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SENATE BILL 292
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Linda M. López
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; AMENDING THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
RETIREMENT ACT TO ALLOW PROTECTIVE SERVICE WORKERS TO RETURN TO
WORK UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 10-11-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987,
Chapter 253, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:
"10-11-8. NORMAL RETIREMENT--RETURN TO EMPLOYMENT--
BENEFITS CONTINUED--CONTRIBUTIONS.--
A. A member may retire upon fulfilling the
following requirements prior to the selected date of
retirement:
(1) a written application for normal
retirement, in the form prescribed by the association, is filed
with the association;
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(2) employment is terminated with all
employers covered by any state system or the educational
retirement system;
(3) the member selects an effective date of
retirement that is the first day of a calendar month; and
(4) the member meets the age and service
credit requirement for normal retirement specified in the
coverage plan applicable to the member.
B. The amount of normal retirement pension is
determined in accordance with the coverage plan applicable to
the member.
C. Except as provided in Subsections D, J and K of
this section, on or after July 1, 2010, a retired member may be
subsequently employed by an affiliated public employer only
pursuant to the following provisions:
(1) the retired member has not been employed
as an employee of an affiliated public employer or retained as
an independent contractor by the affiliated public employer
from which the retired member retired for at least twelve
consecutive months from the date of retirement to the
commencement of subsequent employment or reemployment with an
affiliated public employer;
(2) the retired member's pension shall be
suspended upon commencement of the subsequent employment;
(3) except as provided in Subsection F of this
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section, the retired member shall not become a member and shall
not accrue service credit, and the retired member and that
person's subsequent affiliated public employer shall not make
contributions under any coverage plan pursuant to the Public
Employees Retirement Act; and
(4) upon termination of the subsequent
employment, the retired member's pension shall resume in
accordance with the provisions of Subsection A of this section.
D. The provisions of Subsections C, G, H, J and K
of this section do not apply to:
(1) a retired member employed by the
legislature for legislative session work;
(2) a retired member employed temporarily as a
precinct board member for a municipal election or an election
covered by the Election Code; or
(3) a retired member who is elected to serve a
term as an elected official in an office covered pursuant to
the Public Employees Retirement Act; provided that:
(a) the retired member files an
irrevocable exemption from membership with the association
within thirty days of taking office; and
(b) the irrevocable exemption shall be
for the elected official's term of office.
E. A retired member who returns to employment
during retirement pursuant to Subsection D of this section is
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entitled to receive retirement benefits but is not entitled to
accrue service credit or to acquire or purchase service credit
in the future for the period of the retired member's subsequent
employment with an affiliated public employer.
F. At any time during a retired member's subsequent
employment pursuant to Subsection C of this section, the
retired member may elect to become a member and the following
conditions shall apply:
(1) the previously retired member and the
subsequent affiliated public employer shall make the required
employee and employer contributions, and the previously retired
member shall accrue service credit for the period of subsequent
employment; and
(2) when the previously retired member
terminates the subsequent employment with an affiliated public
employer, the previously retired member shall retire according
to the provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act,
subject to the following conditions:
(a) payment of the pension shall resume
in accordance with the provisions of Subsection A of this
section;
(b) unless the previously retired member
accrued at least three years of service credit on account of
the subsequent employment, the recalculation of pension shall:
1) employ the form of payment selected by the previously
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retired member at the time of the first retirement; and 2) use
the provisions of the coverage plan applicable to the member on
the date of the first retirement; and
(c) the recalculated pension shall not
be less than the amount of the suspended pension.
G. A retired member who returned to work with an
affiliated public employer prior to July 1, 2010 shall be
subject to the provisions of this section in effect on the date
the retired member returned to work; provided that on and after
July 1, 2010, the retired member shall pay the employee
contribution in an amount specified in the Public Employees
Retirement Act for the position in which the retired member is
subsequently employed.
