Maryland 2022 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB1236 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	hb1236
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 1236
8	8	P6 2lr2740
9	9	CF SB 822
10	10	By: Delegates Anderton and Buckel
11	11	Introduced and read first time: February 11, 2022
12	12	Assigned to: Appropriations
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System – Membership – 9–1–1 Specialists 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of authorizing certain 9–1–1 specialists to become members of the Law 3
21	21	Enforcement Officers’ Pension System as employees of a participating governmental 4
22	22	unit; and generally relating to membership in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension 5
23	23	System. 6
24	24
25	25	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 7
26	26	Article – State Personnel and Pensions 8
27	27	Section 31–2A–01, 31–2A–03, 31–2A–04, and 31–2A–05 9
28	28	Annotated Code of Maryland 10
29	29	(2015 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 11
30	30
31	31	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 12
32	32	Article – State Personnel and Pensions 13
33	33	Section 31–2A–02 and 31–2A–03.1 14
34	34	Annotated Code of Maryland 15
35	35	(2015 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 16
36	36
37	37	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 17
38	38	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 18
39	39
40	40	Article – State Personnel and Pensions 19
41	41
42	42	31–2A–01. 20
43	43
44	44	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 21
45	45
46	46	(b) “Effective date” means the date that an eligible governmental unit commenced 22
47	47	or commences participation in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System. 23
48	48	2 HOUSE BILL 1236
49	49
50	50
51	51	(c) “Eligible governmental unit” means a governmental unit that is eligible to 1
52	52	participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System under § 31–2A–02 of this 2
53	53	subtitle. 3
54	54
55	55	(d) (1) “Firefighter” means: 4
56	56
57	57	(i) a paid firefighter, as determined by the eligible governmental 5
58	58	unit; or 6
59	59
60	60	(ii) a paid paramedic, as determined by the eligible governmental 7
61	61	unit. 8
62	62
63	63	(2) “Firefighter” does not include: 9
64	64
65	65	(i) a volunteer firefighter; or 10
66	66
67	67	(ii) a volunteer paramedic. 11
68	68
69	69	(e) “Law enforcement officer” means an individual certified by the Maryland 12
70	70	Police Training and Standards Commission as a law enforcement officer. 13
71	71
72	72	(f) (1) “Local plan” means a plan or any other arrangement of an eligible 14
73	73	governmental unit that is described in § 219(g)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code. 15
74	74
75	75	(2) “Local plan” does not include a plan established under § 457 of the 16
76	76	Internal Revenue Code. 17
77	77
78	78	(g) “9–1–1 SPECIALIST” MEANS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS: 18
79	79
80	80	(1) EMPLOYED AS A 9–1–1 SPECIALIST; AND 19
81	81
82	82	(2) CERTIFIED BY THE MARYLAND POLICE TRAINING AND 20
83	83	STANDARDS COMMISSION AS A LAW E NFORCEMENT OFFICER . 21
84	84
85	85	(H) “State system” has the meaning stated in § 20–101(pp) of this article. 22
86	86
87	87	31–2A–02. 23
88	88
89	89	Subject to § 31–2A–03 of this subtitle, the governmental units that are eligible to 24
90	90	participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System are: 25
91	91
92	92	(1) counties; and 26
93	93
94	94	(2) municipal corporations. 27
95	95
96	96	31–2A–03. 28 HOUSE BILL 1236 3
97	97
98	98
99	99
100	100	(a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, the legislative body of an eligible 1
101	101	governmental unit may approve participation by its law enforcement officers, 9–1–1 2
102	102	SPECIALISTS, or firefighters in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System if: 3
103	103
104	104	(1) the legislative body adopts a resolution in the form prescribed by the 4
105	105	Board of Trustees; and 5
106	106
107	107	(2) the eligible governmental unit participates in a State system or 6
108	108	operates a local plan, only if: 7
109	109
110	110	(i) at least 60% of the law enforcement officers , 9–1–1 8
111	111	SPECIALISTS, or firefighters of the eligible governmental unit petition to become members 9
112	112	of the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System; 10
113	113
114	114	(ii) the eligible governmental unit satisfies the requirements in 11
115	115	subsection (b) of this section; and 12
116	116
117	117	(iii) the legislative body approves participation of its law enforcement 13
118	118	officers, 9–1–1 SPECIALISTS, or firefighters in lieu of participation in the State system or 14
119	119	local plan. 15
120	120
121	121	(b) An eligible governmental unit that operates a local plan or participates in a 16
122	122	State system may approve participation of its law enforcement officers , 9–1–1 17
