71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 4045
A-Engrossed
House Bill 3406
Ordered by the House June 11
Including House Amendments dated June 11
Sponsored by Representative DEVLIN; Representatives GARDNER,
HILL, STARR
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
{ - Allows certain members of Public Employees Retirement
System to withdraw member's employee account in system and
matching amount contributed by employer. Terminates all rights of
member upon payment of withdrawn amounts except as specified. - }
{ - Allows Public Employees Retirement Board by rule to treat
two or more local government public employers as single employer
for purposes of determining employer contributions to Public
Employees Retirement System. Requires election by public
employers. - }
{ - Directs Oregon Investment Council to invest certain
assets of Public Employees Retirement Fund that are attributable
to employer contributions in same investments used for Variable
Annuity Account. - }
{ - Requires crediting of earnings on Public Employees
Retirement Fund to public employer at same time that earnings are
credited to employee's account. - }
{ - Allows local governments to issue bonds for purpose of
paying public employer's pension liability. - }
{ + Provides that adult parole and probation officers that
are classified as police officers by county governing body are
police officers for purposes of Public Employees Retirement
System. + }
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to public employee retirement; creating new provisions;
and amending ORS 238.005.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 238.005 is amended to read:
238.005. For purposes of this chapter:
(1) The term 'annuity' means payments for life derived from
contributions made by a member as provided in this chapter.
(2) The term 'calendar year' means 12 calendar months
commencing on January 1 and ending on December 31 following.
(3) The term 'continuous service' means service not interrupted
for more than five years, except that such continuous service
shall be computed without regard to interruptions in the case of:
(a) An employee who had returned to the service of the employer
as of January 1, 1945, and who remained in that employment until
having established membership in the Public Employees Retirement
System.
(b) An employee who was in the armed services on January 1,
1945, and returned to the service of the employer within one year
of the date of being otherwise than dishonorably discharged and
remained in that employment until having established membership
in the Public Employees Retirement System.
(4) The term 'creditable service' means any period of time
during which an active member is being paid a salary by a
participating public employer and contributions are being made to
the system either by or on behalf of the member. For purposes of
computing years of 'creditable service,' full months and major
fractions of a month shall be considered to be one-twelfth of a
year and shall be added to all full years. 'Creditable service '
includes all retirement credit received by a member.
(5) The term 'employee' includes, in addition to employees,
public officers, but does not include:
(a) Persons engaged as independent contractors.
(b) Seasonal, emergency or casual workers whose periods of
employment with any public employer or public employers do not
total 600 hours in any calendar year.
(c) Persons, other than workers in the Oregon Industries for
the Blind under ORS 346.190, provided sheltered employment or
made-work by a public employer in an employment or industries
program maintained for the benefit of such persons.
(d) Persons employed and paid from federal funds received under
the Emergency Job and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93-567) or any other federal program intended primarily to
alleviate unemployment. However, any such person shall be
considered an 'employee' if not otherwise excluded by paragraphs
(a) to (c) of this subsection and the public employer elects to
have the person so considered by an irrevocable written notice to
the board.
(e) Persons who are employees of a railroad, as defined in ORS
824.020, and who, as such employees, are included in a retirement
plan under federal railroad retirement statutes. This paragraph
shall be deemed to have been in effect since the inception of the
system.
(6) The term 'fiscal year' means 12 calendar months commencing
on July 1 and ending on June 30 following.
(7)(a) The term 'member' means a person who has established
membership in the system and whose membership has not been
terminated as described in ORS 238.095. 'Member' includes active,
inactive and retired members.
(b) 'Active member' means a member who is presently employed by
a participating public employer in a position that meets the
requirements of ORS 238.015 (4), and who has completed the
six-month period of service required by ORS 238.015.
(c) 'Inactive member' means a member who is absent from the
service of all employers participating in the system, whose
membership has not been terminated in the manner described by ORS
238.095, and who is not retired for service or disability. '
Inactive member' includes a member who would be an active member
except that the person's only employment with a participating
public employer is in a position that does not meet the
requirements of ORS 238.015 (4).
(d) 'Retired member' means a member who is retired for service
or disability.
