PRINTER'S NO. 1392
No. 1030 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY COSTA, FONTANA, FERLO, ORIE, PIPPY AND LOGAN,
NOVEMBER 22, 2005
REFERRED TO FINANCE, NOVEMBER 22, 2005
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 22, 1935 (P.L.233, No.99), entitled "An
2 act creating and establishing a fund for the care,
3 maintenance, and relief of aged, retired, and disabled
4 employees of the Bureau of Police in cities of the second
5 class; providing a pension fund for said employees; and
6 providing for the payment of certain dues, fees, assessments,
7 fines, and appropriations thereto; regulating membership
8 therein; creating a board for the management thereof;
9 providing the amount, mode, and manner of payment to
10 beneficiaries thereof, and for the care and disposition of
11 said fund; providing for the payment into this fund by cities
12 of the second class of all monies heretofore payable into any
13 other funds, organizations, corporations, or associations
14 having the same or similar purposes, and of such additional
15 monies as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of
16 this act," further providing for amount payable upon
17 resignation, dismissal or death of member, for married
18 persons, pension to surviving spouse and dependent children,
19 for payments to widows and for suspension of pension, death
20 before receiving pension equal to contributions.
21 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
22 hereby enacts as follows:
23 Section 1. Section 11 of the act of May 22, 1935 (P.L.233,
24 No.99), referred to as the Second Class City Policemen Relief
25 Law, amended November 9, 1965 (P.L.687, No.334), is amended to
26 read:
1 Section 11. When any member of the fund shall resign or be
2 dismissed from service, or shall die while in active service,
3 there shall be paid to him or to his [widow] surviving spouse,
4 and if no [widow] spouse survive, to his executor or
5 administrator, if his service has been terminated by death, from
6 the fund, all dues paid by him into the fund without interest,
7 and all monies which the fund may have received under any
8 assignment made by the said member to the fund at the time of
9 his admission to membership, under the provisions of subsection
10 (3) of section 8 hereof.
11 In addition, when any member of the fund shall die as a
12 result of injuries received while in the performance of his
13 duties, there shall be paid to his [widow] surviving spouse from
14 the fund, monthly sums in amounts which together with any
15 payments received under "The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation
16 Act" or "The Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act," will be
17 equal to fifty per centum (50%) of his salary at the time of his
18 death. Such monthly payments shall continue for five hundred
19 (500) weeks, or until the [widow shall remarry, or until her
20 death] surviving spouse's death, whichever shall first occur.
21 In the event there are surviving children but no [widow]
22 spouse, or after the payments herein provided for the [widow]
23 spouse have been discontinued by reason of the end of the five
24 hundred (500) week period or [her remarriage or] death, each
25 unmarried child of the deceased member under eighteen (18) years
26 of age shall thereafter receive payments equal to twenty-five
27 per centum (25%) of the payments above provided for the [widow]
28 spouse, but in no case shall total payments to one family be
29 more than fifty per centum of his salary at the time of his
30 death. Where there is only one child, the minimum monthly
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1 payments shall be sixty dollars ($60). Where the maximum amount
2 is payable it shall be divided equally among the children
3 entitled thereto. The payments for each child shall terminate
4 upon his reaching the age of eighteen (18) years, or his
5 [marriage or] death: Provided, That the board may continue
6 indefinitely payments to a dependent incompetent child. The
7 payments shall consist of any payments received under "The
8 Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act" or "The Pennsylvania
9 Occupational Disease Act," supplemented by the necessary amount
10 from the pension fund.
11 Payments to the [widows] surviving spouses and children of
12 members killed while on duty shall be made on and after July 1,
13 1959.
14 In the event there are no surviving children or no [widow]
15 spouse entitled to receive the payments provided for in this
16 act, any dependent parents of the member shall receive the
17 payments the [widow] spouse would have received had she survived
18 [and not remarried].