123	123	SPECIALISTS, or firefighters in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System only if: 18
124	124
125	125	(1) the State system or local plan of the eligible governmental unit requires 19
126	126	member contributions at the same rate as the member contribution rate that would be 20
127	127	applicable to the law enforcement officers, 9–1–1 SPECIALISTS, or firefighters of the 21
128	128	eligible governmental unit in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System; or 22
129	129
130	130	(2) the eligible governmental unit: 23
131	131
132	132	(i) does not provide for the employer pickup of member 24
133	133	contributions to the State system or local plan within the meaning of § 414(h)(2) of the 25
134	134	Internal Revenue Code; and 26
135	135
136	136	(ii) certifies that it will not become an approved employer under § 27
137	137	21–313 of this article on or after the effective date of participation. 28
138	138
139	139	(c) (1) If an eligible governmental unit does not satisfy the requirements 29
140	140	under subsection (b) of this section, the eligible governmental unit may submit a request to 30
141	141	the Board of Trustees to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System. 31
142	142	4 HOUSE BILL 1236
143	143
144	144
145	145	(2) The Board of Trustees shall consider a request made under paragraph 1
146	146	(1) of this subsection and determine whether any legislation is necessary to allow the 2
147	147	eligible governmental unit to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System. 3
148	148
149	149	(3) The Board of Trustees shall make recommendations to the Joint 4
150	150	Committee on Pensions regarding any legislation that it determines is necessary to allow 5
151	151	the eligible governmental unit to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension 6
152	152	System. 7
153	153
154	154	31–2A–03.1. 8
155	155
156	156	(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the effective date of 9
157	157	participation for an eligible governmental unit is July 1 of the year following the fiscal year 10
158	158	in which the eligible governmental unit elects to participate in the Law Enforcement 11
159	159	Officers’ Pension System. 12
160	160
161	161	(b) If an eligible governmental unit does not provide the Board of Trustees with 13
162	162	the necessary documentation to join the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System on or 14
163	163	before the effective date for the eligible governmental unit, the effective date shall be 15
164	164	postponed until July 1 of the second year following the fiscal year in which the eligible 16
165	165	governmental unit elects to participate in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System. 17
166	166
167	167	31–2A–04. 18
168	168
169	169	If a law enforcement officer, firefighter, 9–1–1 SPECIALIST, or paramedic joins the 19
170	170	Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension System on the effective date, the member is entitled to 20
171	171	credit for employment with the participating governmental unit before the effective date. 21
172	172
173	173	31–2A–05. 22
174	174
175	175	(a) This section applies only to a local plan that is a qualified plan under § 401(a) 23
176	176	of the Internal Revenue Code and provides a defined benefit to its participants. 24
177	177
178	178	(b) If an eligible governmental unit approves participation in the Law 25
179	179	Enforcement Officers’ Pension System, the operation of the local plan or State system with 26
180	180	respect to the law enforcement officers, firefighters, 9–1–1 SPECIALISTS, or paramedics 27
181	181	terminates on the effective date. 28
182	182
183	183	(c) (1) On the effective date: 29
184	184
185	185	(i) the assets to the credit of the local plan or State system that 30
186	186	relate to the law enforcement officers, firefighters, 9–1–1 SPECIALISTS, or paramedics who 31
187	187	elect to become members shall be transferred to the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension 32
188	188	System; and 33
189	189	HOUSE BILL 1236 5
190	190
191	191
192	192	(ii) the trustee or other administrative head of the local plan or State 1
193	193	system shall certify the proportion of the funds of the local plan or State system that 2
194	194	represents the accumulated contributions of the members as of that date. 3
195	195
196	196	(2) The accumulated contributions shall be credited to the respective 4
197	197	annuity savings accounts of the members in the Law Enforcement Officers’ Pension 5
198	198	System. 6
199	199
200	200	(3) The balance of the funds transferred to the Law Enforcement Officers’ 7
201	201	Pension System shall be offset against the special accrued liability to be funded by the 8
202	202	participating governmental unit as provided by § 21–306.1(d) of this article. 9
203	203
204	204	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That thi s Act shall take effect July 10
205	205	1, 2022. 11
206	206