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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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An act relating to the Firefighters' Relief and 2
Pension Fund of the City of Pensacola, Escambia 3
County; amending ch. 21483, Laws of Florida, 1941, as 4
amended; removing reductions to a retiree's spousal 5
benefits and the prohibition of remarriage for the 6
widow or widower; providing for pensionable overtime 7
hours and basic life support; providing an effective 8
date. 9
10
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11
12
Section 1. Subsection (n) of section 5, subsection (a) of 13
section 13, and subsection (d) of section 30 of chapter 21483, 14
Laws of Florida, 1941, as amended by chapters 2017 -205, 2015-15
206, and 2000-468, Laws of Florida, are amended to read: 16
Section 5. Basis for compensation. —The pension of all 17
persons entitled thereto, as hereinafter specified, shall be 18
computed upon the basis of their compensation and their years of 19
service in accordance with the following tables: 20
(n)(1) In lieu of the amount and form of retirement income 21
payable in the event of normal or early retirement as specified 22
above in this section, a firefighter, upon written request to 23
the board of trustees, before receiving any retirement income or 24
benefit from the Plan, and subject to the approval of the board 25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
of trustees, may elect to receive a retirement income or benefit 26
of equivalent actuarial value as calculated under s. 175.162, 27
Florida Statutes, payable in accordance with one of the 28
following options: 29
a. A retirement income of a larger monthly amount, payable 30
to the firefighter for his or her lifetime only. 31
b. A retirement income of a modified monthly amount, 32
payable to the firefighter during the joint lifetime of the 33
firefighter and a joint pensioner desi gnated by the firefighter, 34
and following the death of either of them, 100 percent, 75 35
percent, 66 2/3 percent, or 50 percent of such monthly amounts 36
payable to the survivor for the lifetime of the survivor. 37
c. Such other amount and form of retirement pay ment or 38
benefits as, in the opinion of the board of trustees, will best 39
meet the circumstances of the retired firefighter. 40
1. The firefighter, upon electing any option under this 41
section, will designate the joint pensioner or beneficiary (or 42
beneficiaries) to receive the benefit, if any, payable under the 43
Plan in the event of his or her death and will have the power to 44
change such designation from time to time, but any such change 45
shall be deemed a new election and will be subject to approval 46
by the board of trustees. Such designation will name a joint 47
pensioner or one or more primary beneficiaries where applicable. 48
If a firefighter has elected an option with a joint pensioner or 49
beneficiary and his or her retirement income benefits have 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
commenced, the firefighter may thereafter change the designated 51
joint pensioner or beneficiary, but only if the board of 52
trustees consents to such change and if the joint pensioner last 53
previously designated by the firefighter is alive when the 54
firefighter files with the bo ard of trustees a request for such 55
change. 56
2. The consent of a firefighter's joint pensioner or 57
beneficiary to any such change shall not be required. 58
3. The board of trustees may request such evidence of the 59
good health of the joint pensioner that is b eing removed as it 60
may require, and the amount of the retirement income payable to 61
the firefighter upon designation of a new joint pensioner shall 62
be actuarially redetermined, taking into account the age and sex 63
of the former joint pensioner, the new joint pensioner, and the 64
firefighter. Each such designation will be made in writing on a 65
form prepared by the board of trustees and upon completion will 66
be filed with the board of trustees. In the event that no 67
designated beneficiary survives the firefighter, s uch benefits 68
as are payable in the event of the death of the firefighter 69
subsequent to his or her retirement shall be paid as provided in 70
subsection (o). 71
(2) For firefighters hired on or after the effective date 72
of this act, the spousal benefits shall be equal to such benefit 73
payment options as provided by the Florida Retirement System for 74
the Special Risk Class, elected as follows: 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
a. A monthly benefit payment to the firefighter for the 76
firefighter's lifetime only. 77
b. A decreased monthly benefit to t he firefighter for the 78
firefighter's lifetime or 10 years certain. If the firefighter 79
dies before receiving the benefit for 10 years, the beneficiary 80
will receive the same monthly benefit for the remainder of the 81
10 years. 82
c. A decreased monthly benefit during the joint lifetime 83
of both the firefighter and his or her joint annuitant and 84
which, after the death of either, shall continue during the 85
lifetime of the survivor in the same amount. 86
d. A decreased monthly benefit p ayable during the joint 87
lifetime of the firefighter and his or her joint annuitant and 88
which, after the death of either, shall continue during the 89
lifetime of the survivor in an amount equal to 66 2/3 percent of 90
the amount that was payable during the joint lifetime of the 91
firefighter and his or her joint annuitant. 92
(2)(3) Retirement income payments made under the option 93
