PRINTER'S NO. 1915
No. 1571 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY CASORIO, BELFANTI, VAN HORNE, PISTELLA,
WOJNAROSKI, PETRARCA, MARKOSEK, PLATTS, ROBERTS, HARHAI,
WILLIAMS, LAUGHLIN, YOUNGBLOOD, READSHAW, JAMES, SOLOBAY AND
McILHATTAN, JUNE 8, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, JUNE 8, 1999
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-
23 time members and each regional police department shall, and all
1 other boroughs, towns or townships may, establish, by ordinance
2 or resolution, a police pension fund or pension annuity to be
3 maintained by a charge against each member of the police force,
4 by annual appropriations made by the borough, town, township or
5 regional police department, by payments made by the State
6 Treasurer to the municipal treasurer from the moneys received
7 from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty insurance
8 companies for purposes of pension retirement for policemen, and
9 by gifts, grants, devises or bequests granted to the pension
10 fund pursuant to section two of this act. Such fund shall be
11 under the direction of the governing body of the borough, town,
12 township or regional police department, and applied under such
13 regulations as such governing body, by ordinance or resolution,
14 may prescribe for the benefit of such members of the police
15 force as shall receive honorable discharge therefrom by reason
16 of age and service, or disability, and may prescribe for the
17 benefit (i) of widows, and if no widow survives or if she
18 survives and subsequently dies or remarries, then (ii) of child
19 or children under the age of eighteen years, of members of the
20 police force or of members retired on pension. All such pensions
21 as shall be allowed to those who are retired by reason of
22 disabilities shall be in conformity with a uniform scale. The
23 widow of a member of the police force or a member who retires on
24 pension who dies or if no widow survives or if she survives and
25 subsequently dies or remarries, then the child or children under
26 the age of eighteen years of a member of the police force or a
27 member who retires on pension who dies on or after the effective
28 date of this amendment, may, during her lifetime or so long as
29 she does not remarry in the case of a widow or until reaching
30 the age of eighteen years in the case of a child or children, be
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1 entitled to receive a pension calculated at the rate of [fifty]
2 sixty per centum of the pension the member was receiving or
3 would have been receiving had he been retired at the time of his
4 death.
5 * * *
6 Section 2. Section 5(c), (f) and (g)(1) of the act, amended
7 February 18, 1998 (P.L.158, No.24), are amended to read:
8 Section 5. * * *
9 (c) Monthly pension or retirement benefits other than length
10 of service increments shall be computed at one-half the monthly
11 average salary of such member during not more than the last
12 sixty nor less than the last [thirty-six] twenty-four months of
13 employment. Such pension or retirement benefits for any month
14 shall be computed as the sum of (1) any pension benefits from
15 pension plans heretofore established by a private organization
16 or association for the members of the police force but only to
17 the extent that this Commonwealth or any of its municipalities
18 shall have contributed to such pension plan moneys raised by
19 taxation; (2) if positions covered by the fund are included in
20 an agreement under the Federal Social Security Act, up to
21 seventy-five per centum of his full social security old-age
22 insurance benefit calculated in accordance with the provisions
23 of the Federal Social Security Act in effect on the date of his
24 termination of employment, except that such amount shall be
25 included only upon attainment of the age at which the officer
26 would be eligible to receive full social security old-age
27 insurance benefits and in determining such eligibility and such
28 amount only compensation for services actually rendered by the
29 officer and covered by the police pension fund shall be
30 included; and (3) benefits from the police pension fund
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1 established pursuant to this act to the extent necessary to
2 bring the total benefits in any month up to one-half the
3 aforesaid monthly average salary except that any officer who
4 receives pension or retirement benefits from any plan
5 established at any time pursuant to this act and who is also
6 entitled to receive social security old-age insurance benefits
7 shall not regardless of when the officer retired from active
8 service have his pension or retirement benefits offset or
9 reduced by more than seventy-five per centum of the social
10 security old-age insurance benefits which he receives.
11 * * *
12 (f) Any borough, town, township or regional police
13 department may establish and pay length of service increments
14 for years of service beyond twenty-five years for each completed
15 year of service in excess of twenty-five years, not to exceed
16 [one hundred dollars ($100)] six hundred dollars ($600). Such
17 length of service increments may be paid in addition to other
18 monthly pension or retirement allowances.
19 (g) (1) The ordinance or resolution establishing the police
20 pension fund may provide for a cost of living increase for
21 members of the police force receiving retirement benefits. The
22 cost of living increase shall not exceed the percentage increase
23 in the Consumer Price Index from the year in which the police
24 member last worked, shall not cause the total police pension
25 benefits to exceed [seventy-five] eighty per centum of the
26 salary for computing retirement benefits and shall not cause the
27 total cost of living increase to exceed thirty per centum. No
28 cost of living increase shall be granted which would impair the
29 actuarial soundness of the pension fund.
30 * * *
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1 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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