FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1020

91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE O'TOOLE.

Read 1^st time March 15, 2001, and 1000 copies ordered printed.

TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk

2310L.01I

AN ACT

To repeal sections 87.050, 87.095, 87.120, 87.130, 87.135, 87.170, 87.185, 87.205, 87.215, 87.237, 87.240, 87.288, 87.310, 87.445, 87.450 and 87.470, RSMo 2000, and to enact in lieu thereof sixteen new sections relating to firefighter's retirement.

Section A. Sections 87.050, 87.095, 87.120, 87.130, 87.135, 87.170, 87.185, 87.205, 87.215, 87.237, 87.240, 87.288, 87.310, 87.445, 87.450 and 87.470, RSMo 2000, are repealed and sixteen new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 87.050, 87.095, 87.120, 87.130, 87.135, 87.170, 87.185, 87.205, 87.215, 87.237, 87.240, 87.288, 87.310, 87.445, 87.450 and 87.470, to read as follows:

87.050. 1. If any member shall be killed or die while in the performance of his or her duty or as the result of any injury received in the line of duty, or of any disease contracted by reason of his or her occupation, or shall die from any cause whatever while a member of said fire department, or shall die while receiving a disability or service pension, and shall leave a [widow] surviving spouse or child or children under the age of eighteen years surviving, said board of trustees shall order and direct the payment from the pension fund, monthly, to such [widow] surviving spouse, a sum equal to not less than twenty percent of the monthly compensation allowed a first class [fireman] firefighter of the fire department as salary at the date of the death of the member or seventy-five dollars, whichever is greater; and to or for the benefit of each child until [it] the child reaches the age of eighteen, a sum equal to not less than five percent of the monthly compensation allowed a first class [fireman] firefighter of the fire department as salary at the date of the death of the member; and to or for each unmarried child, regardless of age, who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated from engaging in gainful employment sufficiently remunerative to support himself or herself, a sum equal to five percent of the monthly compensation allowed a first class [fireman] firefighter of the fire department as salary at the date of the death of the member; provided that no benefits shall be paid to or for any child over eighteen years of age who is totally and permanently mentally or physically disabled or incapacitated if such child is a patient or ward in a publicly supported institution. In the case of [widows] surviving spouses, payments shall be made only to those [widows] surviving spouses whose marriage to the member occurred prior to his or her retirement on disability or service pension, and shall be made only while said [widow] surviving spouse is unmarried and are to cease forever immediately upon remarriage. In the case of children no payments shall be made to or for any child born or adopted after the effective date of the member's retirement on disability or service pension, or the date of his or her death, and payments shall not be made for more than three eligible children and, if there are more than three eligible children, payments shall be made for the three youngest eligible children. If the member who dies is a member of a volunteer department, the amount to be paid monthly to his [widow] or her surviving spouse and children aforesaid shall be fixed by the board of trustees.

2. Any [widow] surviving spouse who is receiving survivors' pension benefits [under] pursuant to the provisions of this section as it existed at any time prior to August 13, 1982, upon application to the board of trustees, shall be employed by the board as a special consultant on the problems of retirement, aging, and other pension system matters for the remainder of his or her life and upon request of the board shall give opinions in writing or orally, as may be requested, and for such services shall be compensated monthly in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of the monthly pension benefit the [widow] surviving spouse is receiving for himself or herself and seventy-five dollars. This compensation shall be consolidated with the pension benefits the [widow] surviving spouse is receiving and shall be paid out of the same fund as are such benefits. Employment as a special consultant shall in no way affect any [widow's] surviving spouse's eligibility for survivors' pension benefits or in any way have the effect of reducing such benefits, other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding.

87.095. Whenever an active or retired [fireman] firefighter shall die, as aforesaid, the board of trustees shall appropriate from the fund a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars to the [widow] surviving spouse or family for funeral expenses. In cities not within a county the payment for funeral expenses shall be two thousand dollars, and shall be paid solely from moneys within the pension fund.

