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92_HB3700
LRB9210970LDtm
1 AN ACT in relation to public employee benefits.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by
5 changing Sections 17-121, 17-122, 17-124, and 17-125 and
6 adding Section 17-126.1 as follows:
7 (40 ILCS 5/17-121) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-121)
8 Sec. 17-121. Survivor's and Children's pensions -
9 Eligibility. Beginning January 1, 2003, remarriage at any age
10 by a surviving spouse shall not terminate his or her
11 survivor's pension. A surviving spouse whose pension was
12 terminated before January 1, 2003 due to remarriage at any
13 age and who applies for reinstatement of that pension and
14 repays the amount of any survivor refund with interest in
15 accordance with Section 17-126.1 shall be entitled to have
16 the pension reinstated upon application for reinstatement and
17 repayment of the survivor refund. A surviving spouse of a
18 teacher shall be entitled to a survivor's pension only if he
19 was married to the contributor for at least 1 1/2 years
20 immediately prior to his death or retirement, whichever first
21 occurs, and also on the date of the last termination of his
22 service.
23 If the surviving spouse is under age 50 and there are no
24 eligible minor children born to or legally adopted by the
25 contributor and his surviving spouse, payment of the
26 survivor's pension shall begin when the surviving spouse
27 attains age 50.
28 Remarriage of the surviving spouse prior to September 1,
29 1983 while in receipt of a survivor's pension shall
30 permanently terminate payment thereof, regardless of any
31 subsequent change in marital status; however, beginning
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1 September 1, 1983, remarriage of a surviving spouse after
2 attainment of age 55 shall not terminate the survivor's
3 pension.
4 A surviving spouse whose pension was terminated on or
5 after September 1, 1983 due to remarriage after attainment of
6 age 55, and who applies for reinstatement of that pension
7 before January 1, 1990, shall be entitled to have the pension
8 reinstated effective January 1, 1990.
9 A surviving spouse of a member or annuitant under this
10 Fund who is also a dependent beneficiary under the provisions
11 of Section 16-140 is eligible for a reciprocal survivor's
12 pension, provided that any refund of survivor's pension
13 contributions is repaid to the Fund and application is made
14 within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory
15 Act of the 92nd General Assembly.
16 (Source: P.A. 92-416, eff. 8-17-01.)
17 (40 ILCS 5/17-122) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-122)
18 Sec. 17-122. Survivor's and children's pensions - Amount.
19 Upon the death of a teacher who has completed at least 1 1/2
20 years of contributing service with either this Fund or the
21 State Universities Retirement System or the Teachers'
22 Retirement System of the State of Illinois, provided his
23 death occurred while (a) in active service covered by the
24 Fund or during his first 18 months of continuous employment
25 without a break in service under any other participating
26 system as defined in the Illinois Retirement Systems
27 Reciprocal Act except the State Universities Retirement
28 System and the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of
29 Illinois, (b) on a creditable leave of absence, (c) on a
30 noncreditable leave of absence of no more than one year, or
31 (d) a pension was deferred or pending provided the teacher
32 had at least 10 years of validated service credit, or upon
33 the death of a pensioner otherwise qualified for such
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1 benefit, the surviving spouse and eligible and unmarried
2 minor children of the deceased teacher under age 18 shall be
3 entitled to pensions, under the conditions stated
4 hereinafter. Such survivor's and children's pensions shall
5 be based on the average of the 4 highest consecutive years of
6 salary in the last 10 years of service or on the average
7 salary for total service, if total service has been less than
8 4 years, according to the following percentages:
9 30% of average salary or 50% of the retirement pension
10 earned by the teacher, whichever is larger, subject to the
11 prescribed maximum monthly payment, for a surviving spouse
12 alone on attainment of age 50;
13 60% of average salary for a surviving spouse and
14 eligible minor children of the deceased teacher.