H. Effective July 1, 2014, if a retired member who,
subsequent to retirement, is employed and covered pursuant to
the provisions of the Magistrate Retirement Act or Judicial
Retirement Act, during the period of subsequent employment:
(1) the member shall be entitled to receive
retirement benefits;
(2) the retired member's cost-of-living
pension adjustment shall be suspended upon commencement of the
employment; and
(3) upon termination of the employment, the
retired member's suspended cost-of-living pension adjustment
shall be reinstated as provided under Section 10-11-118 NMSA
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1978.
I. The pension of a member who has earned service
credit under more than one coverage plan shall be determined as
follows:
(1) the pension of a member who has three or
more years of service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013
under each of two or more coverage plans shall be determined in
accordance with the coverage plan that produces the highest
pension;
(2) the pension of a member who has service
credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 under two or more
coverage plans but who has three or more years of service
credit under only one of those coverage plans shall be
determined in accordance with the coverage plan in which the
member has three or more years of service credit. If the
service credit is acquired under two different coverage plans
applied to the same affiliated public employer as a consequence
of an election by the members, adoption by the affiliated
public employer or a change in the law that results in the
application of a coverage plan with a greater pension, the
greater pension shall be paid a member retiring from the
affiliated public employer under which the change in coverage
plan took place regardless of the amount of service credit
under the coverage plan producing the greater pension; provided
that the member has three or more years of continuous
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employment with that affiliated public employer immediately
preceding or immediately preceding and immediately following
the date the coverage plan changed;
(3) the pension of a member who has service
credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 under each of two or
more coverage plans and who has service credit earned under any
coverage plan on or after July 1, 2013 shall be equal to the
sum of:
(a) the pension attributable to the
service credit earned on or before June 30, 2013 determined
pursuant to Paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection; and
(b) the pension attributable to the
service credit earned under each coverage plan on or after July
1, 2013;
(4) the pension of a member who has service
credit earned only on and after July 1, 2013 shall be equal to
the sum of the pension attributable to the service credit the
member has accrued under each coverage plan; and
(5) the provisions of each coverage plan for
the purpose of this subsection shall be those in effect at the
time the member ceased to be covered by the coverage plan.
"Service credit", for the purposes of this subsection, shall be
only personal service rendered an affiliated public employer
and credited to the member under the provisions of Subsection A
of Section 10-11-4 NMSA 1978. Service credited under any other
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provision of the Public Employees Retirement Act shall not be
used to satisfy the three-year service credit requirement of
this subsection.
J. A retired member may be subsequently employed by
an affiliated public employer; provided that the retired member
has not been employed as an employee of an affiliated public
employer or retained as an independent contractor by the
affiliated public employer from which the retired member
retired for at least ninety consecutive days from the date of
retirement to the commencement of subsequent employment or
reemployment with an affiliated public employer; and further
provided that the:
(1) retired member shall only be employed in
one of the following positions:
(a) adult correctional officer;
(b) adult detention officer;
(c) courthouse security officer;
(d) emergency medical dispatcher;
(e) emergency medical technician or
paramedic;
(f) firefighter;
(g) juvenile correctional officer;
(h) juvenile detention officer;
(i) municipal police officer;
(j) peace officer;
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(k) protective service worker;
[(k)] (l) protective services
investigator;
[(l)] (m) public safety
telecommunicator;
[(m)] (n) sheriff's deputy; or
[(n)] (o) state police officer;
(2) retired member shall have retired prior to
December 31, 2023;
(3) retired member's pension, including any
cost-of-living adjustment, shall continue to be paid during the
period of subsequent employment;
(4) retired member shall not become a member
during the period of subsequent employment;
(5) retired member shall not accrue service
credit for any portion of the period of subsequent employment;
(6) retired member and the retired member's
subsequent affiliated public employer shall make the
contributions that would be required for members and employers
under the applicable coverage plan during the entire period of
subsequent employment;
(7) contributions paid by or on behalf of the
retired member during the term of subsequent employment shall
not be refundable at the termination of the subsequent
employment;
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(8) retired member shall have no seniority
based on pre-retirement employment for purposes of selecting
shifts;
(9) retired member shall have no limitation on
the length of time that the retired member can be subsequently
employed or reemployed by an affiliated public employer;
provided that the retired member shall only receive up to
thirty-six consecutive months of pension payments while
reemployed;
(10) retired member shall not be hired for
reemployment into an employment position with a vacancy rate
that is lower than ten percent at the time of the retired
member's hiring; and
(11) subsequent employment begins prior to
July 1, 2027.
