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MORE PBA LEGISLATION
PASSES INTO LAW
House Bill 816 clarifies the special separation
allowance for law enforcement officers and their employers.
HB816, Clarify Local Special Separation Allowance – Primary sponsors,
representatives, Tricia Cotham (Mecklenburg County), Nelson Dollar (Wake
County), Marian McLawhorn (Pittsburgh County) and Jennifer Weiss (Wake
County).
On July 22, 2009, HB816 unanimously passed the House for concurrence
after passing the Senate 46 – 0 on July 15, 2009. On July 23rd, the bill
was ratified and presented to the Governor to be signed into law. On
July 31, 2009, Governor Bev Perdue signed HB816 making it the second of
five PBA legislative agenda items for 2009 to become law.
HB816 was introduced at PBA’s request by Representative Tricia Cotham on
March 26, 2009. Senator Floyd McKissick from Durham County sponsored the
companion bill (SB986) in the Senate. Senator McKissick led the Senate
bill to unanimous support in committee and the Senate floor. When HB816
became the lead bill because it first emerged from final committee
consideration, Senator McKissick led HB816 to a 46 – 0 passing vote in
the Senate.
The PBA worked with representatives of the North Carolina Sheriff’s
Association, the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, the
North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, and the North Carolina League
of Municipalities on the final bill language that became law. Their
cooperation and assistance and the unique alliance that emerged was
instrumental in developing the quality of bill language that will now
benefit current and future retired law enforcement officers.
The original legislation covering the Special Separation Allowance
passed over 20 years ago providing a special retirement allowance to
officers who retire after 30 years of service or after reaching age 55
and having completed at least five years of service. The original
statute covered state law enforcement officers and was passed in 1986.
State law enforcement were allowed to retire under the statute and work
full-time for local government or private sector employers without
forfeiting the separation allowance. In 1987, additional legislation
created a statute that covered local law enforcement officers. The
statute gave the governing body of each unit of local government the
responsibility for making determination of eligibility and making
payments to retired local officers under the same conditions as for
retired state law enforcement officers. The General Assembly also
provided two one half cent tax increases to fund this and the
supplemental 401(K) program. However, over the years, conflicting
opinion from local officers developed as to the intent of the statute
governing local retired officers especially as those officers drew close
to retirement age.
As a result, different determinations of eligibility and payment of
benefits varied from local government to local government. Local
governments who did not want to pay the separation allowance to their
retired officers, developed rules by local ordinance that did not allow
retired officers to work full-time for state governments or even in
other limited capacities without forfeiting the separation allowance
which make up 25% of an officer’s overall retirement benefits. These
actions resulted in lawsuits in which the courts identified that the law
was confusing and arbitrary.
The passage of HB 816 now provides clear direction on the issue.
Officers or deputies retiring from local government, who otherwise meet
the eligibility requirements, will now be able to work in any full-time
capacity for state government or in other capacities and receive the
separation allowance. In addition, a local government employer may
employ retired officers in a public safety position that does not
require participation in the local governmental employee’s retirement
system, and doing so shall not forfeit the officer’s separation
allowance. Ironically many local governments were already doing this.
However, HB816 now makes it a requirement of law to include those local
governments who would strip officers of an earned retirement benefit.
The new law also is retroactive to currently retired officers who have
been denied employment under threat of separation loss.
HB816 serves as a win-win for retired officers and local law enforcement
agencies. Retired officers will be allowed to continue to serve a vital
role in their communities and local law enforcement agencies will be
provided with staffing opportunities at a critical time in law
enforcement.
The PBA extends a special thanks to Representative Tricia Cotham,
Senator Floyd McKissick and all the legislators and organizations who
worked with us on this important legislation.
OTHER LEGISLATIVE
NEWS
As reported earlier, PBA has been working with the
Governor’s office, the North Carolina Department of Corrections, and
representatives from several other law enforcement groups on the passing
of Senate Bill 920, Probation Reform SB920 provides expanded authority
for probation and parole officers in their supervision of offenders and
provides that law enforcement officers can require probationers to
submit to warrantless searches based upon reasonable suspicion that the
probationer is engaged in criminal activity or otherwise in violation of
the conditions of his/her probation. The bill will go a long way in
improving the much-needed cooperation and coordination between law
enforcement and probation and parole.
On July 23, 2009, SB920 received a favorable report in the House
Judiciary III committee and passed the full House on July 28th by a vote
of 111 - 0.
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