19 Section 2. Section 11.1 of the act, amended or added
20 November 9, 1965 (P.L.687, No.334) and July 8, 1970 (P.L.455,
21 No.334), is amended to read:
22 Section 11.1. Married Persons; Pension to Surviving Spouse
23 and Dependent Children.--
24 (a) Any married person who elects in writing to be governed
25 by the provisions of this amendment and who retires under the
26 provisions of this act shall, at the time of his retirement,
27 receive the pension provided by this act during his lifetime and
28 a pension after his death, payable to his surviving spouse at
29 the time of his death, equal to fifty per centum of his pension:
30 Provided, That such person so retiring shall have been married
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1 to his spouse for not less than two years prior to the date of
2 death and the spouse was dependent upon such deceased employee
3 at the time of his death.
4 (a.1) Any retired member of the Police Pension Fund who
5 retired prior to August 27, 1963, may, within ninety days after
6 the effective date of this amendment, elect to be governed by
7 the provisions of this subsection, provided such election shall
8 be in writing and that such writing shall be filed with the
9 Secretary of the Police Pension Fund. Each retired member who
10 elects to be governed under the provisions of this subsection
11 shall agree to contribute one-half of one percent of his monthly
12 pension to the Police Pension Fund. Upon the death of any
13 retired member who elected in the manner above prescribed to be
14 governed by this subsection, his [widow] spouse and surviving
15 children shall receive the benefits otherwise provided by this
16 act for [widows] surviving spouses and children of deceased
17 members who elected to be governed by the amending act of August
18 27, 1963 (P.L.1297) and any further amendments thereto.
19 (b) Such surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive
20 payments commencing the first day of the month in which the
21 death of the deceased spouse occurs, and shall continue to and
22 terminate upon the death of such surviving spouse[, unless such
23 surviving spouse shall remarry], in which event the board may
24 allocate the pension to dependent children or parents as
25 provided in this act: Provided, That in no case shall total
26 payments to a member or his survivors or his estate be less than
27 the deceased member's contribution into the fund.
28 (c) In the event there is no surviving spouse, or the
29 surviving spouse dies [or remarries] while receiving payments
30 under this section, and where there are dependent children of
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1 the deceased member of the fund, the board [may] shall pay to
2 each such dependent child twenty-five per centum of the pension
3 earned by the deceased member until the age of eighteen [or
4 marriage] or death: Provided, That the board may indefinitely
5 continue payments to a dependent incompetent child.
6 Where the sums payable to dependent children under this
7 section are equal to the maximum pension to which the [widow]
8 surviving spouse would be entitled, it shall be divided equally
9 among the children entitled thereto.
10 In the event there are no surviving children or no [widow]
11 spouse entitled to receive the payments provided for in this
12 act, any dependent parents of the deceased member shall receive
13 the monthly payments the [widow] spouse would have received had
14 she survived [and not remarried].
15 (d) The word "pension" as used in this section shall be
16 construed to mean the sum of the pension provided by this act
17 plus the amount of service increment, if any, to which the
18 married person retiring shall be entitled.
19 Section 3. Section 14.6 of the act, added March 3, 1972
20 (P.L.96, No.34), is amended to read:
21 Section 14.6. In addition to the other benefits provided by
22 this act the city council is authorized by ordinance to adopt a
23 plan of paying to [widows] surviving spouses of deceased
24 policemen, not otherwise covered under this act, a monthly award
25 of such amount as the council may from time to time determine
26 and may further appropriate from the city's general fund
27 sufficient amounts to make such further awards.
28 Section 4. Section 16 of the act, amended November 21, 1959
29 (P.L.1591, No.571), is amended to read:
30 Section 16. Any beneficiary of the fund who may obtain
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1 employment in service of the city itself shall suffer suspension
2 of his pension from the fund during the time of such employment.
3 If any beneficiary shall die before receiving in pension, a sum
4 equal to his total contributions to the fund, such difference
5 shall be paid to his [widow] surviving spouse or if no [widow]
6 spouse survive to his executor or administrator.
7 Section 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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