15 If no eligible spouse survives, or the surviving spouse
16 remarries, or the parent of the children of the deceased
17 member is otherwise ineligible for a survivor's pension, a
18 children's pension for eligible minor children under age 18
19 shall be paid to their parent or legal guardian for their
20 benefit according to the following percentages:
21 30% of average salary for one child;
22 60% of average salary for 2 or more children.
23 A disabled child who was dependent upon a deceased
24 teacher at the time of his or her death whose children's
25 pension was terminated due to attainment of age 18 may apply
26 to the Fund for reinstatement of that pension. An
27 application for reinstatement shall be accompanied by the
28 payment of an amount equal to (1) the amount of any refund
29 received by the deceased teacher under Section 17-125 and (2)
30 interest thereon from the date of the payment of the refund
31 to the date of application for reinstatement at the rate of
32 6% per year. The reinstated pension shall begin to accrue on
33 the first day of the month following the month the
34 application is received by the Fund, but in no event sooner
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1 than January 1, 2003. However, if the pension is payable to
2 anyone else, the pension shall not be reinstated until the
3 pension is no longer payable to any eligible surviving spouse
4 or other eligible children. A reinstated annuity shall
5 include any one-time or annual increases received prior to
6 the date of termination, as well as any increases that would
7 otherwise have accrued from the date of termination to the
8 date of reinstatement.
9 The changes made to this Section and Section 17-121 by
10 this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly pertaining
11 to reinstatement of a survivor's or children's pension apply
12 notwithstanding Section 17-157 and without regard to whether
13 the deceased teacher was in service on or after the effective
14 date of this amendatory Act.
15 On January 1, 1981, any survivor or child who was
16 receiving a survivor's or children's pension on or before
17 January 1, 1971, shall have his survivor's or children's
18 pension then being paid increased by 1% for each full year
19 which has elapsed from the date the pension began. On January
20 1, 1982, any survivor or child whose pension began after
21 January 1, 1971, but before January 1, 1981, shall have his
22 survivor's or children's pension then being paid increased 1%
23 for each full year which has elapsed from the date the
24 pension began. On January 1, 1987, any survivor or child
25 whose pension began on or before January 1, 1977, shall have
26 the monthly survivor's or children's pension increased by $1
27 for each full year which has elapsed since the pension began.
28 Beginning January 1, 1990, every survivor's and
29 children's pension shall be increased (1) on each January 1
30 occurring on or after the commencement of the pension if the
31 deceased teacher died while receiving a retirement pension,
32 or (2) in other cases, on each January 1 occurring on or
33 after the first anniversary of the commencement of the
34 pension, by an amount equal to 3% of the current amount of
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1 the pension, including all increases previously granted under
2 this Article, notwithstanding Section 17-157. Such increases
3 shall apply without regard to whether the deceased teacher
4 was in service on or after the effective date of this
5 amendatory Act of 1991, but shall not accrue for any period
6 prior to January 1, 1990.
7 Subject to the minimum established below, the maximum
8 amount of pension for a surviving spouse alone or one minor
9 child shall be $400 per month, and the maximum combined
10 pensions for a surviving spouse and children of the deceased
11 teacher shall be $600 per month, with individual pensions
12 adjusted for all beneficiaries pro rata to conform with this
13 limitation. If proration is unnecessary the minimum
14 survivor's and children's pensions shall be $40 per month.
15 The minimum total survivor's and children's pension payable
16 upon the death of a contributor or annuitant which occurs
17 after December 31, 1986, shall be 50% of the earned
18 retirement pension of such contributor or annuitant,
19 calculated without early retirement discount in the case of
20 death in service.
21 On death after retirement, the total survivor's and
22 children's pensions shall not exceed the monthly retirement
23 or disability pension paid to the deceased retirant.
24 Survivor's and children's benefits described in this Section
25 shall apply to all service and disability pensioners eligible
26 for a pension as of July 1, 1981.
27 For the purposes of this Section, the term "eligible
28 child" means an unmarried minor child of a deceased teacher
29 who is under 18 years of age or a child of a deceased teacher
30 who is disabled and was dependent upon the deceased teacher
31 at the time of his or her death regardless of age.
