to purchase service credit and the employee and the employee's affiliated public employer shall pay the contributions required under the applicable member coverage plan.

          H. Member contributions paid, during the period of subsequent employment, on behalf of a retired law enforcement officer who returns to employment pursuant to the provisions of Subsection G of this section shall not be refundable.

          [G.] I. At any time during a [previously] retired member's subsequent employment pursuant to Subsection C of this section, the [previously] retired member may elect to become a member and, upon membership, the following conditions shall apply:

                (1) the [previously retired] member and the subsequent affiliated public employer shall make the required employee and employer contributions, and the [previously retired] member shall accrue service credit for the period of subsequent employment; and

                (2) when the [previously retired] member terminates the subsequent employment with an affiliated public employer, the [previously retired] member shall retire according to the provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act, subject to the following conditions:

                     (a) payment of the pension shall resume in accordance with the provisions of Subsection A of this section;

                     (b) unless the [previously retired] member accrued at least three years of service credit on account of the subsequent employment, the recalculation of pension shall: 1) employ the form of payment selected by the [previously retired] member at the time of the first retirement; and 2) use the provisions of the coverage plan applicable to the member on the date of the first retirement; and

                     (c) the recalculated pension shall not be less than the amount of the suspended pension.

          [H.] J. A [previously] retired member who returned to work with an affiliated public employer prior to July 1, 2010 shall be subject to the provisions of this section in effect on the date the [previously] retired member returned to work; provided that:

                (1) on and after July 1, 2010, the [previously] retired member shall pay the employee contribution in an amount specified in the Public Employees Retirement Act for the position in which the [previously] retired member is subsequently employed;

                (2) notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection B of Section 10-11-118 NMSA 1978, on and after July 1, 2013, the [previously] retired member's cost-of-living pension adjustment shall be suspended; and

                (3) upon termination of the subsequent employment with an affiliated public employer, the [previously] retired member's cost-of-living pension adjustment shall be reinstated as provided in Subsection B of Section 10-11-118 NMSA 1978.

          [I.] K. The pension of a member who has earned service credit under more than one coverage plan shall be determined as follows:

                (1) the pension of a member who has three or more years of service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 under each of two or more coverage plans shall be determined in accordance with the coverage plan that produces the highest pension;

                (2) the pension of a member who has service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 under two or more coverage plans but who has three or more years of service credit under only one of those coverage plans shall be determined in accordance with the coverage plan in which the member has three or more years of service credit. If the service credit is acquired under two different coverage plans applied to the same affiliated public employer as a consequence of an election by the members, adoption by the affiliated public employer or a change in the law that results in the application of a coverage plan with a greater pension, the greater pension shall be paid a member retiring from the affiliated public employer under which the change in coverage plan took place regardless of the amount of service credit under the coverage plan producing the greater pension; provided that the member has three or more years of continuous employment with that affiliated public employer immediately preceding or immediately preceding and immediately following the date the coverage plan changed;

                (3) the pension of a member who has service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 under each of two or more coverage plans and who has service credit earned under any coverage plan on or after July 1, 2013 shall be equal to the sum of:

                     (a) the pension attributable to the service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 determined pursuant to Paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection; and

                     (b) the pension attributable to the service credit earned under each coverage plan on or after July 1, 2013;

                (4) the pension of a member who has service credit earned only on and after July 1, 2013 shall be equal to the sum of the pension attributable to the service credit the member has accrued under each coverage plan; and

                (5) the provisions of each coverage plan for the purpose of this subsection shall be those in effect at the time the member ceased to be covered by the coverage plan. "Service credit", for the purposes of this subsection, shall be only personal service rendered an affiliated public employer and credited to the member under the provisions of Subsection A of Section 10-11-4 NMSA 1978. Service credited under any other provision of the Public Employees Retirement Act shall not be used to satisfy the three-year service credit requirement of this subsection."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2014.

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