87.120. The following words and phrases as used in sections 87.120 to 87.370, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, have the following meanings:

(1) "Accumulated contributions", the sum of all amounts deducted from the compensation of a member and credited to his or her individual account in the members' savings fund together with interest thereon;

(2) "Actuarial equivalent", a benefit of equal value when computed upon the basis of such mortality tables and interest rate as shall be adopted by the board of trustees;

(3) "Average final compensation", the average earnable compensation of the member during his or her last two years of service as a [fireman] firefighter, or if [he] the firefighter has less than two years of service, then the average earnable compensation of his or her entire period of service;

(4) "Beneficiary", any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided by sections 87.120 to 87.370;

(5) "Benefit reserve", the present value of all payments to be made on account of any retirement allowance or benefit in lieu of a retirement allowance upon the basis of such mortality tables and interest rate as shall be adopted by the board of trustees;

(6) "Board of trustees", the board provided for in section 87.140 to administer the retirement system;

(7) "City", any city not within a county and adopting the retirement system provided by sections 87.120 to 87.370;

(8) "Creditable service", prior service plus membership service as provided in section 87.135;

(9) "DROP", the deferred retirement option plan provided in section 87.182;

(10) "Earnable compensation", the regular compensation which a member would earn during one year on the basis of the stated compensation for his or her rank or position;

(11) "[Fireman] Firefighter", any officer or employee of the fire department of the city employed by the city for the duty of fighting fires, but does not include anyone employed in a clerical or other capacity not involving fire-fighting duties. In case of doubt as to whether any person is a [fireman] firefighter within the meaning of sections 87.120 to 87.370, the decision of the board of trustees shall be final;

(12) "Medical board", the board of physicians provided for in section 87.160;

(13) "Member", a member of the retirement system as defined by section 87.130;

(14) "Membership service", service as a [fireman] firefighter rendered since last becoming a member;

(15) "Prior service", all service as a [fireman] firefighter rendered prior to the date the system becomes operative which is creditable in accordance with the provisions of section 87.135;

(16) "Retirement allowance", annual payments for life which shall be payable in equal monthly installments or any benefits in lieu thereof granted to a member upon retirement or to a beneficiary;

(17) "Retirement system", the [firemen's] firefighter's retirement system of any city as defined in section 87.125[;

(18) "Widow", the surviving spouse of a member].

87.130. 1. All persons who are [firemen] firefighters shall be members as a condition of their employment and shall receive no pension or retirement allowance from any other pension or retirement system supported wholly or in part by the city or the state of Missouri because of years of service for which they are entitled to benefits under this system nor shall they be required to make contributions under any other pension or retirement system of the city or the state of Missouri, anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

2. If any member, in any period of five consecutive years after last becoming a member, is absent from service for more than four years unless the member has twenty years or more of creditable service, or if any member withdraws the member's accumulated contributions, or if any member becomes a beneficiary, the person shall thereupon cease to be a member; except in the case of a member who has served in the armed forces of the United States or retired pursuant to section 87.170 and is subsequently reinstated as a [fireman] firefighter or as a member in beneficiary status as a [widow] surviving spouse.

3. Any member who is reinstated after retiring pursuant to conditions in section 87.170 shall not be eligible to participate in the benefit provided pursuant to section 87.182.

87.135. 1. Under such rules and regulations as the board of trustees shall adopt, each member who was a [fireman] firefighter on and prior to the date of the establishment of the retirement system shall file a detailed statement of all service as a [fireman] firefighter rendered by him or her prior to that date for which [he] the firefighter claims credit.

2. The board of trustees shall fix and determine by proper rules and regulations how much service in any year is equivalent to one year of service, but in no case shall more than one year of service be creditable for all service in one calendar year, nor shall the board of trustees allow credit as service for any period of more than one month's duration during which the member was absent without pay.

3. Subject to the above restrictions and to such other rules and regulations as the board of trustees may adopt, the board of trustees shall verify the service claims as soon as practicable after the filing of the statement of service.

4. Upon verification of the statements of service the board of trustees shall issue prior service certificates, certifying to each member the length of prior service with which [he] the member is credited on the basis of his or her statement of service. So long as the holder of the certificate continues to be a member, a prior service certificate shall be final and conclusive for retirement purposes as to such service, except that any member may, within one year from the date of issuance or modification of the certificate, request the board of trustees to modify or correct [his] the member's prior service certificate, and upon such request or of its own motion the board may correct the certificate. When any [fireman] firefighter ceases to be a member his or her prior service certificate shall become void. Should he or she again become a member, he or she shall enter the retirement system as a member not entitled to prior service credit except as provided in section 87.215.

5. Creditable service at retirement on which the retirement allowance of a member shall be based shall consist of creditable membership service rendered by him or her, and also if [he] the member has a prior service certificate which is in full force and effect, the amount of the service certified on [his] the member's prior service certificate. Service rendered by a [fireman] firefighter after the operative date and prior to becoming a member shall be included as creditable membership service provided the service was rendered since he or she last became a [fireman] firefighter.