elected in accordance with this section shall be subject to the 94
following limitations: 95
a. If a firefighter dies before his or her norma l 96
retirement date or early retirement date, whichever first 97
occurs, no retirement benefit will be payable under the option 98
to any person, but the benefits, if any, will be determined 99
under section 13 or section 14 of the Plan or s. 175.201, 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Florida Statutes, as the case may be. 101
b. If the designated beneficiary (or beneficiaries) or 102
joint pensioner dies before the firefighter's retirement under 103
the Plan, the option elected will be canceled automatically, and 104
a retirement income of the normal form and amoun t will be 105
payable to the firefighter upon retirement as if the election 106
had not been made, unless a new election is made in accordance 107
with this section or a new beneficiary is designated by the 108
firefighter before retirement and within 90 days after the de ath 109
of the beneficiary. 110
c. If both the retired firefighter and the beneficiary (or 111
beneficiaries) designated by him or her die before the full 112
payment has been effected under any option providing for 113
payments for a period certain and life thereafter, mad e pursuant 114
to section (1)(c) above, the board of trustees may, in its 115
discretion, direct that the actuarial equivalent value of the 116
remaining payments be paid in a lump sum and in accordance with 117
subsection (o). 118
d. If a firefighter continues beyond his o r her normal 119
retirement date and dies before actual retirement and while an 120
option made pursuant to this section is in effect, monthly 121
retirement income payments will be made, or a retirement benefit 122
will be paid, under the option to a beneficiary (or 123
beneficiaries) designated by the firefighter in the amounts or 124
amounts computed as if the firefighter had retired under the 125
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option on the date on which the death occurred. 126
Section 13. Death benefits for survivors. — 127
(a) In the event of the death of a pens ioner while he or 128
she is actually drawing a pension under the provisions of this 129
act, or in the event of the death of any person entitled to the 130
benefits of this act, who shall have been employed as a 131
firefighter, the widow or widower of such person , so long as she 132
or he remains unmarried, shall be paid a monthly pension equal 133
to one-twelfth ( 1/12th) of seventy -five percent (75%) of the 134
annual pension which the deceased pensioner or person so 135
entitled was receiving or to which he or she would have been 136
entitled in the event of retirement as of the date of his or her 137
death, having regard to his or her period of service and rate of 138
compensation, irrespective of his or her age, which pension 139
shall be for the use of the said widow or widower. If the 140
widow's or widower's pension has been terminated due to 141
remarriage and such marriage ends in the spouses's death or 142
divorce, then the widow's or widower's pension may be restored 143
by the pension board in the same amount as previously provided 144
by provisions of this act , 145
Section 30. Definitions. —The following words and phrases 146
have the following meanings: 147
(d) "Compensation," "salary," and "earnings" mean the 148
wages paid to a firefighter as a maximum of 300 hours of annual 149
overtime pay, basic life support (bls), station or watch captain 150
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
pay, special duty pay, in -service sick leave redemption pay 151
(when paid), bonuses, lump -sum payments not paid at termination, 152
including employee-elective salary reductions to deferrals to 153
any salary reduction, deferred compensation, or tax-sheltered 154
annuity programs authorized under the Internal Revenue Code if 155
the firefighter would receive those reductions or deferrals if 156
he or she were not participating in such programs, and any other 157
payments required by law to be included in pension calculations. 158
However: 159
(1) For those firefighters with 10 or more years of 160
service as of June 10, 2015, a maximum of 300 hours per plan 161
year of annual overtime pay shall be included in compensation. 162
(2) For those firefighters with fewer than 10 years o f 163
service as of June 10, 2015, a maximum of 200 hours per plan 164
year of annual overtime pay shall be included in compensation. 165
(3) For those firefighters hired on or after June 10, 166
2015, no overtime pay shall be included in compensation. 167
Compensation for any plan year shall not exceed the annual 168
compensation limit under section 401(a)(17) of the Code, as in 169
effect on the first day of the plan year. This limit shall be 170
adjusted by the Secretary of the Treasury to reflect increases 171
in the cost of living, as provided in section 401(a)(17)(B) of 172
the Code; however, the dollar increase in effect on January 1 of 173
any calendar year is effective for the plan year beginning in 174
such calendar year. If a Plan determines compensation over a 175
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
plan year that contains less th an 12 calendar months (a "short 176
plan year"), then the compensation limit for such short plan 177
year is equal to the compensation limit for the calendar year in 178
which the short plan year begins multiplied by the ratio 179
obtained by dividing the number of full m onths in the short plan 180
year. 181
Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. 182