44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RELATING TO SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEERS; PROVIDING RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEERS; CREATING THE SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEERS RETIREMENT FUND; MAKING AN ANNUAL APPROPRIATION FROM THE FIRE PROTECTION FUND.

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

Section 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Sections 1 through 8 of this act may be cited as the "Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act".

Section 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act:

A. "association" means the public employees retirement association;

B. "board" means the retirement board of the association;

C. "fund" means the search and rescue volunteers retirement fund;

D. "member" means an unpaid, nonsalaried search and rescue volunteer who is certified as a search and rescue person pursuant to the Search and Rescue Act, who is listed as an active member of a search and rescue resource group and whose first year of service credit was accumulated during or after the year he attained the age of sixteen and no later than during the year in which he attained the age of forty-five. Excluded from membership is any search and rescue volunteer who has been retired by or is receiving an annuity from any other retirement, pension or annuity plan created and established by the state or any of its political subdivisions; and

E. "search and rescue resource group" means a search and rescue resource group recognized pursuant to the Search and Rescue Act as available for search and rescue missions in New Mexico.

Section 3. [NEW MATERIAL] SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEERS RETIREMENT FUND--CREATION--ANNUAL APPROPRIATION FROM THE FIRE PROTECTION FUND.--

A. The "search and rescue volunteers retirement fund" is created in the state treasury. Earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund, and money in the fund shall not revert to any other fund. The fund is appropriated to the board for the purpose of paying annuities or other benefits pursuant to the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act.

B. Beginning in fiscal year 2000 and in each fiscal year thereafter, five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) is appropriated from the fire protection fund to the search and rescue volunteers retirement fund.

Section 4. [NEW MATERIAL] ADMINISTRATION OF THE SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEERS RETIREMENT ACT, PROGRAM AND FUND BY THE BOARD--ANNUAL ACTUARIAL EVALUATION.--

A. The provisions of the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act and the search and rescue volunteers retirement program authorized by that act shall be administered by the board. The provisions of law relating to the administration and investment of retirement funds administered by the board shall apply to the search and rescue volunteers retirement fund. In its administration of the search and rescue volunteers retirement program, the board is authorized to adopt rules.

B. The board shall provide for an annual actuarial evaluation of the search and rescue volunteers retirement fund and shall make recommendations to the legislature for any changes necessary to maintain the actuarial soundness of the fund.

Section 5. [NEW MATERIAL] RETIREMENT BENEFITS--ELIGIBILITY.--

A. A member who attains the age of fifty-five years and has twenty-five years or more of service credit shall be eligible to receive a retirement annuity of two hundred dollars ($200), payable monthly from the fund during the remainder of his life.

B. A member who attains the age of fifty-five years and has at least ten but less than twenty-five years of service credit shall be eligible to receive a retirement annuity of one hundred dollars ($100), payable monthly from the fund during the remainder of his life.

C. A person who ceases to be a member after completing at least ten but less than twenty-five years of service credit is eligible to receive upon attaining the age of fifty-five years a retirement annuity of one hundred dollars ($100), payable monthly from the fund during the remainder of his life.

D. A person who ceases to be a member after completing twenty-five years of service credit is eligible to receive upon attaining the age of fifty-five years a retirement annuity of two hundred dollars ($200), payable monthly from the fund during the remainder of his life.

E. A person who qualifies for and receives a retirement annuity pursuant to this section may continue as a member. However, the individual shall not accrue additional service credit for the purpose of increasing the amount of the retirement annuity.

Section 6. [NEW MATERIAL] DETERMINATION OF SERVICE CREDIT.--

A. A member may claim one year of service credit for each year in which a search and rescue resource group certifies that the member:

(1) attended seventy-five percent of all scheduled training sessions or drills;

(2) attended seventy-five percent of all scheduled business meetings; and

(3) was active in at least fifty percent of all search and rescue missions in which the search and rescue group participated.

