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AN ACT
RELATING TO JUDICIAL RETIREMENT; AMENDING THE JUDICIAL
RETIREMENT ACT TO PROVIDE FOR PURCHASE OF SERVICE CREDIT OF
ONE YEAR BY ANY MEMBER.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 10-12B-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992,
Chapter 111, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"10-12B-5. SERVICE CREDIT--REINSTATEMENT OF FORFEITED
SERVICE--PRIOR SERVICE--MILITARY SERVICE.--
A. Personal service rendered by a member shall be
credited to the member's service credit account in accordance
with board rules and regulations. Service shall be credited
to the nearest month. In no case shall any member be credited
with a year of service for less than twelve months of service
in any calendar year or more than a month of service for all
service in any calendar month or more than a year of service
for all service in any calendar year.
B. Service credit shall be forfeited if a member
leaves office and withdraws the member's accumulated member
contributions. A member or former member who is a member of a
state system or the educational retirement system who has
forfeited service credit by withdrawal of member contributions
may reinstate the forfeited service credit by repaying the
amount withdrawn plus compound interest from the date of
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withdrawal to the date of repayment at a rate set by the
board. Withdrawn member contributions may be repaid in
increments of one year in accordance with procedures
established by the board. Full payment of each one-year
increment shall be made in a single lump-sum amount in
accordance with procedures established by the board.
C. Service credit that a member would have earned
if the member had not elected to be excluded from membership
may be purchased if the member pays the purchase cost
determined pursuant to the provisions of Subsection F of this
section.
D. A member who during a term of office enters a
uniformed service of the United States shall be given service
credit for periods of service in the uniformed services
subject to the following conditions:
(1) the member returns to office within
ninety days following termination of the period of intervening
service in the uniformed services or the affiliated employer
certifies in writing to the association that the member is
entitled to reemployment rights under the Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994;
(2) the member retains membership in the
association during the period of service in the uniformed
services;
(3) free service credit shall not be given
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for periods of intervening service in the uniformed services
following voluntary reenlistment. Service credit for such
periods shall only be given after the member pays the
association the sum of the contributions that the person would
have been required to contribute had the person remained
continuously employed throughout the period of intervening
service following voluntary reenlistment, which payment shall
be made during the period beginning with the date of
reemployment and whose duration is three times the period of
the person's intervening service in the uniformed services
following voluntary reenlistment, not to exceed five years;
(4) service credit shall not be given for
periods of intervening service in the uniformed services that
are used to obtain or increase a benefit from another state
system or the retirement program provided under the
Educational Retirement Act; and
(5) the member must not have received a
discharge or separation from uniformed service under other
than honorable conditions.
Notwithstanding any provision of this plan to the
contrary, contributions, benefits and service credit with
respect to qualified military service will be provided in
accordance with Section 4l4(u) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended.
E. A member who entered uniformed service of the
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United States may purchase service credit for periods of
active duty in the uniformed services, subject to the
following conditions:
(1) the member pays the purchase cost
determined pursuant to the provisions of Subsection F of this
section;
(2) the member has five or more years of
service credit accrued according to the provisions of the
Judicial Retirement Act;
(3) the aggregate amount of service credit
purchased pursuant to the provisions of this subsection does
not exceed five years, reduced by any period of service credit
acquired for military service under any other provision of the
Judicial Retirement Act;
(4) service credit may not be purchased for
periods of service in the uniformed services that are used to
obtain or increase a benefit from another retirement program;
and
(5) the member must not have received a
discharge or separation from uniformed service under other
than honorable conditions.
F. The purchase cost for each year of service
credit purchased pursuant to the provisions of this section
shall be the increase in the actuarial present value of the
pension of the member under the Judicial Retirement Act as a
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consequence of the purchase, as determined by the association.
Full payment shall be made in a single lump-sum amount in
accordance with procedures established by the board. Except
as provided in Subsection G of this section, seventy-five
percent of the purchase cost shall be considered to be
employer contributions and shall not be refunded to the member
in the event of cessation of membership.
G. A member shall be refunded, after retirement
and upon written request filed with the association, the
portion of the purchase cost of service credit purchased
pursuant to the provisions of this section that the
association determines to have been unnecessary to provide the
member with the maximum pension applicable to the member. The
association shall not pay interest on the portion of the
purchase cost refunded to the member.
H. At any time prior to retirement, a member may
purchase service credit in monthly increments, subject to the
following conditions:
(1) the member has at least five years of
service credit acquired as a result of personal service
rendered under the Judicial Retirement Act;
(2) the aggregate amount of service credit
purchased pursuant to this subsection does not exceed one
year;
(3) the member pays full actuarial present
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value of the amount of the increase in the member's pension as
a consequence of the purchase, as determined by the
association;
(4) the member pays the full cost of the
purchase within sixty days of the date the member is informed
of the amount of the payment; and
(5) the purchase of service credit under
this subsection cannot be used to exceed the pension maximum."
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