HB240 By Representative Treadaway RFD Ways and Means General Fund Rd 1 16-FEB-17

SYNOPSIS: Under existing law, an employee of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency who is certified by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission and performs law enforcement duties and is hired after January 1, 2015, is classified as a law enforcement officer and is ineligible to participate as a state policeman in the State Employees' Retirement System.

This bill would reclassify new employees hired by the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to allow them to participate as a state policeman in the State Employees' Retirement System as a Tier II state policeman member.

This bill would also provide that an employee classified as a law enforcement officer beginning January 1, 2015, would automatically become a participant as a Tier II state policeman and would allow the employee to elect to convert prior service credit earned as a law enforcement officer with the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to service as a state policeman for the time period from January 1, 2015, to the effective date of the act.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

To amend Section 41-27-7, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the State Employees' Retirement System; to provide for the reclassification of certain law enforcement employees of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to allow them to participate in the State Employees' Retirement System as a Tier II state policeman member; and to provide that certain employees hired by the agency beginning January 1, 2015, would become participants in the State Employees' Retirement System as state policeman members.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:Section 1. Section 41-27-7, Code of Alabama 1975, is amended to read as follows:

§41-27-7.

"(a) For the purposes of this chapter, the term "legacy agency" means an existing agency, department, or division that is being reorganized or abolished under this chapter.

"(b) Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, all positions created by this chapter shall be in the classified service of the state Merit System.

"(c) All persons employed on January 1, 2015, with a legacy agency and transferred to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, Department of Public Safety, or State Bureau of Investigations shall maintain his or her classification and benefits under the legacy agency. A person employed by a legacy agency on January 1, 2015, shall not receive a decrease in salary, benefits, or seniority or otherwise receive a decrease in classification as a result of the transfer to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, Department of Public Safety, or State Bureau of Investigations.

"(d) Any future change in classification shall not result in any change in benefits an employee previously had at a legacy agency.

"(e) An employee of a legacy agency transferred to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, Department of Public Safety, or State Bureau of Investigations under this chapter shall remain in his or her current classification unless appointed to the appropriate classification within the newly created department according to state Merit System procedures.

"(f)(1) Any employee hired in the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency after January 1, 2015, who is certified by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission and performs law enforcement duties shall be considered a law enforcement officer, as defined by Section 36-27-59(a)(3), but is not eligible for the benefits specified in Section 36-26-35(d).

"(2) Beginning on the effective date of the act adding this amendatory language, a new employee of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency who is certified by the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission and performs law enforcement duties shall be classified as a state policeman who shall enroll and participate in the State Employees' Retirement System as a Tier II state policeman member, as provided in Chapter 27 of Title 36.

"(3) An employee under subdivision (1) shall be classified as a state policeman on the effective date of the act adding this amendatory language. The employee may elect to convert prior service credit earned as a law enforcement officer with the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to service as a state policemen for the time period from January 1, 2015, to the effective date of the act adding this amendatory language by paying the difference in the employee contributions as a law enforcement officer and a state policeman during the applicable time period, plus interest as calculated by the State Employees' Retirement System."

Section 2. This act shall become effective immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Retirement

Employees' Retirement System

Law Enforcement Officers

Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency

Code Amended