PRINTER'S NO. 2733
No. 246 Session of 1995
INTRODUCED BY BOSCOLA, TANGRETTI, MUNDY, TRICH, STETLER, WALKO,
MANDERINO, TRAVAGLIO, SCRIMENTI, WOZNIAK, MELIO, VEON, SURRA,
STURLA, M. COHEN, ITKIN, DeWEESE, JOSEPHS, GIGLIOTTI AND
SAINATO, OCTOBER 31, 1995
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, OCTOBER 31, 1995
A RESOLUTION
1 Requesting the Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement
2 Commission to provide the General Assembly of the
3 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with information concerning the
4 current state of police pensions in Pennsylvania and to
5 determine what is necessary for the establishment of a
6 Statewide police pension system.
7 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania counts more than 1,200 local police
8 departments in this Commonwealth with 16,962 full-time officers
9 and 3,198 part-time officers in their ranks, providing
10 protection to the public; and
11 WHEREAS, Some local governments, seeing increased percentages
12 of their total budgets allocated to maintain police services
13 with no money available for expansion or new equipment, have
14 entered into agreements with other municipalities for the
15 consolidation or regionalization of police services; and
16 WHEREAS, Police officials are concerned because recruitment
17 efforts and attempts to consolidate services are severely
18 hampered by the lack of pension portability, meaning that police
19 officers are unable to transfer the credits they have accrued in
1 one pension plan to another when leaving one local police
2 department for another; and
3 WHEREAS, According to a 1992 report issued by the
4 Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission, there are
5 more than 900 police pension plans for boroughs and townships in
6 Pennsylvania and this number increases when adding cities of all
7 classes; and
8 WHEREAS, This current system seriously inhibits the free
9 movement of labor and severely restricts the recruitment of
10 experienced career police officers and basically penalizes them
11 for years of service; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives request the
13 Public Employee Retirement Commission to undertake a study to
14 determine what information and legislation is necessary to
15 develop and establish a Statewide police pension system.
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