K. An affiliated public employer that employs a
retired member provided in Subsection J of this section shall:
(1) track and document:
(a) the date of hire and date of
separation for each reemployed retired member;
(b) the retired member's employment
position prior to retirement;
(c) the salary of each reemployed
retired member; and
(d) the monthly vacancy rate for each
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employment position at the affiliated public employer; and
(2) if the affiliated public employer has to
lay off employees due to budgetary restrictions, lay off
reemployed retired members before laying off any members.
L. For the purposes of this section:
(1) "adult correctional officer" means a
person who is employed as an adult correctional officer or an
adult correctional officer specialist by a state correctional
facility of the corrections department or its successor agency;
(2) "adult detention officer" means a person
who is employed by an affiliated public employer other than the
state and who has inmate custodial responsibilities at a
facility used for the confinement of adults charged with or
convicted of a violation of a law or ordinance;
(3) "courthouse security officer" means a
person who is employed by the administrative office of the
courts who provides security or protective services for a
courthouse;
(4) "emergency medical dispatcher" means a
person who is trained and licensed pursuant to the Emergency
Medical Services Act and who receives calls for emergency
medical assistance, provides pre-arrival medical instructions,
dispatches emergency medical assistance and coordinates its
response;
(5) "emergency medical technician" means a
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person who is licensed as an emergency medical technician or
paramedic and who provides patient care pursuant to the
Emergency Medical Services Act;
(6) "firefighter" means a person who is
employed as a full-time non-volunteer firefighter by an
affiliated public employer who has taken the oath for
firefighters and who serves in a non-management position
serving or supporting the delivery of emergency services in a
front line capacity;
(7) "juvenile correctional officer" means a
person who is employed as a juvenile correctional officer by
the children, youth and families department or its successor
agency;
(8) "juvenile detention officer" means a
person who is employed as a juvenile detention officer or youth
program officer by an affiliated public employer other than the
state;
(9) "municipal police officer" means a person
who is employed by an affiliated public employer other than the
state or a county and who is a law enforcement officer who
serves in a uniformed patrol capacity responding to dispatched
calls for service;
(10) "peace officer" means a person who is
appointed by the attorney general or district attorney and who
is a certified law enforcement officer who investigates and
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enforces state laws, rules and regulations, including the
execution of warrants;
(11) "protective service worker" means a
person who is an employee of the protective services division
of the children, youth and families department;
[(11)] (12) "protective services investigator"
means a person who is an employee of the protective services
division of the children, youth and families department who
investigates child abuse referrals, assesses the risk and
safety of the child and takes appropriate action or prepares
cases for transfer to child protective services permanency
planning;
[(12)] (13) "public safety telecommunicator"
means a person who is an employee of a safety agency who
receives calls or dispatches the appropriate personnel or
equipment in response to calls for police, fire or medical
services and makes decisions affecting the life, health or
welfare of the public or safety employees and who has qualified
for the certification set forth in the Public Safety
Telecommunicator Training Act;
[(13)] (14) "sheriff's deputy" means a person
who is employed by a county and who is a law enforcement
officer who serves in a uniformed patrol capacity responding to
dispatched calls for service or serves as a courthouse security
officer employed by a county; and
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[(14)] (15) "state police officer" means a
person who is an officer of the New Mexico state police
division of the department of public safety, who has taken the
oath prescribed for such officers and who serves in a uniformed
patrol capacity responding to dispatched calls for service."
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