87.170. Retirement of a member on a service retirement allowance shall be made by the board of trustees as follows:

(1) Any member may retire upon the member's written application to the board of trustees setting forth at what time, not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days subsequent to the execution and filing therefor, the member desires to be retired, if the member at the time so specified for such member's retirement has twenty-five years or more of service; except that a member who ceases to be a [fireman] firefighter after twenty years or more of service may retire prior to the twenty-five years of service with a retirement allowance based on the member's years of service;

(2) Any member in service upon attaining the age of sixty, if qualifying for a service retirement allowance equal to seventy-five percent of the average final compensation, shall be retired forthwith; except that with respect to any member, the board shall not retire such member when the member attains sixty years of age or more merely because the member has attained that age unless the member so requests or the member has completed thirty or more years of service, even if a portion of such service is not creditable service pursuant to participation in the deferred retirement option plan prescribed by section 87.182;

(3) Any member who qualifies for a service retirement allowance of seventy-five percent or over and has not attained sixty years of age may be retained as a member until sixty years of age, with no increase in retirement allowance.

87.185. If, at any time since first becoming a member of the retirement system, a member has served in the armed forces of the United States, in any war or period of armed hostilities between the armed forces of the United States and those of a foreign power, and is subsequently reinstated as a [fireman] firefighter within ninety days after his or her discharge, [he] the member shall be granted credit for such service as if his or her service in the fire department of the city had not been interrupted by his or her induction into the armed forces of the United States, and as if [he] the member had made the required contributions during such service. If earnable compensation is needed for such period in computation of benefits it shall be calculated on the basis of the compensation payable to the officers of his or her rank during the period of his or her absence.

87.205. 1. Upon retirement for accidental disability, a member shall receive seventy-five percent of the pay then provided by law for the highest step in the range of salary for the title or rank held by such member at the time of such retirement unless the member is permanently and totally incapacitated from performing any work, occupation or vocation of any kind whatsoever and is continuously confined to the member's home except for visits to obtain medical treatment, in which event the member may receive, in the discretion of the board of trustees, a retirement allowance in an amount not exceeding the member's rate of compensation as a [fireman] firefighter in effect as of the date the allowance begins.

2. Anyone who has retired pursuant to the provisions of section 87.170 and has been reinstated pursuant to subsection 2 of section 87.130 who subsequently becomes disabled, as provided in section 87.200, shall receive a total benefit which is the higher of either the disability pension or the service pension.

87.215. 1. If the medical board reports and certifies to the board of trustees that the disability beneficiary is engaged or is able to engage in a gainful occupation other than [fireman] firefighter paying more than the difference between his or her retirement allowance and one and one-half times the then current rate of pay for the rank held by the member at the time of retirement, and if the board of trustees concurs in the report, then the amount of his or her retirement allowance shall be reduced to an amount which together with the amount earnable by him or her in such other occupation shall equal the amount of such current rate of pay. If his or her earning capacity is later changed, the amount of his or her retirement may be further modified. If any such disability beneficiary is found by such medical board to be able to engage in the occupation of [fireman] firefighter, his or her retirement allowance shall not cease until he or she is restored to active service at the position and title held by such disability beneficiary at the time such disability occurred.

2. If a disability beneficiary is restored to active service, his or her retirement allowance shall cease and he or she shall again become a member. His or her creditable service at the time of his or her retirement shall be restored to full force and effect and in addition, upon his or her subsequent retirement, he or she shall be credited with all his or her additional service as a member, and if his or her then average final compensation is less than the average final compensation used in determining his or her disability benefits, the latter amount shall be used in determining benefits. In addition, an accident disabled member restored to active service shall be credited with all the time he or she has served as a beneficiary.

87.237. 1. Any person who served as a [fireman] firefighter and who is retired and receiving a retirement allowance of less than one hundred percent of the federal poverty level for a single person as set and updated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services or its successor agency may act as a special advisor to the retirement system.

2. For the additional service as a special advisor, each retired person shall receive, in addition to the retirement allowance provided [under] pursuant to this chapter, an additional amount, which amount, together with the retirement allowance he or she is receiving [under] pursuant to other provisions of this chapter, shall equal, but not exceed, one hundred percent of the federal poverty level for a single person as set and updated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services or its successor agency. Any retirement allowance paid to a retiree [under] pursuant to this subsection shall be withdrawn from the [firemen's] firefighters' retirement and relief system fund and no moneys shall be withdrawn from the general revenue fund of any city not within a county.

87.240. If a member ceases to be a [fireman] firefighter except by death or retirement, [he] the firefighter shall be paid on demand the amount of his or her accumulated contributions standing to the credit of his or her individual account in the members' savings fund, and such a member who has left his or her contributions with the system may later withdraw his or her accumulated contributions at any time prior to the beginning of his or her retirement benefits.

