SENATE STATE MANAGEMENT, INVESTMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 853

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: OCTOBER 7, 1996

      The Senate State Management, Investment and Financial Institutions Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate, No. 853.

      The board of trustees of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) approved the title of criminal investigator in the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety for coverage under the retirement system pursuant to subsection b. of section 2 of P.L.1989, c.204 (C.43:16A-1.2). However, not all persons holding that title were able to join the retirement system because of a previous PFRS age 35 membership restriction, which is no longer in effect, and were enrolled in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). The purpose of this bill is to allow any criminal investigator in the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety enrolled in PERS to transfer from PERS to PFRS. Any service credit which has been established in PERS by the transferred employee shall be established in PFRS. PERS shall remit to PFRS all accumulated deductions standing to the credit of each transferred employee and the pro-rata part of the reserve fund constituting the employer's obligations under the former system applicable to each employee's account. The transferring employee shall be responsible for payment to PFRS of the amount of the difference between the contribution that the employee paid to PERS and the contribution that would have been required if the employee had been a member of PFRS since the date on which the person's appointment as a criminal investigator became effective, plus regular interest at the rate applicable on the date of the transfer.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill to allow any criminal investigator in the Division of Criminal Justice in PERS to transfer to PFRS, since that position is a PFRS title and the age 35 membership restriction is no longer in effect, rather than limit the bill's applicability to persons who were not able to enroll in PFRS because of an administrative procedural delay which prevented them from meeting the former age requirement.