SB129ENROLLED
Page 0
JI9ZNY-2
By Senator Singleton
RFD: Judiciary
First Read: 22-Mar-23
2023 Regular Session
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Enrolled, An Act,
Relating to the Employees' Retirement System of
Alabama; to amend Section 36-27-59, Code of Alabama 1975, to
designate the Commissioner of Corrections and deputy
commissioners of corrections who have earned and maintain
APOSTC certification as correctional officers or law
enforcement officers for state retirement purposes; and to
provide that the designation is retroactive.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Section 36-27-59 of the Code of Alabama
1975, is amended to read as follows:
"ยง36-27-59
(a) When used in this section, the following terms
shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:
(1) CORRECTIONAL OFFICER. A full-time correctional
officer who is certified as a correctional officer by the
Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission . For
the purposes of this section, the term also includes the
Commissioner of Corrections, as defined in Section 14-1-1.3,
and a deputy commissioner of corrections, as defined in
Section 14-1-1.5, who has earned and maintains Alabama Peace
Officers' Standards and Training Commission certification as a
correctional officer or law enforcement officer .
(2) FIREFIGHTER. A full-time firefighter employed with
the State of Alabama, a municipal fire department, or a fire
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district who has a level one minimum standard certification by
the Firefighters Personnel Standards and Education Commission,
or a firefighter employed by the Alabama Forestry Commission
who has been certified by the State Forester as having met the
wild land firefighter training standard of the National
Wildfire Coordinating Group.
(3) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. A full-time law
enforcement officer, not covered as a state policeman,
employed with any state agency, department, board, commission,
or institution or a full-time law enforcement officer employed
by a local unit of the Employees' Retirement System under
Section 36-27-6 who is certified as a law enforcement officer
by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training
Commission.
(b)(1) Any firefighter, law enforcement officer, or
correctional officer covered under the Employees' Retirement
System or the Teachers' Retirement System as a Tier I plan
member, upon attainment of the requisite years of creditable
service or who otherwise qualifies for service or disability
retirement, shall be awarded one year of hazardous duty time
for every five years of service as a firefighter, a law
enforcement officer, or a correctional officer provided that
the person has made the additional contribution provided in
subdivision (2) or paid the additional contribution required
in subsection (c) for each year of service used in determining
hazardous duty time for the person. Proportional credit shall
be awarded for any period of service less than five years.
(2) Effective January 1, 2001, and each pay period
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thereafter, each active employee who is a firefighter, law
enforcement officer, or correctional officer, as defined in
subsection (a), shall contribute to the Teachers' or
Employees' Retirement System of Alabama six percent of his or
her earnable compensation. For all pay dates beginning on or
after October 1, 2011, each active employee who is a
firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer,
as defined in subsection (a), except those employees
participating pursuant to Section 36-27-6, shall contribute to
the Teachers' or Employees' Retirement System of Alabama eight
and one-quarter percent (8.25%) of his or her earnable
compensation. For all pay dates beginning on or after October
1, 2012, each active employee who is a Tier I plan member and
who is a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional
officer, as defined in subsection (a), except those employees
participating pursuant to Section 36-27-6, shall contribute to
the Teachers' or Employees' Retirement System of Alabama eight
and one-half percent (8.5%) of his or her earnable
compensation. Any employer participating under Section
36-27-6, by adoption of a resolution, may elect for the
increases in employee contributions provided by Act 2011-676
to be withheld from the earnable compensation of employees of
the employer.
(c) Any member of the Employees' Retirement System or
the Teachers' Retirement System eligible under subsection (b)
may receive credit for his or her eligible prior service
provided the member pays to the Secretary-Treasurer of the
Employees' Retirement System or the Secretary-Treasurer of the
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Teachers' Retirement System one percent of his or her current
annual earnable compensation or previous year's annual
earnable compensation, whichever is higher, for each year of
claimed credit within two years of January 1, 2001, except
that any firefighter employed by the Alabama Forestry
Commission shall make such payment within two years of
December 28, 2001. Any member participating in the Employees'
Retirement System under Section 36-27-6, who has eligible
prior service under this section and who also had no prior
eligibility to purchase prior service credit under this
subsection, may purchase prior service credit under this
section at the same rate provided in subsection (b) within one
year of the effective date of his or her enrollment with the
Employees' Retirement System or within one year of August 1,
2004. The member may purchase his or her claimed credit in
increments of five years, unless the total service credit is
less than five years, in which case the service shall be
purchased in its entirety. The member shall provide
certification from each employing agency, on forms prescribed
by the Teachers' or Employees' Retirement System, of each year
of claimed service, as a prerequisite to payment under this
section.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to
any Tier II plan member.
(e) The designation of the Commissioner of Corrections
and a deputy commissioner of corrections as correctional
officers or law enforcement officers for purposes of this
section shall be applied retroactively to March 1, 2022. "
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Section 2. This act shall become effective on the first
day of the third month following its passage and approval by
the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
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________________________________________________
President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Representatives
SB129
Senate 27-Apr-23
I hereby certify that the within Act originated in and passed
the Senate.
Patrick Harris,
Secretary.
House of Representatives
Passed: 01-Jun-23
By: Senator Singleton
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