PRINTER'S NO. 573
No. 530 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY CASORIO, BELFANTI, PISTELLA, PRESTON, DALEY,
TANGRETTI, PETRARCA, MARKOSEK, WOJNAROSKI, TRELLO,
CALTAGIRONE, COLAFELLA, CURRY, HARHAI, HORSEY, JAMES,
LAUGHLIN, McILHATTAN, READSHAW, ROONEY, SAINATO, SHANER,
SOLOBAY, STABACK, TRICH, WOGAN AND YOUNGBLOOD,
FEBRUARY 7, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 7, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 29, 1956 (1955 P.L.1804, No.600),
2 entitled, as amended, "An act providing for the establishment
3 of police pension funds or pension annuities in certain
4 boroughs, towns and townships; authorizing the establishment
5 of police pension funds or pension annuities by regional
6 police departments; providing for the regulation and
7 maintenance of police pension funds or pension annuities;
8 providing for an actuary; continuance of existing funds or
9 transfer thereof to funds herein established; prescribing
10 rights of beneficiaries; contributions by members; providing
11 for expenses of administration; continuation of existing
12 authority to provide annuity contracts; credit for military
13 service; refunds; exempting allowances from judicial process;
14 and repealing certain acts," further regulating pension
15 calculations.
16 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
17 hereby enacts as follows:
18 Section 1. Section 1(a) of the act of May 29, 1956 (1955
19 P.L.1804, No.600), referred to as the Municipal Police Pension
20 Law, amended May 10, 1996 (P.L.162, No.33), is amended to read:
21 Section 1. (a) Each borough, town and township of this
22 Commonwealth maintaining a police force of three or more full-
1 time members and each regional police department shall, and all
2 other boroughs, towns or townships may, establish, by ordinance
3 or resolution, a police pension fund or pension annuity to be
4 maintained by a charge against each member of the police force,
5 by annual appropriations made by the borough, town, township or
6 regional police department, by payments made by the State
7 Treasurer to the municipal treasurer from the moneys received
8 from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty insurance
9 companies for purposes of pension retirement for policemen, and
10 by gifts, grants, devises or bequests granted to the pension
11 fund pursuant to section two of this act. Such fund shall be
12 under the direction of the governing body of the borough, town,
13 township or regional police department, and applied under such
14 regulations as such governing body, by ordinance or resolution,
15 may prescribe for the benefit of such members of the police
16 force as shall receive honorable discharge therefrom by reason
17 of age and service, or disability, and may prescribe for the
18 benefit (i) of widows, and if no widow survives or if she
19 survives and subsequently dies or remarries, then (ii) of child
20 or children under the age of eighteen years, of members of the
21 police force or of members retired on pension. All such pensions
22 as shall be allowed to those who are retired by reason of
23 disabilities shall be in conformity with a uniform scale. The
24 widow of a member of the police force or a member who retires on
25 pension who dies or if no widow survives or if she survives and
26 subsequently dies or remarries, then the child or children under
27 the age of eighteen years of a member of the police force or a
28 member who retires on pension who dies on or after the effective
29 date of this amendment, may, during her lifetime or so long as
30 she does not remarry in the case of a widow or until reaching
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1 the age of eighteen years in the case of a child or children, be
2 entitled to receive a pension calculated at the rate of [fifty]
3 sixty per centum of the pension the member was receiving or
4 would have been receiving had he been retired at the time of his
5 death.
6 * * *
7 Section 2. Section 5(c), (f) and (g)(1) of the act, amended
8 February 18, 1998 (P.L.158, No.24), are amended to read:
9 Section 5. * * *
10 (c) Monthly pension or retirement benefits other than length
11 of service increments shall be computed at one-half the monthly
12 average salary of such member during not more than the last
13 sixty nor less than the last [thirty-six] twenty-four months of
14 employment. Such pension or retirement benefits for any month
15 shall be computed as the sum of (1) any pension benefits from
16 pension plans heretofore established by a private organization
17 or association for the members of the police force but only to
18 the extent that this Commonwealth or any of its municipalities
19 shall have contributed to such pension plan moneys raised by
20 taxation; (2) if positions covered by the fund are included in
21 an agreement under the Federal Social Security Act, up to
22 seventy-five per centum of his full social security old-age
23 insurance benefit calculated in accordance with the provisions
24 of the Federal Social Security Act in effect on the date of his
25 termination of employment, except that such amount shall be
26 included only upon attainment of the age at which the officer
27 would be eligible to receive full social security old-age
28 insurance benefits and in determining such eligibility and such
29 amount only compensation for services actually rendered by the
30 officer and covered by the police pension fund shall be
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1 included; and (3) benefits from the police pension fund
2 established pursuant to this act to the extent necessary to
3 bring the total benefits in any month up to one-half the
4 aforesaid monthly average salary except that any officer who
5 receives pension or retirement benefits from any plan
6 established at any time pursuant to this act and who is also
7 entitled to receive social security old-age insurance benefits
8 shall not regardless of when the officer retired from active
9 service have his pension or retirement benefits offset or
10 reduced by more than seventy-five per centum of the social
11 security old-age insurance benefits which he receives.
12 * * *
13 (f) Any borough, town, township or regional police
14 department may establish and pay length of service increments
15 for years of service beyond twenty-five years for each completed
16 year of service in excess of twenty-five years, not to exceed
17 [one hundred dollars ($100)] six hundred dollars ($600). Such
18 length of service increments may be paid in addition to other
19 monthly pension or retirement allowances.
20 (g) (1) The ordinance or resolution establishing the police
21 pension fund may provide for a cost of living increase for
22 members of the police force receiving retirement benefits. The
23 cost of living increase shall not exceed the percentage increase
24 in the Consumer Price Index from the year in which the police
25 member last worked, shall not cause the total police pension
26 benefits to exceed [seventy-five] eighty per centum of the
27 salary for computing retirement benefits and shall not cause the
28 total cost of living increase to exceed thirty per centum. No
29 cost of living increase shall be granted which would impair the
30 actuarial soundness of the pension fund.
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1 * * *
2 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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