PRINTER'S NO. 1042
No. 888 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY CASORIO, BELFANTI, BIANCUCCI, DONATUCCI, FABRIZIO,
GEORGE, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHAI, HORNAMAN, HUTCHINSON,
KORTZ, KOTIK, MANN, McILHATTAN, MUNDY, M. O'BRIEN, PETRARCA,
READSHAW, SAINATO, SCAVELLO, SOLOBAY, STABACK, SURRA,
TANGRETTI, WALKO, WOJNAROSKI, YOUNGBLOOD AND PRESTON,
MARCH 22, 2007
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 22, 2007
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 April 17, 2002 (P.L.239, No.30), is amended to
21 read:
22 Section 1. (a) (1) Each borough, town and township of this
1 Commonwealth maintaining a police force of three or more full-
2 time members and each regional police department shall, and all
3 other boroughs, towns or townships may, establish, by ordinance
4 or resolution, a police pension fund or pension annuity to be
5 maintained by a charge against each member of the police force,
6 by annual appropriations made by the borough, town, township or
7 regional police department, by payments made by the State
8 Treasurer to the municipal treasurer from the moneys received
9 from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty insurance
10 companies for purposes of pension retirement for policemen, and
11 by gifts, grants, devises or bequests granted to the pension
12 fund pursuant to section two of this act.
13 (2) Such fund shall be under the direction of the governing
14 body of the borough, town, township or regional police
15 department, and applied under such regulations as such governing
16 body, by ordinance or resolution, may prescribe for the benefit
17 of such members of the police force as shall receive honorable
18 discharge therefrom by reason of age and service, or disability,
19 and may prescribe for the benefit (i) of surviving spouses, and
20 if no spouse survives or if he or she survives and subsequently
21 dies, then (ii) of child or children under the age of eighteen
22 years or, if attending college, under or attaining the age of
23 twenty-three years, of members of the police force or of members
24 retired on pension.
25 (3) All such pensions as shall be allowed to those who are
26 retired by reason of disabilities shall be in conformity with a
27 uniform scale.
28 (4) The surviving spouse of a member of the police force or
29 a member who retires on pension who dies or if no spouse
30 survives or if he or she survives and subsequently dies, then
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1 the child or children under the age of eighteen years or, if
2 attending college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three
3 years, of a member of the police force or a member who retires
4 on pension who dies, shall, during her lifetime in the case of a
5 surviving spouse or until reaching the age of eighteen years or,
6 if attending college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three
7 years in the case of a child or children, be entitled to receive
8 a pension calculated at no less than [fifty] sixty per centum of
9 the pension the member was receiving or would have been
10 receiving had he been retired at the time of his death.
11 (5) The surviving spouse of a member of the police force who
12 dies before his pension has vested or if no spouse survives or
13 if he or she survives and subsequently dies, the child or
14 children under the age of eighteen years or, if attending
15 college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three years, of
16 the member of the police force shall be entitled to receive
17 repayment of all money which the member invested in the pension
18 fund plus interest or other increases in value of the member's
19 investment in the pension fund unless the member has designated
20 another beneficiary for this purpose.
21 * * *
22 Section 2. Section 5(c), (f) and (g)(1) of the act, amended
23 February 18, 1998 (P.L.158, No.24) and December 22, 2005
24 (P.L.466, No.89), are amended to read:
25 Section 5. * * *
26 (c) Monthly pension or retirement benefits other than length
27 of service increments shall be computed at one-half the monthly
28 average salary of such member during not more than the last
29 sixty nor less than the last [thirty-six] twenty-four months of
30 employment. Such pension or retirement benefits for any month
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1 shall be computed as the sum of (1) any pension benefits from
2 pension plans heretofore established by a private organization
3 or association for the members of the police force but only to
4 the extent that this Commonwealth or any of its municipalities
5 shall have contributed to such pension plan moneys raised by
6 taxation; (2) if positions covered by the fund are included in
7 an agreement under the Federal Social Security Act, up to
8 seventy-five per centum of his full social security old-age
9 insurance benefit calculated in accordance with the provisions
10 of the Federal Social Security Act in effect on the date of his
11 termination of employment, except that such amount shall be
12 included only upon attainment of the age at which the officer
13 would be eligible to receive full social security old-age
14 insurance benefits and in determining such eligibility and such
15 amount only compensation for services actually rendered by the
16 officer and covered by the police pension fund shall be
17 included; and (3) benefits from the police pension fund
18 established pursuant to this act to the extent necessary to
19 bring the total benefits in any month up to one-half the
20 aforesaid monthly average salary except that any officer who
21 receives pension or retirement benefits from any plan
22 established at any time pursuant to this act and who is also
23 entitled to receive social security old-age insurance benefits
24 shall not regardless of when the officer retired from active
25 service have his pension or retirement benefits offset or
26 reduced by more than seventy-five per centum of the social
27 security old-age insurance benefits which he receives.
28 * * *
29 (f) Any borough, town, township or regional police
30 department may establish and pay length of service increments
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1 for years of service beyond twenty-five years for each completed
2 year of service in excess of twenty-five years, not to exceed
3 one hundred dollars ($100) per month for each completed year of
4 service in excess of twenty-five years up to a maximum of [five
5 hundred dollars ($500)] six hundred dollars ($600) per month
6 after five completed years of service in excess of twenty-five
7 years. Such length of service increments may be paid in addition
8 to other monthly pension or retirement allowances.
9 (g) (1) The ordinance or resolution establishing the police
10 pension fund may provide for a cost of living increase for
11 members of the police force receiving retirement benefits. The
12 cost of living increase shall not exceed the percentage increase
13 in the Consumer Price Index from the year in which the police
14 member last worked, shall not cause the total police pension
15 benefits to exceed [seventy-five] eighty per centum of the
16 salary for computing retirement benefits and shall not cause the
17 total cost of living increase to exceed thirty per centum. No
18 cost of living increase shall be granted which would impair the
19 actuarial soundness of the pension fund.
20 * * *
21 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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