(8) The term 'pension' means annual payments for life derived
from contributions by one or more public employers.
(9) The term 'public employer' means the state, one of its
agencies, any city, county, municipal or public corporation, any
political subdivision of the state or any instrumentality
thereof, or an agency created by two or more such political
subdivisions to provide themselves governmental services. For
purposes of this chapter, such agency created by two or more
political subdivisions is a governmental instrumentality and a
legal entity with power to enter into contracts, hold property
and sue and be sued.
(10) The term 'retirement credit' means a period of time that
is treated as creditable service for the purposes of this
chapter.
(11)(a) The term 'salary' means the remuneration paid an
employee in cash out of the funds of a public employer in return
for services to the employer, plus the monetary value, as
determined by the Public Employees Retirement Board, of whatever
living quarters, board, lodging, fuel, laundry and other
advantages the employer furnishes the employee in return for
services.
(b) 'Salary' includes but is not limited to:
(A) Payments of employee and employer money into a deferred
compensation plan, which are deemed salary paid in each month of
deferral;
(B) The amount of participation in a tax-sheltered or deferred
annuity, which is deemed salary paid in each month of
participation; and
(C) Retroactive payments made to an employee to correct a
clerical error or pursuant to an award by a court or by order of
or a conciliation agreement with an administration agency charged
with enforcing federal or state law protecting the employee's
rights to employment or wages, which shall be allocated to and
deemed paid in the periods in which the work was done or in which
it would have been done.
(c) 'Salary' or 'other advantages' does not include:
(A) Travel or any other expenses incidental to employer's
business which is reimbursed by the employer;
(B) Payments for insurance coverage by an employer on behalf of
employee or employee and dependents, for which the employee has
no cash option;
(C) Payments made on account of an employee's death;
(D) Any lump sum payment for accumulated unused sick leave;
(E) Any accelerated payment of an employment contract for a
future period or an advance against future wages;
(F) Any retirement incentive, retirement severance pay,
retirement bonus or retirement gratuitous payment;
(G) Payments for periods of leave of absence after the date the
employer and employee have agreed that no future services
qualifying pursuant to ORS 238.015 (3) will be performed, except
for sick leave and vacation;
(H) Payments for instructional services rendered to
institutions of the Department of Higher Education or the Oregon
Health Sciences University when such services are in excess of
full-time employment subject to this chapter. A person employed
under a contract for less than 12 months is subject to this
subparagraph only for the months to which the contract pertains;
or
(I) Payments made by an employer for insurance coverage
provided to a domestic partner of an employee.
(12) The term 'volunteer firefighter' means a firefighter whose
position normally requires less than 600 hours of service per
year.
(13) The term 'school year' means the period beginning July 1
and ending June 30 next following.
(14) The term 'police officer' includes:
(a) Employees of institutions defined in ORS 421.005 as
Department of Corrections institutions, whose duties, as assigned
by the director, include the custody of persons committed to the
custody of or transferred to the Department of Corrections and
any other employee of the Department of Corrections who was
classified as a police officer on or before July 27, 1989,
whether or not such classification was authorized by law.
(b) Employees of the Department of State Police who are
classified as police officers by the Superintendent of State
Police.
(c) Employees of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission who are
classified as enforcement officers by the administrator of the
commission.
(d) Sheriffs and those deputy sheriffs or other employees of a
sheriff whose duties, as classified by the sheriff, are the
regular duties of police officers or corrections officers.
(e) Police chiefs and police personnel of a city who are
classified as police officers by the council or other governing
body of the city.
(f) Parole and probation officers employed by the Department of
Corrections { + , + } { - and - } parole and probation
officers who are transferred to county employment under ORS
423.549 { + and adult parole and probation officers, as defined
in ORS 181.610, who are classified as police officers for the
purposes of this chapter by the county governing body. If a
county classifies adult parole and probation officers as police
officers for the purposes of this chapter, and the employees so
classified are represented by a labor organization, any proposal
by the county to change that classification or to cease to
classify adult parole and probation officers as police officers
for the purposes of this chapter is a mandatory subject of
bargaining + }.
(g) Police officers appointed under ORS 276.021 or 276.023.
