GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 591

Short Title:  Retirement System Transfer.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Cooper, Perdue; Albertson, Carter, Dalton, Hoyle, Kinnaird, Lucas, Martin of Guilford, Odom, Rand, Shaw of Cumberland, and Soles.

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Referred to:  Pensions & Retirement and Aging.

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March 29, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR MEMBERS OF THE CONSOLIDATED JUDICIAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM TO TRANSFER CREDITABLE SERVICE FROM THE TEACHERS' AND STATE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM TO THE CONSOLIDATED JUDICIAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 128-34 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( d)	The accumulated contributions and creditable service of any member whose service as an employee has been or is terminated other than by retirement or death and who, while still a member of this Retirement System, became or becomes a member, as defined in G.S. 135-53(11), of the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System for a period of five or more years shall be transferred from this Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System.  In order to effect the transfer of a member's creditable service from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System, there shall be transferred from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System the sum of (i) the accumulated contributions of the member credited in the annuity savings fund and (ii) the amount of reserve held in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System as a result of previous contributions by the employer on behalf of the transferring member."
Section 2.  G.S. 135-28.1 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( f)	Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of this section, the accumulated contributions and creditable service of any member whose service as a teacher or employee has been or is terminated other than by retirement or death and who, while still a member of this Retirement System, became or becomes a member, as defined in G.S. 135-53(11), of the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System for a period of five or more years shall be transferred from this Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System.  In order to effect the transfer of a member's creditable service from the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System, there shall be transferred from the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System the sum of (i) the accumulated contributions of the member credited in the annuity savings fund and (ii) the amount of reserve held in the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System as a result of previous contributions by the employer on behalf of the transferring member."
Section 3.  G.S. 135-56 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( f)	The creditable service of a member who was a member of the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System and whose accumulated contributions and reserves are transferred from that System to this System, includes service that was creditable in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, and membership service with those Retirement Systems is membership service with this Retirement System."
Section 4.  G.S. 135-58(a1) reads as rewritten:
"(a1)	Any member who retires under the provisions of subsection (a) or subsection (c) of G.S. 135-57 on or after July 1, 1990, but before July 1, 1999, after he either has attained his 65th birthday or has completed 24 years or more of creditable service shall receive an annual retirement allowance, payable monthly, which shall commence on the effective date of his retirement and shall be continued on the first day of each month thereafter during his lifetime, the amount of which shall be computed as the sum of (1), (2), and (3) following, provided that in no event shall the annual allowance payable to any member be greater than an amount which, when added to the allowance, if any, to which he is entitled under the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, the Legislative Retirement System or the North Carolina Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System (prior in any case to any reduction for early retirement or for an optional mode of payment) would total three-fourths of his final compensation:
(1)	Four and two-hundredths percent (4.02%) of his final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of his creditable service rendered as a justice of the Supreme Court or judge of the Court of Appeals;
(2)	Three and fifty-two hundredths percent (3.52%) of his final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of his creditable service rendered as a judge of the superior court or as administrative officer of the courts;
(3)	Three and two-hundredths percent (3.02%) of his final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of his creditable service rendered as a judge of the district court, district attorney, or clerk of superior court."
Section 5.  G.S. 135-58 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( a2)	Any member who retires under the provisions of G.S. 135-57(a) or G.S. 135-57(c) on or after July 1, 1999, after the member has either attained the member's 65th birthday or has completed 24 years or more of creditable service, shall receive an annual retirement allowance, payable monthly, which shall commence on the effective date of the member's retirement and shall be continued on the first day of each month thereafter during the member's lifetime, the amount of which shall be computed as the sum of the amounts in subdivisions (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) following, provided that in no event shall the annual allowance payable to any member be greater than an amount which, when added to the allowance, if any, to which the member is entitled under the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, the Legislative Retirement System, or the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System (prior in any case to any reduction for early retirement or for an optional mode of payment) would total three-fourths of the member's final compensation:
(1)	Four and two-hundredths percent (4.02%) of the member's final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of creditable service rendered as a justice of the Supreme Court or judge of the Court of Appeals;
(2)	Three and fifty-two hundredths percent (3.52%) of the member's final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of creditable service rendered as a judge of the superior court or as Administrative Officer of the Courts;
(3)	Three and two-hundredths percent (3.02%) of the member's final compensation, multiplied by the number of years of creditable service, rendered as a judge of the district court, district attorney, or clerk of superior court;
(4) 	A service retirement allowance computed in accordance with the service retirement provisions of Article 3 of Chapter 128 of the General Statutes using an average final compensation as defined in G.S. 135-53(2a) and creditable service equal to the number of years of the member's creditable service that was transferred from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System to this System as provided in G.S. 135-56; and
(5)	A service retirement allowance computed in accordance with the service retirement provisions of Article 1 of this Chapter using an average final compensation as defined in G.S. 135-53(2a) and creditable service equal to the number of years of the member's creditable service that was transferred from the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to this System as provided in G.S. 135-56."
Section 6.  G.S. 135-53 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(2a)	"Average final compensation"shall mean the average annual compensation of a member during the 48 consecutive calendar months of membership service producing the highest such average."
Section 7.  G.S. 135-60(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Upon retirement for disability in accordance with G.S. 135-59, a member shall receive a disability retirement allowance computed and payable as provided for service retirement in G.S. 135-58(a2) except that the member's creditable service shall be taken as the creditable service he would have had had he continued in service to the earliest date he could have retired on an unreduced service retirement allowance as a member in the same division of the General Court of Justice in which he was serving on his disability retirement date."
Section 8.  Chapter 135 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 135-70A.  Transfer of members from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System.
(a)	The accumulated contributions, creditable service, and reserves, if any, of a former teacher or employee, as defined in G.S. 135-1(25), 135-1(10), and 128-21(10), respectively, who is a member of the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System for a period of five or more years shall be transferred from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System.  The accumulated contributions, creditable service, and reserves of any member whose service as a teacher or employee is terminated other than by retirement or death and who becomes a member of the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System shall be transferred from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System. In order to effect the transfer of a member's creditable service from the Local Governmental Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System, the accumulated contributions of each member credited in the annuity savings fund in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System shall be transferred and credited to the annuity savings fund in the Consolidated Judicial Retirement System.
(b)	The Board of Trustees shall effect such rules as it may deem necessary to administer the preceding subsection and to prevent any duplication of service credits or benefits that might otherwise occur."
Section 9.  This act is effective when it becomes law.