Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
Act 415 of the Regular Session
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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1313 3
4
By: Representative C. Cooper 5
By: Senator M. Johnson 6
7
For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO EXPAND HEALTH BENEFIT COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN 9
FIREFIGHTER RETIREES OF MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES; 10
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 11
12
13
Subtitle 14
TO EXPAND HEALTH BENEFIT COVERAGE FOR 15
CERTAIN FIREFIGHTER RETIREES OF 16
MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES. 17
18
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 19
20
SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 14 -1-110 is amended to read as follows: 21
14-1-110. Coverage for eligible police officer and firefighter 22
retirees — Definitions. 23
(a) As used in this section: 24
(1) "County" means any county in this state; 25
(2) "Dependent" means a participant or an eligible police 26
officer retiree's eligible retiree's: 27
(A) Natural child, stepchild, or adopted child who is 28
eligible for coverage under a plan of an eligible police officer retiree; and 29
(B) Spouse who is eligible for coverage under a plan of an 30
eligible police officer retiree; 31
(3) "Eligible firefighter retiree" means a firefighter who is: 32
(A) Employed as a firefighter; 33
(B)(i) Eligible to retire with full retirement benefits 34
under: 35
(a) The Arkansas Local Police and Fire 36 HB1313
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Retirement System under § 24 -10-101 et seq.; 1
(b) A municipal or county retirement benefit 2
system or plan for employees; 3
(c) A local firemen's relief and pension fund 4
under § 24-11-801 et seq.; or 5
(d) The Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement 6
System under § 24-4-101 et seq. 7
(ii) As used in this subdivision (a)(3)(B), 8
“eligible to retire with full retirement benefits” means a firefighter who 9
is: 10
(a) Any age with twenty -eight (28) years of 11
credited service; 12
(b) At least fifty-five (55) years of age and 13
has at least twenty (20) years of credited service; 14
(c) At least sixty (60) years of age and has 15
at least five (5) years of credited service; or 16
(d) At least sixty (60) years of age and has 17
at least ten (10) years of actual Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement 18
System service credit; and 19
(C) Not eligible for Medicare enrollment; 20
(4) "Eligible retiree" means an eligible police officer retiree 21
or an eligible firefighter retiree; 22
(5) "Eligible police officer retiree" means a police officer who 23
is: 24
(A) Employed as a police officer; 25
(B)(i) Eligible to retire with full retirement benefits 26
under: 27
(a) The Arkansas Local Police and Fire 28
Retirement System under § 24 -10-101 et seq.; 29
(b) Any municipal or county retirement benefit 30
system or plan for employees; 31
(c) Any local policemen's pension and relief 32
fund under § 24-11-101 et seq.; or 33
(d) The Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement 34
System under § 24-4-101 et seq. 35
(ii) As used in this subdivision (a)(3)(B) 36 HB1313
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subdivision (a)(5)(B) , "eligible to retire with full retirement benefits" 1
means a police officer who is: 2
(a) Any age with twenty -eight (28) years of 3
credited service; 4
(b) At least fifty-five (55) years of age and 5
has at least twenty (20) years of credited service; 6
(c) At least sixty (60) years of age and has 7
at least five (5) years of credited service; or 8
(d) At least sixty (60) years of age and has 9
at least ten (10) years of actual Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement 10
System service credit; and 11
(C) Not eligible for Medicare enrollment; 12
(6) "Firefighter" means a full -time or part-time paid member of 13
a fire department or firefighting unit who: 14
(A) Actively engages in fire suppression, rescue, pump 15
operation, or other firefighting activity; and 16
(B) Receives more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) in 17
total compensation during the taxable year from the fire department or 18
firefighting unit that the firefighter serves; 19
(4)(7) "Health benefit plan" means a plan for health benefits 20
offered by a municipality or county; 21
(5)(8) "Municipality" means: 22
(A) A city of the first class; 23
(B) A city of the second class; or 24
(C) An incorporated town; and 25
(6)(9) "Police officer" means: 26
(A) Any law enforcement officer engaged in official duty 27
who is a member of any regular or auxiliary police force of a municipality or 28
county on a full-time or part-time basis; 29
(B) A sheriff or deputy sheriff of a county who is engaged 30
in official duty; or 31
(C) A constable or night marshal of a municipality engaged 32
in official duty. 33
(b)(1)(A) An eligible police officer retiree may elect to participate 34
in a health benefit plan after retirement. 35
(B) The eligible police officer retiree is eligible under 36 HB1313
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subdivision (b)(1)(A) of this section until the eligible police officer 1
retiree is a Medicare -eligible person. 2
(C)(i) An eligible police officer retiree shall have a 3
guaranteed issue period of sixty (60) calendar days from the date of 4
retirement to enroll in the health benefit plan. 5
(ii) If the eligible police officer retiree does not 6
elect to participate or declines to participate in the health benefit plan 7
upon the expiration of sixty (60) calendar days under subdivision 8
(b)(1)(C)(i) of this section, the eligible police officer retiree has no 9
further privileges under the health benefit plan. 10
(2) An eligible police officer retiree who elects to participate 11
in the health benefit plan shall pay a premium as determined by the 12
municipality or county or the cost of the policy issued to the eligible 13
police officer retiree. 14
(3) The eligible police officer retiree portion of the premium 15
shall be deducted from a bank account of the eligible police officer retiree 16
participant, to be paid by a monthly bank draft on the date designated by the 17
municipality or county. 18
(c) A dependent of an eligible police officer retiree is eligible to 19
participate in the health benefit plan. 20
(d) An eligible police officer retiree shall not be charged a 21
surcharge or assessment to enroll in the health benefit plan. 22
(e)(1) If an eligible police officer retiree dies and has covered 23
dependents at the time of death, the dependents have the right to continue to 24
participate in the health benefit plan through the municipality or county. 25
(2) Dependent children of a deceased eligible police officer 26
retiree may continue to participate in the health benefit plan until marriage 27
or until the maximum age limit for a dependent child has been reached. 28
(3) A surviving spouse of a deceased eligible police officer 29
retiree or eligible firefighter retiree may continue to participate in the 30
health benefit plan. 31
(4) If a surviving spouse or dependent of a deceased eligible 32
police officer retiree declines to participate in the health benefit plan or 33
cancels existing participation, then the surviving spouse or dependent has no 34
further privileges under the health benefit plan. APPROVED: 3/25/25 35
36