102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB0351

 

Introduced 1/29/2021, by Rep. Lance Yednock

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
40 ILCS 5/4-110.2
40 ILCS 5/4-118  from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-118

    Amends the Downstate Firefighter Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Requires the fire chief of a secondary employer to report any injury, illness, or exposure incurred by a secondary employee during his or her employment to the Department of Insurance. Requires secondary employers to transmit to the Department of Insurance a certified copy of its report accounting for all hours worked by secondary employees. Effective immediately.


LRB102 09956 RPS 15274 b

PENSION IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB0351LRB102 09956 RPS 15274 b

1    AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by
5changing Sections 4-110.2 and 4-118 as follows:
 
6    (40 ILCS 5/4-110.2)
7    Sec. 4-110.2. Secondary employer injury and exposure
8reporting. The fire chief of a secondary employer, as
9described in Section 4-118, shall report any injury, illness,
10or exposure incurred by a secondary employee during his or her
11employment to the primary employer's pension fund and the
12Department of Insurance within 96 hours from the time of the
13occurrence. The reporting requirements shall be consistent
14with the recommendations found in Chapters 4, 13, and 14 of the
15NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety,
16Health, and Wellness Program.
17(Source: P.A. 101-522, eff. 8-23-19.)
 
18    (40 ILCS 5/4-118)  (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-118)
19    Sec. 4-118. Financing.
20    (a) The city council or the board of trustees of the
21municipality shall annually levy a tax upon all the taxable
22property of the municipality at the rate on the dollar which

 

 

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1will produce an amount which, when added to the deductions
2from the salaries or wages of firefighters and revenues
3available from other sources, will equal a sum sufficient to
4meet the annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund, as
5determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois
6Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by
7the pension fund or municipality. For the purposes of this
8Section, the annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund
9are equal to (1) the normal cost of the pension fund, or 17.5%
10of the salaries and wages to be paid to firefighters for the
11year involved, whichever is greater, plus (2) an annual amount
12sufficient to bring the total assets of the pension fund up to
1390% of the total actuarial liabilities of the pension fund by
14the end of municipal fiscal year 2040, as annually updated and
15determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois
16Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by
17the pension fund or the municipality. In making these
18determinations, the required minimum employer contribution
19shall be calculated each year as a level percentage of payroll
20over the years remaining up to and including fiscal year 2040
21and shall be determined under the projected unit credit
22actuarial cost method. The amount to be applied towards the
23amortization of the unfunded accrued liability in any year
24shall not be less than the annual amount required to amortize
25the unfunded accrued liability, including interest, as a level
26percentage of payroll over the number of years remaining in

 

 

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1the 40-year 40 year amortization period.
2    (a-2) A municipality that has established a pension fund
3under this Article and that who employs a full-time
4firefighter, as defined in Section 4-106, shall be deemed a
5primary employer with respect to that full-time firefighter.
6Any municipality of 5,000 or more inhabitants that employs or
7enrolls a firefighter while that firefighter continues to earn
8service credit as a participant in a primary employer's
9pension fund under this Article shall be deemed a secondary
10employer and such employees shall be deemed to be secondary
11employee firefighters. To ensure that the primary employer's
12pension fund under this Article is aware of additional
13liabilities and risks to which firefighters are exposed when
14performing work as firefighters for secondary employers, a
15secondary employer shall annually prepare a report accounting
16for all hours worked by and wages and salaries paid to the
17secondary employee firefighters it receives services from or
18employs for each fiscal year in which such firefighters are
19employed and transmit a certified copy of that report to the
20primary employer's pension fund, the Department of Insurance,
21and the secondary employee firefighter no later than 30 days
22after the end of any fiscal year in which wages were paid to
23the secondary employee firefighters.
24    Nothing in this Section shall be construed to allow a
25secondary employee to qualify for benefits or creditable
26service for employment as a firefighter for a secondary

 

 