(h) Employees of the Port of Portland who are classified as
airport police by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of
Portland.
(i) Employees of the State Department of Agriculture who are
classified as livestock police officers by the Director of
Agriculture.
(j) Employees of the Department of Public Safety Standards and
Training who are classified by the department as other than
secretarial or clerical personnel.
(k) Investigators of the Criminal Justice Division of the
Department of Justice.
(L) Corrections officers as defined in ORS 181.610.
(m) Employees of the Oregon State Lottery Commission who are
classified by the Director of the Oregon State Lottery as
enforcement agents pursuant to ORS 461.110.
(n) The Director of the Department of Corrections.
(o) An employee who for seven consecutive years has been
classified as a police officer as defined by this section, and
who is employed or transferred by the Department of Corrections
to fill a position designated by the director as being eligible
for police officer status.
(p) An employee of the Department of Corrections classified as
a police officer on or prior to July 27, 1989, whether or not
that classification was authorized by law, so long as the
employee remains in the position held on July 27, 1989. The
initial classification of an employee under a system implemented
pursuant to ORS 240.190 will not affect police officer status.
(q) Employees of a school district who are appointed and duly
sworn members of a law enforcement agency of the district as
provided in ORS 332.531 or otherwise employed full-time as police
officers commissioned by the district.
(r) Employees at the MacLaren School, Hillcrest School of
Oregon and other youth correction facilities and juvenile
detention facilities under ORS 419A.050, 419A.052 and 420.005 to
420.915, who are required to hold valid Oregon teaching licenses
and who have supervisory, control or teaching responsibilities
over juveniles committed to the custody of the Department of
Corrections or the Oregon Youth Authority.
(s) Employees at youth correction facilities as defined in ORS
420.005 whose primary job description involves the custody,
control, treatment, investigation or supervision of juveniles
placed in such facilities.
(t) Employees of the Oregon Youth Authority who are classified
as juvenile parole and probation officers.
(15) The term 'final average salary' means whichever of the
following is greater:
(a) The average salary per calendar year paid by one or more
participating public employers to an employee who is an active
member of the system in three of the calendar years of membership
before the effective date of retirement of the employee, in which
three years the employee was paid the highest salary. The three
calendar years in which the employee was paid the largest total
salary may include calendar years in which the employee was
employed for less than a full calendar year. If the number of
calendar years of active membership before the effective date of
retirement of the employee is three or less, the final average
salary for the employee is the average salary per calendar year
paid by one or more participating public employers to the
employee in all of those years, without regard to whether the
employee was employed for the full calendar year.
(b) One-third of the total salary paid by a participating
public employer to an employee who is an active member of the
system in the last 36 calendar months of active membership before
the effective date of retirement of the employee.
(16) The term 'firefighter' does not include a volunteer
firefighter as defined in subsection (12) of this section, but
does include:
(a) The State Fire Marshal, the chief deputy fire marshal and
deputy state fire marshals; and
(b) An employee of the State Forestry Department who is
certified by the State Forester as a professional wildland
firefighter and whose primary duties include the abatement of
uncontrolled fires as described in ORS 477.064.
(17) 'Earliest service retirement age' means the age attained
by a member when the member could first make application for
retirement under the provisions of ORS 238.280.
(18) The term 'normal retirement age' means:
(a) For a person who establishes membership in the system
before January 1, 1996, as described in ORS 238.430, 55 years of
age if the employee retires at that age as a police officer or
firefighter or 58 years of age if the employee retires at that
age as other than a police officer or firefighter.
(b) For a person who establishes membership in the system on or
after January 1, 1996, as described in ORS 238.430, 55 years of
age if the employee retires at that age as a police officer or
firefighter or 60 years of age if the employee retires at that
age as other than a police officer or firefighter.
SECTION 2. { + The amendments to ORS 238.005 by section 1 of
this 2001 Act apply to all service by an adult parole and
probation officer that is performed on and after the date that
the adult parole and probation officer is classified as a police
officer for the purposes of ORS chapter 238 by the county
governing body, whether that classification occurs before, on or
after the effective date of this 2001 Act. + }
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