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AN ACT

RELATING TO RETURN TO EMPLOYMENT; AMENDING PROVISIONS OF THE

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT CONCERNING RETIREES WHO RETURN

TO EMPLOYMENT; RECONCILING MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO THE SAME

SECTION OF LAW IN LAWS 2004 BY REPEALING LAWS 2004, CHAPTER 2,

SECTION 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 10-11-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987,

Chapter 253, Section 8, as amended by Laws 2004, Chapter 2,

Section 1 and by Laws 2004, Chapter 68, Section 4) is amended

to read:

"10-11-8. NORMAL RETIREMENT--RETURN TO EMPLOYMENT--

BENEFITS CONTINUED FOR CERTAIN RETIRED MEMBERS--EMPLOYER

CONTRIBUTIONS.--

A. A member may retire upon fulfilling the

following requirements prior to the selected date of

retirement:

(1) a written application for normal

retirement, in the form prescribed by the association, is

filed with the association;

(2) employment is terminated with all

employers covered by any state system or the educational

retirement system;

(3) the member selects an effective date of

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retirement that is the first day of a calendar month; and

(4) the member meets the age and service

credit requirement for normal retirement specified in the

coverage plan applicable to the member.

B. The amount of normal retirement pension is

determined in accordance with the coverage plan applicable to

the member.

C. Except as provided in Subsection D, E or F of

this section, a retired member may be subsequently employed by

an affiliated public employer if the following conditions

apply:

(1) either

(a) the subsequent employment of the

retired member commences prior to July 1, 2007; or

(b) the affiliated public employer is a

political subdivision of the state whose governing body has

adopted a resolution declaring that the subsequent employment

of the retired member will fill a critical need of the

political subdivision and the employment is for a term of two

years; provided, however, that the governing body may renew

the employment by passing a resolution declaring continuing

need;

(2) the member has not been employed as an

employee or retained as an independent contractor of an

affiliated public employer for at least ninety consecutive

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days from the date of retirement to the commencement of

employment or re-employment with an affiliated public

employer. If the retired member returns to employment without

first completing ninety consecutive days of

retirement:

(a) the retired member's pension shall

be suspended immediately and the previously retired member

shall become a member; and

(b) upon termination of the subsequent

employment, the previously retired member's pension shall be

calculated pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection G of this

section;

(3) until the subsequent employment is

terminated, the affiliated public employer that employs the

retired member shall make contributions to the fund in the

amount specified in the Public Employees Retirement Act or in

a higher amount adjusted for full actuarial cost as determined

annually by the association. No employee contributions shall

be required pursuant to this paragraph; and

(4) a retired member who returns to

employment during retirement pursuant to this subsection is

entitled to receive retirement benefits but is not entitled to

acquire service credit or to acquire or purchase service

credit in the future for the period of the retired member's

re-employment with an affiliated public employer.

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D. If a member who does not meet the requirements

of Subsection C of this section retires and is subsequently

employed by an affiliated public employer on or after July 1,

2007, the retired member's pension shall be suspended the

first day of the month following the month in which the

retired member's earnings for a calendar year from that

subsequent employment exceed fifteen thousand dollars

($15,000).

E. The provisions of Paragraph (3) of Subsection C

of this section and the provisions of Subsection D of this

section do not apply to:

(1) a retired member who is appointed chief

of police of an affiliated public employer, other than the

affiliated public employer from which the retired member

retired, or who is appointed undersheriff; provided that:

(a) the retired member files an

irrevocable exemption from membership with the association

within thirty days of appointment;

(b) each sheriff's office shall be

limited to one undersheriff qualifying pursuant to this

paragraph;

(c) the irrevocable exemption shall be

for the chief of police's or the undersheriff's term of

office; and

(d) filing an irrevocable exemption

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shall irrevocably bar the retired member from acquiring

service credit for the period of exemption from membership; or

(2) a retired member employed by the

legislature for legislative session work.

F. At any time during a retired member's

subsequent employment pursuant to Subsection C or D of this

section, the retired member may elect to suspend the pension.

G. When a pension is suspended pursuant to

Subparagraph (a) of Paragraph (2) of Subsection C of this

section or Subsection D or F of this section, the following

conditions apply:

(1) the retired member who is subsequently

employed by an affiliated public employer shall become a

member. The previously retired member and the subsequent

affiliated public employer shall make the required employee

and employer contributions, and the previously retired member

shall accrue service credit for the period of subsequent

employment; and

(2) when a previously retired member

terminates the subsequent employment with an affiliated public

employer, the previously retired member shall retire according

to the provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act,

subject to the following conditions:

(a) payment of the pension shall resume

in accordance with the provisions of Subsection A of this

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section;

(b) unless the previously retired

member accrued at least three years of service credit on

account of the subsequent employment, the recalculation of

pension shall: 1) employ the form of payment selected by the

previously retired member at the time of the first retirement;

and 2) use the provisions of the coverage plan applicable to

the member on the date of the first retirement; and

(c) the recalculated pension shall not

be less than the amount of the suspended pension.

H. The pension of a member who has three or more

years of service credit under each of two or more coverage

plans shall be determined in accordance with the coverage plan

that produces the highest pension. The pension of a member

who has service credit under two or more coverage plans but

who has three or more years of service credit under only one

of those coverage plans shall be determined in accordance with

the coverage plan in which the member has three or more years

of service credit. If the service credit is acquired under

two different coverage plans applied to the same affiliated

public employer as a consequence of an election by the

members, adoption by the affiliated public employer or a

change in the law that results in the application of a

coverage plan with a greater pension, the greater pension

shall be paid a member retiring from the affiliated public

employer under which the change in coverage plan took place

regardless of the amount of service credit under the coverage

plan producing the greater pension; provided the member has

three or more years of continuous employment with that

affiliated public employer immediately preceding or

immediately preceding and immediately following the date the

coverage plan changed. The provisions of each coverage plan

for the purpose of this subsection shall be those in effect at

the time the member ceased to be covered by the coverage plan.

"Service credit", for the purposes of this subsection, shall

be only personal service rendered an affiliated public

employer and credited to the member under the provisions of

Subsection A of Section 10-11-4 NMSA 1978. Service credited

under any other provision of the Public Employees Retirement

Act shall not be used to satisfy the three-year service credit

requirement of this subsection."

Section 2. REPEAL.--Laws 2004, Chapter 2, Section 1 is

repealed.

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