PRINTER'S NO. 1042
No. 921 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY CASORIO, DeWEESE, BELARDI, BEBKO-JONES, BELFANTI,
CALTAGIRONE, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHAI, JAMES, KIRKLAND, MANN,
McILHATTAN, PETRARCA, PISTELLA, PRESTON, READSHAW, SAINATO,
SHANER, SOLOBAY, STABACK, SURRA, TANGRETTI, WALKO, WOJNAROSKI
AND YOUNGBLOOD, MARCH 14, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 14, 2005
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
23 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.
12 (2) Such fund shall be under the direction of the governing
13 body of the borough, town, township or regional police
14 department, and applied under such regulations as such governing
15 body, by ordinance or resolution, may prescribe for the benefit
16 of such members of the police force as shall receive honorable
17 discharge therefrom by reason of age and service, or disability,
18 and may prescribe for the benefit (i) of surviving spouses, and
19 if no spouse survives or if he or she survives and subsequently
20 dies, then (ii) of child or children under the age of eighteen
21 years or, if attending college, under or attaining the age of
22 twenty-three years, of members of the police force or of members
23 retired on pension.
24 (3) All such pensions as shall be allowed to those who are
25 retired by reason of disabilities shall be in conformity with a
26 uniform scale.
27 (4) The surviving spouse of a member of the police force or
28 a member who retires on pension who dies or if no spouse
29 survives or if he or she survives and subsequently dies, then
30 the child or children under the age of eighteen years or, if
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1 attending college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three
2 years, of a member of the police force or a member who retires
3 on pension who dies, shall, during her lifetime in the case of a
4 surviving spouse or until reaching the age of eighteen years or,
5 if attending college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three
6 years in the case of a child or children, be entitled to receive
7 a pension calculated at no less than [fifty] sixty per centum of
8 the pension the member was receiving or would have been
9 receiving had he been retired at the time of his death.
10 (5) The surviving spouse of a member of the police force who
11 dies before his pension has vested or if no spouse survives or
12 if he or she survives and subsequently dies, the child or
13 children under the age of eighteen years or, if attending
14 college, under or attaining the age of twenty-three years, of
15 the member of the police force shall be entitled to receive
16 repayment of all money which the member invested in the pension
17 fund plus interest or other increases in value of the member's
18 investment in the pension fund unless the member has designated
19 another beneficiary for this purpose.
20 * * *
21 Section 2. Section 5(c), (f) and (g)(1) of the act, amended
22 February 18, 1998 (P.L.158, No.24), are amended to read:
23 Section 5. * * *
24 (c) Monthly pension or retirement benefits other than length
25 of service increments shall be computed at one-half the monthly
26 average salary of such member during not more than the last
27 sixty nor less than the last [thirty-six] twenty-four months of
28 employment. Such pension or retirement benefits for any month
29 shall be computed as the sum of (1) any pension benefits from
30 pension plans heretofore established by a private organization
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1 or association for the members of the police force but only to
2 the extent that this Commonwealth or any of its municipalities
3 shall have contributed to such pension plan moneys raised by
4 taxation; (2) if positions covered by the fund are included in
5 an agreement under the Federal Social Security Act, up to
6 seventy-five per centum of his full social security old-age
7 insurance benefit calculated in accordance with the provisions
8 of the Federal Social Security Act in effect on the date of his
9 termination of employment, except that such amount shall be
10 included only upon attainment of the age at which the officer
11 would be eligible to receive full social security old-age
12 insurance benefits and in determining such eligibility and such
13 amount only compensation for services actually rendered by the
14 officer and covered by the police pension fund shall be
15 included; and (3) benefits from the police pension fund
16 established pursuant to this act to the extent necessary to
17 bring the total benefits in any month up to one-half the
18 aforesaid monthly average salary except that any officer who
19 receives pension or retirement benefits from any plan
20 established at any time pursuant to this act and who is also
21 entitled to receive social security old-age insurance benefits
22 shall not regardless of when the officer retired from active
23 service have his pension or retirement benefits offset or
24 reduced by more than seventy-five per centum of the social
25 security old-age insurance benefits which he receives.
26 * * *
27 (f) Any borough, town, township or regional police
28 department may establish and pay length of service increments
29 for years of service beyond twenty-five years for each completed
30 year of service in excess of twenty-five years, not to exceed
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1 [one hundred dollars ($100)] six hundred dollars ($600). Such
2 length of service increments may be paid in addition to other
3 monthly pension or retirement allowances.
4 (g) (1) The ordinance or resolution establishing the police
5 pension fund may provide for a cost of living increase for
6 members of the police force receiving retirement benefits. The
7 cost of living increase shall not exceed the percentage increase
8 in the Consumer Price Index from the year in which the police
9 member last worked, shall not cause the total police pension
10 benefits to exceed [seventy-five] eighty per centum of the
11 salary for computing retirement benefits and shall not cause the
12 total cost of living increase to exceed thirty per centum. No
13 cost of living increase shall be granted which would impair the
14 actuarial soundness of the pension fund.
15 * * *
16 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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