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1employer.
2    (a-5) For purposes of determining the required employer
3contribution to a pension fund, the value of the pension
4fund's assets shall be equal to the actuarial value of the
5pension fund's assets, which shall be calculated as follows:
6        (1) On March 30, 2011, the actuarial value of a
7    pension fund's assets shall be equal to the market value
8    of the assets as of that date.
9        (2) In determining the actuarial value of the pension
10    fund's assets for fiscal years after March 30, 2011, any
11    actuarial gains or losses from investment return incurred
12    in a fiscal year shall be recognized in equal annual
13    amounts over the 5-year period following that fiscal year.
14    (b) The tax shall be levied and collected in the same
15manner as the general taxes of the municipality, and shall be
16in addition to all other taxes now or hereafter authorized to
17be levied upon all property within the municipality, and in
18addition to the amount authorized to be levied for general
19purposes, under Section 8-3-1 of the Illinois Municipal Code
20or under Section 14 of the Fire Protection District Act. The
21tax shall be forwarded directly to the treasurer of the board
22within 30 business days of receipt by the county (or, in the
23case of amounts added to the tax levy under subsection (f),
24used by the municipality to pay the employer contributions
25required under subsection (b-1) of Section 15-155 of this
26Code).

 

 

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1    (b-5) If a participating municipality fails to transmit to
2the fund contributions required of it under this Article for
3more than 90 days after the payment of those contributions is
4due, the fund may, after giving notice to the municipality,
5certify to the State Comptroller the amounts of the delinquent
6payments in accordance with any applicable rules of the
7Comptroller, and the Comptroller must, beginning in fiscal
8year 2016, deduct and remit to the fund the certified amounts
9or a portion of those amounts from the following proportions
10of payments of State funds to the municipality:
11        (1) in fiscal year 2016, one-third of the total amount
12    of any payments of State funds to the municipality;
13        (2) in fiscal year 2017, two-thirds of the total
14    amount of any payments of State funds to the municipality;
15    and
16        (3) in fiscal year 2018 and each fiscal year
17    thereafter, the total amount of any payments of State
18    funds to the municipality.
19    The State Comptroller may not deduct from any payments of
20State funds to the municipality more than the amount of
21delinquent payments certified to the State Comptroller by the
22fund.
23    (c) The board shall make available to the membership and
24the general public for inspection and copying at reasonable
25times the most recent Actuarial Valuation Balance Sheet and
26Tax Levy Requirement issued to the fund by the Department of

 

 

HB0351- 6 -LRB102 09956 RPS 15274 b

1Insurance.
2    (d) The firefighters' pension fund shall consist of the
3following moneys which shall be set apart by the treasurer of
4the municipality: (1) all moneys derived from the taxes levied
5hereunder; (2) contributions by firefighters as provided under
6Section 4-118.1; (2.5) all moneys received from the
7Firefighters' Pension Investment Fund as provided in Article
822C of this Code; (3) all rewards in money, fees, gifts, and
9emoluments that may be paid or given for or on account of
10extraordinary service by the fire department or any member
11thereof, except when allowed to be retained by competitive
12awards; and (4) any money, real estate or personal property
13received by the board.
14    (e) For the purposes of this Section, "enrolled actuary"
15means an actuary: (1) who is a member of the Society of
16Actuaries or the American Academy of Actuaries; and (2) who is
17enrolled under Subtitle C of Title III of the Employee
18Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or who has been
19engaged in providing actuarial services to one or more public
20retirement systems for a period of at least 3 years as of July
211, 1983.
22    (f) The corporate authorities of a municipality that
23employs a person who is described in subdivision (d) of
24Section 4-106 may add to the tax levy otherwise provided for in
25this Section an amount equal to the projected cost of the
26employer contributions required to be paid by the municipality

 

 

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1to the State Universities Retirement System under subsection
2(b-1) of Section 15-155 of this Code.
3    (g) The Commission on Government Forecasting and
4Accountability shall conduct a study of all funds established
5under this Article and shall report its findings to the
6General Assembly on or before January 1, 2013. To the fullest
7extent possible, the study shall include, but not be limited
8to, the following:
9        (1) fund balances;
10        (2) historical employer contribution rates for each
11    fund;
12        (3) the actuarial formulas used as a basis for
13    employer contributions, including the actual assumed rate
14    of return for each year, for each fund;
15        (4) available contribution funding sources;
16        (5) the impact of any revenue limitations caused by
17    PTELL and employer home rule or non-home rule status; and
18        (6) existing statutory funding compliance procedures
19    and funding enforcement mechanisms for all municipal
20    pension funds.
21(Source: P.A. 101-522, eff. 8-23-19; 101-610, eff. 1-1-20;
22revised 8-20-20.)
 
23    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24becoming law.