32 (Source: P.A. 90-32, eff. 6-27-97; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)
33 (40 ILCS 5/17-124) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 17-124)
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1 Sec. 17-124. Death Benefits - Death on pension. On
2 written application to the Board, there shall be paid to the
3 estate of a deceased teacher-pensioner pension payments,
4 accrued, temporarily withheld or represented by checks
5 uncashed at the date of his death and the excess, if any, of
6 an amount equal to his refundable contributions for service
7 or disability retirement pension over pension to the date of
8 death; provided, that if there be filed with the Board prior
9 to the death of the pensioner his written direction, signed
10 and acknowledged before an officer authorized to take
11 acknowledgments, that such payments be paid to designated
12 beneficiaries, they shall be so paid on written application
13 therefor to the Board. If none of several named beneficiaries
14 survives the pensioner and no directive was furnished by the
15 member to cover this contingency, the deceased beneficiary's
16 share shall be paid to the estate of the pensioner.
17 If a reversionary pension is payable upon death of a
18 pensioner, the determination and payment of any refund of
19 contributions payable under this Section shall be made upon
20 death of the reversionary pensioner. At such time a refund of
21 contributions less (1) the amount contributed for annual
22 increases in pension and (2) total pension payments to the
23 teacher-pensioner and survivor shall be paid in the manner
24 provided in this Section to the designated beneficiaries, or
25 estate of the deceased survivor.
26 If a pension is payable to a surviving spouse or eligible
27 child and/or minor children upon death of a pensioner, the
28 determination of any refund of contributions payable under
29 this Section shall be made when the last of those pensions is
30 no longer payable upon death of the survivor and marriage or
31 attainment of age 18 of minor children. At that time a refund
32 of contributions for retirement and survivors' and children's
33 pensions less total pension payments to the
34 teacher-pensioner, surviving spouse, and eligible survivor
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1 and minor children shall be paid in the manner provided in
2 this Section to the designated beneficiaries, or estate of
3 the deceased survivor.
4 If eligible beneficiaries for survivors' or children's
5 benefits existed at the time of a pensioner's retirement but
6 not on the date of his death thereafter, the excess of total
7 contributions for retirement and survivors' and children's
8 pensions over pensions paid shall be determined upon death of
9 the pensioner and paid in the manner provided in this Section
10 to the designated beneficiaries, or estate of the deceased
11 teacher-pensioner.
12 Reversionary or survivor's pension payments accrued,
13 temporarily withheld, or represented by uncashed checks to
14 the date of death shall be paid to the reversionary
15 pensioner's or survivor's designated beneficiaries, or estate
16 in the manner provided in this Section.
17 On death of a retired teacher whose death occurs on or
18 after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991,
19 there shall be payable a lump sum death benefit equal to 6
20 times the teacher's salary rate for his last month of service
21 or $10,000, whichever is less, upon death during the first
22 year on pension minus 1/5 of the death benefit, as defined
23 herein, for each year or fraction thereof on pension after
24 the first full year, to a minimum of $5,000.
25 Notwithstanding Section 17-157, the changes made in this
26 Section and Section 17-123 by this amendatory Act of 1991
27 shall apply to teachers dying on or after the effective date
28 of this amendatory Act of 1991 without regard to whether
29 service terminated prior to that date.
30 (Source: P.A. 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)
31 (40 ILCS 5/17-126.1 new)
32 Sec. 17-126.1. Repayment of survivor's refund. If any
33 person receives a survivor's refund pursuant to Section
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1 17-125 and chooses to reestablish a survivor's or children's
2 pension pursuant to Section 17-121, then he or she shall pay
3 back to the Fund the survivor refund together with interest
4 thereon at the rate of 5% per year, compounded annually from
5 the time the refund was paid to the date of repayment.
6 Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
7 Section 8.26 as follows:
8 (30 ILCS 805/8.26 new)
9 Sec. 8.26. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6
10 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required
11 for the implementation of any mandate created by this
12 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly.
13 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
14 becoming law.