Signed by Governor John Lynch

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that raises the retirement age for certain public employees, reduces the amount of retirement benefits for certain public employees, increases public employee retirement contributions and amends collective bargaining procedures, effective July 1, 2011.

Highlights:

• Increases the elective retirement age for Group I employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 as follows (Sec. 5):
• From age 60 to age 65; or
• For employees with 20 years or more of creditable service, when the sum of those years and the employee's age equals 75 years, whereas existing law only required the sum to equal 70 years.

• Increases the elective retirement age for Group II employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 as follows (Sec. 5):
• From age 60 to age 65, regardless of the number of years of creditable service; or
• From age 45 to age 50 for employees who have completed 25 years or more of creditable service, whereas existing law only required 20 years of creditable service.

• Reduces the amount of the annuity for Group II employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 from 2.5 percent of average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service not in excess of 40 years to 2 percent of average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service not in excess of 25 years (Sec. 5).

• Raises the age of eligibility for the following types of benefits for Group I employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 from 60 years of age to 65 years of age (Secs. 6 & 7):
• Ordinary disability retirement benefits; and
• Accidental disability retirement benefits.

• Lowers the ordinary disability retirement allowance for Group II employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 from 2.5 percent of average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service not in excess of 40 years to 2 percent of average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service not in excess of 25 years (Sec. 8).

• Lowers the accidental disability retirement allowance for Group II employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 from two-thirds of average final compensation to one half of average final compensation (Sec. 9).

• Raises the minimum age of eligibility for split benefits from 60 years to 65 years for both Group I and Group II employees who are not vested by July 1, 2011 (Sec. 12).

• Increases the number of creditable years of service required for early retirement from 20 years to 25 years and the age from which each year of creditable service is deducted from 60 years to 65 years, and requires that the resulting age be no less than 50 years, whereas existing law required that the resulting age be no less than 45 years (Sec. 12).

• Increases the rate of employee contributions to the member annuity savings fund as follows (Sec. 18):
• For Group 1 employees, from 5 percent to 7 percent of compensation;
• For Group II permanent firemen, from 9.3 percent to 11.8 percent of compensation; and
• For Group II permanent policemen, from 9.3 percent to 11.55 percent of compensation.

• Requires all employees who commence service after June 30, 2011 to sign a statement acknowledging that retirement benefits may be modified or discontinued at any time by the adoption of appropriate legislation (Sec. 31).

• Authorizes public employers to exclusively determine whether or not certain benefits for public employees shall continue after the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement including, but not limited to, medical, life insurance, and retirement benefits (Sec. 32).

• Requires the Department of Administrative Services to establish and administer a program through which permanent full-time state employees may elect to receive a 25 percent increase in base salary or wages in lieu of state medical, dental, and retirement benefits (Sec. 33).

• This act is effective July 1, 2011 (Sec. 38).

Full Bill Text