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Pennsylvania State Senate
04/25/2024 12:52 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=35392
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 15, 2021 10:55 AM
From: Senator Mike Regan
To: All Senate members
Subject: Municipal Police Pension Buyback Option for Prior Law Enforcement Service
 
As police departments across the Commonwealth face challenges with recruiting officers, I intend to reintroduce legislation (Senate Bill 979 of 2017-2018) to permit a full-time police officer to buyback previous full- or part-time police employment service for pension benefit purposes.
 
The genesis of my original proposal was an individual municipal police officer who was surprised to learn that current law did not afford him the ability to purchase prior service and apply it toward his employment record.  Since then, more voices have joined the conversation as older officers are looking toward retirement and young officers are looking to make a career move but are hesitant to do so if it means losing accrued time.
 
My legislation will call on local governments and regional police departments to amend their ordinances or resolutions establishing a police pension fund for the purpose of providing their full-time officers the option to purchase up to five years of pension service credit for prior service, whether it was full-time or part-time, with another department.  Allowing the purchase of prior part-time service is especially beneficial for those individuals that started their career on a part-time basis before ultimately, securing a full-time position.
 
Currently, the Municipal Police Pension Law (Act 600 of 1955) provides for the purchase of military service. My proposal is based on this framework; therefore, the amount due for the purchase of previous service would be computed in a similar manner as is used for the purchase of military service.
 
Considering the important work that our municipal and regional police officers do in protecting Pennsylvania’s residents on a daily basis, this retirement benefit flexibility is well-deserved and justified.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring and supporting this important piece of legislation.
 
Prior co-sponsors of Senate Bill 979 were: BARTOLOTTA, BREWSTER, COSTA, SCAVELLO, SCHWANK, K. WARD, and YUDICHAK


Introduced as SB669