B. The head of each search and rescue resource group shall submit to the association by April 30 of each year the records of attendance of members for training sessions or drills, business meetings and missions during the preceding calendar year. The records shall be:

(1) submitted on forms prescribed by the state search and rescue review board;

(2) acknowledged by the head of the search and rescue resource group under oath before a notary public; and

(3) approved and signed by the state search and rescue resource officer.

Section 7. [NEW MATERIAL] RETIREMENT ANNUITY--SURVIVING SPOUSE.--In the event a retirement annuitant dies, the surviving spouse shall receive an annuity equal to two-thirds of the retirement annuity being paid to the retirement annuitant at the time of death; provided, the annuity shall cease upon the surviving spouse's marriage or death.

Section 8. [NEW MATERIAL] APPLICABILITY.--The service credit provisions of the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act shall apply to years beginning on or after January 1, 2000; provided, a person who on or before January 1, 1995 was forty-five years of age or younger shall be eligible to be a member, notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection D of Section 2 of that act, and shall be eligible for one year of service credit for each year prior to the 2000 calendar year that a search and rescue resource group certifies the person met the service credit provisions of Subsection A of Section 6 of that act, but in no case shall a person be eligible for more than five years of service credit prior to January 1, 2000.

Section 9. Section 10-11-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987, Chapter 253, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

"10-11-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public Employees Retirement Act:

A. "accumulated member contributions" means the amounts deducted from the salary of a member and credited to the member's individual account, together with interest, if any, credited to that account;

B. "affiliated public employer" means the state and any public employer affiliated with the association as provided in the Public Employees Retirement Act, but does not include an employer pursuant to the Magistrate Retirement Act, the Judicial Retirement Act or the Educational Retirement Act;

C. "association" means the public employees retirement association established under the Public Employees Retirement Act;

D. "disability retired member" means a retired member who is receiving a pension pursuant to the disability retirement provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act;

E. "disability retirement pension" means the pension paid pursuant to the disability retirement provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act;

F. "educational retirement system" means that retirement system provided for in the Educational Retirement Act;

G. "employee" means any employee of an affiliated public employer;

H. "federal social security program" means that program or those programs created and administered pursuant to the act of congress approved August 14, 1935, Chapter 531, 49 Stat. 620, as that act may be amended;

I. "final average salary" means the final average salary calculated in accordance with the provisions of the applicable coverage plan;

J. "form of payment" means the applicable form of payment of a pension provided for in Section 10-11-117 NMSA 1978;

K. "former member" means a person who was previously employed by an affiliated public employer, who has terminated that employment and who has received a refund of member contributions;

L. "fund" means the funds included under the Public Employees Retirement Act;

M. "member" means a currently employed, contributing employee of an affiliated public employer, or a person who has been but is not currently employed by an affiliated public employer, who has not retired and who has not received a refund of member contributions; "member" also includes the following:

(1) "hazardous duty member" means a state policeman who is a member and who is a juvenile or adult correctional officer employed by a corrections facility of the corrections department or its successor agency;

(2) "municipal fire member" means any member who is employed as a full-time nonvolunteer firefighter by an affiliated public employer and who has taken the oath prescribed for firefighters;

(3) "municipal police member" means any member who is employed as a police officer by an affiliated public employer, other than the state, and who has taken the oath prescribed for police officers; and

(4) "state police member" means any member who is an officer of the New Mexico state police and who has taken the oath prescribed for such officers;

N. "membership" means membership in the association;

O. "pension" means a series of monthly payments to a retired member or survivor beneficiary as provided in the Public Employees Retirement Act;

P. "public employer" means the state, any municipality, city, county, metropolitan arroyo flood control authority, economic development district, regional housing authority, soil and water conservation district, entity created pursuant to a joint powers agreement, council of government, conservancy district, water and sanitation district, water district and metropolitan water board, including the boards, departments, bureaus and agencies of a public employer, so long as these entities fall within the meaning of governmental plan as that term is used in Section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

