PRINTER'S NO. 3286
No. 2442 Session of 2000
INTRODUCED BY WILLIAMS, BATTISTO, BELARDI, BUNT, M. COHEN,
COLAFELLA, CORRIGAN, COSTA, COY, CURRY, DERMODY, DeWEESE,
FRANKEL, GRUCELA, HARHAI, JOSEPHS, LAUGHLIN, McCALL, MYERS,
ORIE, PESCI, PRESTON, RAMOS, ROBERTS, ROEBUCK, SHANER,
SNYDER, TRAVAGLIO, TRELLO, TRUE, WALKO, YOUNGBLOOD, YUDICHAK,
BELFANTI, KENNEY, LEVDANSKY, LUCYK, MAHER, MANN, McGILL,
McILHATTAN, PETRARCA, ROONEY, SAINATO, SOLOBAY, STABACK,
STEELMAN, STERN, TIGUE, VAN HORNE, WASHINGTON AND WOJNAROSKI,
APRIL 3, 2000
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, APRIL 3, 2000
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 providing for benefits.
15 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
16 hereby enacts as follows:
17 Section 1. Section 1 of the act of May 29, 1956 (1955
18 P.L.1804, No.600), referred to as the Municipal Police Pension
19 Law, amended May 10, 1996 (P.L.162, No.33), is amended to read:
20 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] shall prescribe for the
17 benefit of such members of the police force as shall receive
18 honorable discharge therefrom by reason of age and service, or
19 disability, and [may] shall prescribe for the benefit (i) of
20 widows, and if no widow survives or if she survives and
21 subsequently dies [or remarries], then (ii) of child or children
22 under the age of eighteen years, or if attending college,
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 widow of a member of the police force or the widow
29 of a member who was eligible for a pension but had not begun
30 collecting a pension or a member who retires on pension who dies
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1 or if no widow survives or if she survives and subsequently dies
2 [or remarries], then the child or children under the age of
3 eighteen years, or if attending college, twenty-three years, of
4 a member of the police force or a member who retires on pension
5 who dies on or after the effective date of this amendment, [may]
6 shall, during her lifetime [or so long as she does not remarry]
7 in the case of a widow or until reaching the age of eighteen
8 years, or if attending college, twenty-three years, in the case
9 of a child or children, be entitled to receive a pension
10 calculated at the rate of fifty per centum of the pension the
11 member was receiving or would have been receiving had he been
12 retired at the time of his death[.], except that if the assets
13 of the pension fund exceed the present value of future benefits
14 as reported in the last actuarial valuation report filed with
15 the Public Employee Retirement Commission under the act of
16 December 18, 1984 (P.L.1005, No.205), known as the "Municipal
17 Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act," such
18 entitlement shall be calculated at one hundred per centum of the
19 pension the member was receiving or would have been receiving
20 had he been retired at the time of his death.
21 (5) The widow of a member of the police force who dies
22 before his pension has vested or if no widow survives or if she
23 survives and subsequently dies, the child or children under the
24 age of eighteen years, or if attending college, twenty-three
25 years, of the member of the police force shall be entitled to
26 receive repayment of all money which the member invested in the
27 pension fund, plus interest or other increases in value of the
28 member's investment in the pension fund.
29 (b) For purposes of this act, the term "regional police
30 department" shall mean a municipal police force organized and
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1 operated in combination by two or more municipalities through an
2 intermunicipal agreement under [the act of July 12, 1972
3 (P.L.762, No.180), referred to as the Intergovernmental
4 Cooperation Law.] 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A (relating to
5 intergovernmental cooperation).
6 Section 2. Section 5(c) and (e) of the act, amended February
7 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 months of employment,
13 except that if the assets of the pension fund exceed the present
14 value of future benefits as reported in the last actuarial
15 valuation report filed with the Public Employee Retirement
16 Commission under the act of December 18, 1984 (P.L.1005,
17 No.205), known as the "Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard
18 and Recovery Act," such monthly pension or retirement benefits
19 may be computed in excess of the limits herein prescribed. Such
20 pension or retirement benefits for any month shall be computed
21 as the sum of (1) any pension benefits from pension plans
22 heretofore established by a private organization or association
23 for the members of the police force but only to the extent that
24 this Commonwealth or any of its municipalities shall have
25 contributed to such pension plan moneys raised by taxation; (2)
26 if positions covered by the fund are included in an agreement
27 under the Federal Social Security Act, up to seventy-five per
28 centum of his full social security old-age insurance benefit
29 calculated in accordance with the provisions of the Federal
30 Social Security Act in effect on the date of his termination of
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1 employment, except that such amount shall be included only upon
2 attainment of the age at which the officer would be eligible to
3 receive full social security old-age insurance benefits and in
4 determining such eligibility and such amount only compensation
5 for services actually rendered by the officer and covered by the
6 police pension fund shall be included; and (3) benefits from the
7 police pension fund established pursuant to this act to the
8 extent necessary to bring the total benefits in any month up to
9 one-half the aforesaid monthly average salary except that any
10 officer who receives pension or retirement benefits from any
11 plan established at any time pursuant to this act and who is
12 also entitled to receive social security old-age insurance
13 benefits shall not regardless of when the officer retired from
14 active service have his pension or retirement benefits offset or
15 reduced by more than seventy-five per centum of the social
16 security old-age insurance benefits which he receives.
17 * * *
18 (e) In the case of the payment of pensions for permanent
19 injuries incurred in service and to families of members killed
20 in service, the amount and commencement of the payments shall be
21 fixed by regulations of the governing body of the borough, town,
22 township or regional police department, provided that pensions
23 for permanent injuries shall be calculated at no less than fifty
24 per centum of the member's salary at the time the disability was
25 incurred, and provided further that the pensions for the
26 families of members killed in service shall be calculated at one
27 hundred per centum of the member's salary at the time of death.
28 * * *
29 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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