Bill > A948

Introduced Session

The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the eligibility for enrollment in any State-administered retirement system, such as the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), for newly hired officers and employees, and for the continued enrollment of those who have less than 10 years of service credit in the retirement system, of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (N.J.S.A.40:48-22), the New Jersey Association of Counties, the New Jersey School Boards Association (N.J.S.A.18A:6-48), any school board insurance group (N.J.S.A.18A:18B-3), any county college joint insurance group (N.J.S.A.18A:64A-25.35), any county or municipal joint insurance fund (N.J.S.A.40A:10-38), and any corporation designated to manage a special improvement district established by municipal ordinance (N.J.S.A.40:56-68). Officers or employees who are enrolled in a retirement system before the bill's effective date, have 10 or more years of service credit in the retirement system on that effective date, and who continue to serve that particular organization, association, group, fund or corporation without a break would not be affected by the bill. As a result of this bill, the entities noted above will not be considered public agencies with regard to their new officers and employees and current officers and employees with less than 10 years of pension service credit and, thus, these officers and employees will no longer be eligible for health care coverage under the State Health Benefits Program. In addition, the bill amends the PERS law (N.J.S.A.43:15A-7) to prohibit any officer or employee of a nonprofit organization that is an educational foundation, or substantially similar entity, created by or on behalf of an institution of higher education in this State for the purpose of receiving donations from becoming a member of the PERS on the basis of that employment. In addition, the bill repeals two sections of law that permit members of the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund and the Public Employees' Retirement System to continue to make contributions for service credit while on an approved leave of absence as an officer or representative of a local, county, or State labor organization which represents, or is affiliated with an organization which represents, public employees. The contributions are based upon the compensation that would have been received by the member under the negotiated salary guide of the employer granting the leave had that member remained in service with that employer, including applicable normal increments and negotiated wage increases occurring during the period of the leave. The TPAF law was enacted in 1989; the PERS law was enacted in 2005.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Nancy Muñoz (R)*,  Sean Kean (R),  Jay Webber (R), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document