87.288. 1. Any person who served as a [fireman] firefighter who is retired and not receiving a cost-of-living benefit and any [widow] surviving spouse or dependent child receiving retirement benefits, but not receiving a cost-of-living benefit shall be made, constituted, and appointed as a special consultant on the problems of retirement, aging, and other state matters, and be available to give opinion in writing or orally, in response to such requests as may be required and for such services shall be compensated annually in accordance with the provisions of subsection 2 of this section.

2. Effective September 1, 1996, and annually thereafter, one-half of the annual interest earned in the future benefits fund created [under] pursuant to section 87.287 shall be appropriated to provide an ad hoc COLA administered by the board of trustees and from September 1, 2016, and annually thereafter three-fourths of the annual interest earned in the future benefits fund created [under] pursuant to section 87.287 shall be appropriated to provide an ad hoc COLA administered by the board of trustees based upon the formula in this subsection. The distributable amount shall be divided by the number of retirees and surviving spouses and dependent children eligible to receive the ad hoc COLA [under] pursuant to this provision calculated and distributed based upon the following years of service:

(1) Members retiring with thirty or more years of service shall receive a full share of the distributable amount;

(2) Members retiring with twenty-five or more years of service but less than thirty years shall receive a three-quarter share of the distributable amount;

(3) Members retiring with less than twenty-five years shall receive a one-half share of the distributable amount;

(4) Surviving spouses and dependent children shall receive one-half of the ad hoc COLA the member would have been entitled to receive.

87.310. When any member terminates his or her employment as a [fireman] firefighter and withdraws his or her accumulated contributions from the retirement system, he or she ceases to be a member of the retirement system. If he or she is reinstated as a [fireman he] firefighter he or she will again become a member of the retirement system as a new member with no creditable service prior to his or her termination. However, any member currently employed as a [fireman] firefighter may repay the retirement system his or her total accumulated contribution withdrawn at the time of his or her termination and an amount of interest on such contribution at the same rate per annum as allowed in the member's savings account in the same period. Such repayment shall occur within two years after August 13, 1984, and when made the member shall then receive full credit for service prior to the date of his or her termination.

87.445. If any member of such fire department shall, while in the performance of his or her duty, be killed or die as the result of an injury received in the line of [his] duty, or of any disease contracted by reason of his or her occupation as [fireman] firefighter, or shall die from any cause whatever while in such service, and shall leave a [widow] surviving spouse, or child or children under the age of sixteen years, surviving, said board of trustees shall direct the payment from said pension fund monthly to such [widow] surviving spouse, while unmarried, such sum of money as may be determined by the rules and regulations provided for the management of such funds, and said board shall also direct the payment out of said pension fund for each child until [it] the child reaches the age of sixteen years such sum of money as may be determined by said rules and regulations, and in case the party suffering such disability is a member of the volunteer department, the amount to be paid monthly to his [widow] or her surviving spouse and children aforesaid shall be fixed by said board of trustees. If there be no [widow] surviving spouse, or if such [widow die] surviving spouse dies while unmarried, the amount of his or her said benefits may be added to the said benefits for such children. If any member of the fire department shall die from any cause while a member of such department, but not while in the service thereof, if he or she be married his [widow] or her surviving spouse and children shall receive from the pension fund the same benefits as are payable from the pension fund in other cases, and if he or she be unmarried his or her dependent father, mother, brothers and sisters shall receive from the pension fund the same benefits as are payable from said fund in other cases.

87.450. If any member of such fire department being single and unmarried shall, while in the performance of his or her duty, be killed, or die, as the result of an injury received, or shall die of any disease contracted by reason of his or her occupation as [fireman] firefighter, or shall die from any cause whatever while in said service, and shall leave a father or mother who are dependent upon him or her for support, or a brother or sister under the age of sixteen years so dependent, said board of trustees shall direct the payment from the pension fund monthly to such dependent parents or the survivor thereof and to each such dependent brother or sister under sixteen years of age, such sum of money as may be determined by the rules and regulations of said board; provided, that the board of trustees shall also have the power to make provision for any such dependent brother or sister over the age of sixteen years who may be mentally deficient or physically incapacitated, in such sum as the board my determine, and the board shall have the sole power to determine who is mentally deficient or physically incapacitated.

87.470. Whenever an active or retired [fireman] firefighter shall die, as aforesaid, the board of trustees may appropriate a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars for funeral expenses, to be paid out of the pension fund and may expend a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, to be drawn from the pension fund, for the expenses of the attendance of the [firemen] firefighters at said funeral.

Missouri House of Representatives