HOUSE BILL No. 4511

 

March 22, 2007, Introduced by Reps. Gonzales, Cushingberry and Alma Smith and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

 

     A bill to amend 1980 PA 300, entitled

 

"The public school employees retirement act of 1979,"

 

by amending section 4 (MCL 38.1304), as amended by 2003 PA 17.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 4. (1) "Compound interest" means interest compounded

 

annually on July 1 on the contributions on account as of the

 

previous July 1 and computed at the rate of investment return

 

determined under section 104a(1) for the last completed state

 

fiscal year.

 

     (2) "Contributory service" means credited service other than

 

noncontributory service.

 

     (3) "Deferred member" means a member who has ceased to be a

 

public school employee and has satisfied the requirements of

 


section 82 for a deferred vested service retirement allowance.

 

     (4) "Department" means the department of management and

 

budget.

 

     (5) "Designated date" means September 30, 1997 2006.

 

     (6) "Direct rollover" means a payment by the retirement system

 

to the eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee.

 

     (7) "Distributee" includes a member or deferred member.

 

Distributee also includes the member's or deferred member's

 

surviving spouse or the member's or deferred member's spouse or

 

former spouse under an eligible domestic relations order, with

 

regard to the interest of the spouse or former spouse.

 

     (8) Beginning January 1, 2002, except as otherwise provided in

 

this subsection, "eligible retirement plan" means an individual

 

retirement account described in section 408(a) of the internal

 

revenue code, an individual retirement annuity described in section

 

408(b) of the internal revenue code, an annuity plan described in

 

section 403(a) of the internal revenue code, or a qualified trust

 

described in section 401(a) of the internal revenue code, an

 

annuity contract described in section 403(b) of the internal

 

revenue code, or an eligible plan under section 457(b) of the

 

internal revenue code which is maintained by a state, political

 

subdivision of a state, or an agency or instrumentality of a state

 

or political subdivision of a state and which agrees to separately

 

account for amounts transferred into such eligible plan under

 

section 457(b) of the internal revenue code from this retirement

 

system, that accepts the distributee's eligible rollover

 

distribution. However, in the case of an eligible rollover

 


distribution to a surviving spouse, an eligible retirement plan

 

means an individual retirement account or an individual retirement

 

annuity described above.

 

     (9) Beginning January 1, 2002, "eligible rollover

 

distribution" means a distribution of all or any portion of the

 

balance to the credit of the distributee. Eligible rollover

 

distribution does not include any of the following:

 

     (a) A distribution made for the life or life expectancy of the

 

distributee or the joint lives or joint life expectancies of the

 

distributee and the distributee's designated beneficiary.

 

     (b) A distribution for a specified period of 10 years or more.

 

     (c) A distribution to the extent that the distribution is

 

required under section 401(a)(9) of the internal revenue code.

 

     (d) The portion of any distribution that is not includable in

 

federal gross income, determined without regard to the exclusion

 

for net unrealized appreciation with respect to employer

 

securities, except to the extent that the portion of a distribution

 

that is not includable in federal gross income is paid to either of

 

the following:

 

     (i) An individual retirement account or annuity described in

 

section 408(a) or (b) of the internal revenue code.

 

     (ii) A qualified defined contribution plan as described in

 

section 401(a) or 403(a) of the internal revenue code that agrees

 

to separately account for amounts transferred, including separately

 

accounting for the portion of the distribution that is includable

 

in gross income and the portion of the distribution which is not

 

includable in gross income.

 


     (10) "Employee organization professional services leave" or

 

"professional services leave" means a leave of absence that is

 

renewed annually by the reporting unit so that a member may accept

 

a position with a public school employee organization to which he

 

or she belongs and which represents employees of a reporting unit

 

in employment matters. The member shall be included in membership

 

of the retirement system during a professional services leave if

 

all of the conditions of section 71(5) and (6) are satisfied.

 

     (11) "Employee organization professional services released

 

time" or "professional services released time" means a portion of

 

the school fiscal year during which a member is released by the

 

reporting unit from his or her regularly assigned duties to engage

 

in employment matters for a public school employee organization to

 

which he or she belongs. The member's compensation received or

 

service rendered, or both, as applicable, by a member while on

 

professional services released time shall be reportable to the

 

retirement system if all of the conditions of section 71(5) and (6)

 

are satisfied.

 

     (12) "Final average compensation" means the aggregate amount

 

of a member's compensation earned within the averaging period in

 

which the aggregate amount of compensation was highest divided by

 

the member's number of years, including any fraction of a year, of

 

credited service during the averaging period. The averaging period

 

shall be 36 consecutive calendar months if the member contributes

 

to the member investment plan; otherwise, the averaging period

 

shall be 60 consecutive calendar months. If the member has less

 

than 1 year of credited service in the averaging period, the number

 


of consecutive calendar months in the averaging period shall be

 

increased to the lowest number of consecutive calendar months that

 

contains 1 year of credited service.

 

     (13) "Health benefits" means hospital, medical-surgical, and

 

sick care benefits and dental, vision, and hearing benefits for

 

retirants, retirement allowance beneficiaries, and health insurance

 

dependents provided pursuant to section 91.

 

     (14) "Internal revenue code" means the United States internal

 

revenue code of 1986.

 

     (15) "Long-term care insurance" means group insurance that is

 

authorized by the retirement system for retirants, retirement

 

allowance beneficiaries, and health insurance dependents, as that

 

term is defined in section 91, to cover the costs of services

 

provided to retirants, retirement allowance beneficiaries, and

 

health insurance dependents, from nursing homes, assisted living

 

facilities, home health care providers, adult day care providers,

 

and other similar service providers.

 

     (16) "Member investment plan" means the program of member

 

contributions described in section 43a.