HB 1764 -- State Retirement Systems

Sponsor:  Backer

This bill makes several changes to both the existing retirement
plan and the Year 2000 Plan of the Missouri Employees'
Retirement System (MOSERS) and the Transportation Department
Employees and Highway Patrol Retirement System (HEHPRS).

LIFE INSURANCE

Effective January 1, 2001, the system will provide life
insurance for employees covered by MOSERS, judges, and
administrative judges, and upon the election of the Board of the
Highway and Transportation Employees' and Highway Patrol System,
HEHPRS employees, in the amount of the rate of annual pay, with
a minimum of $15,000, rather than the current flat $15,000.
This provision applies to both the existing plans and the Year
2000 Plan.

SURVIVING SPOUSE BENEFITS

The 2-year marriage requirement for MOSERS and HEHPRS is removed
from the surviving spouse benefit for members and disabled
members who die before retirement under the existing plans.  The
bill makes special consultants of surviving spouses who were
married less than 2 years to members who died before retirement
who would otherwise have qualified for such benefits under the
existing plans.  Under a current option in the existing MOSERS
plan, a member may elect surviving spouse benefits if the member
has been married for at least one year before electing the
benefit.  The bill removes the one-year period and requires that
such election be made within one year from the date of
marriage.  A parallel change is made in the Year 2000 Plan.

BOTH EXISTING PLANS

The definition of creditable service clarifies that a day of
creditable service cannot exceed one calendar day of eligible
service credit.

EXISTING PLAN--TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT AND HIGHWAY PATROL

Retired members may make an election within one year after the
date of marriage to name the new spouse as a beneficiary.  Pop--
up benefits will become effective in the month following the
death of the spouse rather than the month following application
for a change in benefit for those who retire on or after July 1,
2000.  The member's service requirement for a surviving spouse
benefit is lowered from 10 to 5 years, and if the death is a
result of performance of duty, no service requirements apply.
The system will provide death benefits in the form of life
insurance for special consultants pursuant to subsection 4 of
Section 104.515, which may be administered by the state Highways
and Transportation Commission.

EXISTING PLAN--MOSERS

Employees, administrative law judges, and judges may elect
within one year of subsequent employment in a MOSERS--
administered position to purchase creditable service rather than
within 90 days after a year of such employment.  Currently, an
employee in a MOSERS-administered position who had nonfederal
full-time public employment may purchase creditable service.
The bill adds employees who had provided full-time services to
the state and permits the prior service to be purchased in any
MOSERS-administered plan in which the employee is receiving
credit for active employment or in which the employee is
eligible for a deferred annuity.  The bill permits creditable
service under certain conditions for circuit clerks, deputy
circuit clerks, or division clerks for actively employed members
and removes the October 1, 1989, date currently in statute,
substituting August 28, 2000.  The bill removes the one-year re--
employment period for restoration of forfeited service.  For
retired members who are elected or appointed to a state office
or enter employment in a position that requires at least 1,000
hours per year, the one-year waiting period for counting
creditable service is removed and a method for counting
creditable service for calculating additional annuity amounts is
created.

YEAR 2000 PLAN

The bill adds a provision that permits a retiree under the
existing plan who had elected a continuing lifetime annuity for
a surviving spouse or a normal annuity to elect an unreduced
benefit or a life annuity, with the spouse's consent.  The bill
clarifies that calculation of life annuities is based on full
years of credited service and adds provisions permitting members
of the Highway Patrol who are subject to mandatory retirement to
calculate eligibility for the temporary benefit-leveling annuity
based on the mandatory retirement age plus 5 years of credited
service.  The bill removes language that prevents eligibility
for the temporary benefit-leveling annuity when a member is
receiving federal Social Security disability benefits.  The bill
clarifies circumstances in which an active employee may receive
additional credited service for previous public employment.

The bill contains an emergency clause.