Q. "refund beneficiary" means a person designated by the member, in writing, in the form prescribed by the association, as the person who would be refunded the member's accumulated member contributions payable if the member dies and no survivor pension is payable or who would receive the difference between pension paid and accumulated member contributions if the retired member dies before receiving in pension payments the amount of the accumulated member contributions;

R. "retire" means to:

(1) terminate employment with all employers covered by any state system or the educational retirement system; and

(2) receive a pension from a state system or the educational retirement system;

S. "retired member" means a person who has met all requirements for retirement and who is receiving a pension from the fund;

T. "retirement board" means the retirement board provided for in the Public Employees Retirement Act;

U. "salary" means the base salary or wages paid a member, including longevity pay, for personal services rendered an affiliated public employer. "Salary" shall not include overtime pay, allowances for housing, clothing, equipment or travel, payments for unused sick leave, unless the unused sick leave payment is made through continuation of the member on the regular payroll for the period represented by that payment, and any other form of remuneration not specifically designated by law as included in salary for Public Employees Retirement Act purposes. Salary in excess of the limitations set forth in Section 401(a) (17) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, shall be disregarded. The limitation on compensation for eligible employees shall not be less than the amount that was allowed to be taken into account under the state retirement system acts in effect on July 1, 1993. For purposes of this section, "eligible employee" means an individual who was a member of a state system before the first plan year beginning after December 31, 1995;

V. "state system" means the retirement programs provided for in the Public Employees Retirement Act, the Magistrate Retirement Act and the Judicial Retirement Act;

W. "state retirement system acts" means collectively the Public Employees Retirement Act, the Magistrate Retirement Act, the Judicial Retirement Act, [and] the Volunteer Firefighters Retirement Act and the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act; and

X. "survivor beneficiary" means a person who receives a pension or who has been designated to be paid a pension as a result of the death of a member or retired member."

Section 10. Section 10-11-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987, Chapter 253, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"10-11-3. MEMBERSHIP--REQUIREMENTS--EXCLUSIONS--

TERMINATION.--

A. Except as may be provided for in the Volunteer Firefighters Retirement Act, the Search and Rescue Volunteers Retirement Act, the Judicial Retirement Act, the Magistrate Retirement Act, the Educational Retirement Act and the provisions of Sections 29-4-1 through 29-4-11 NMSA 1978 governing the state police pension fund, each employee and elected official of every affiliated public employer shall be a member of the association, unless excluded from membership in accordance with Subsection B of this section.

B. The following employees and elected officials are excluded from membership in the association:

(1) elected officials who file with the association a written application for exemption from membership within thirty days of taking office;

(2) elected officials who file with the association a written application for exemption from membership within thirty days of the date the elected official's public employer becomes an affiliated public employer;

(3) employees designated by the affiliated public employer as seasonal or student employees;

(4) employees who file with the association a written application for exemption from membership within thirty days of the date the employee's public employer becomes an affiliated public employer;

(5) employees of an affiliated public employer that is making contributions to a private retirement program on behalf of the employee as part of a compensation arrangement who file with the association a written application for exemption within thirty days of employment, unless the employee has previously retired under the provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act; and

(6) employees of an affiliated public employer who have retired under and are receiving a pension pursuant to the provisions of the Educational Retirement Act.

C. Employees designated as seasonal and student employees shall be notified in writing by their affiliated public employer of the designation and the consequences of the designation with respect to membership, service credit and benefits. A copy of the notification shall be filed with the association within thirty days of the date of employment.

D. An exemption from membership by an elected official shall expire at the end of the term of office for which filed.

E. Employees and elected officials who have exempted themselves from membership may subsequently withdraw the exemption by filing a membership application. Membership shall commence the first day of the first pay period following the date the application is filed.

F. The membership of an employee or elected official shall cease if the employee terminates employment with an affiliated public employer or the elected official leaves office and the employee or elected official requests and receives a refund of member contributions."