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LEGISLATIVE BILL 743
Approved by the Governor April 14, 2026
Introduced by Juarez, 5.
A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to the Police Officers Retirement Act; to amend
section 16-1007, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska; to change
provisions relating to optional benefit forms; to provide an operative
date; and to repeal the original section.
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
Section 1. Section 16-1007, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
amended to read:
16-1007 (1) At any time before the retirement date, the retiring police
officer may elect to receive at his or her retirement date a pension benefit
either in the form of a straight life annuity or any optional form of annuity
benefit established by the retirement committee and provided under a purchased
annuity contract. The optional annuity benefit shall be specified in the
funding medium for the retirement system and shall include a straight life
annuity with a guarantee of at least sixty monthly payments or an annuity
payable for the life of the retiring police officer and, after the death of the
retiree, monthly payments, as elected by the retiring police officer, of either
one hundred percent, seventy-five percent, or fifty percent of the amount of
annuity payable to the retiring police officer during his or her life, to the
beneficiary selected by the retiring police officer at the time of the original
application for an annuity. The optional benefit forms for the retirement
system shall include a single lump-sum payment of the police officer's
retirement value or one or more partial payments of such retirement value in an
amount and frequency elected by the police officer. The retiring police officer
may further elect to defer the date of the first annuity payment or lump-sum
payment to the first day of any specified month prior to age seventy. If the
retiring police officer elects to receive his or her pension benefit in the
form of an annuity, the amount of annuity benefit shall be the amount paid by
the annuity contract purchased or otherwise provided by his or her retirement
value as of the date of the first payment. Any such annuity contract purchased
by the retirement system may be distributed to the police officer and, upon
such distribution, all obligations of the retirement system to pay retirement,
death, or disability benefits to the police officer and his or her
beneficiaries shall terminate, without exception.
(2)(a) For all officers employed on January 1, 1984, and continuously
employed by the city from such date through the date of their retirement, the
amount of the pension benefit, when determined on the straight life annuity
basis, shall not be less than the following amounts:
(i) If retirement occurs following age sixty and with twenty-five years of
service with the city, fifty percent of regular pay; or
(ii) If retirement occurs following age fifty-five but before age sixty
and with twenty-five years of service with the city, forty percent of regular
pay.
(b) A police officer entitled to a minimum pension benefit under this
subsection may elect to receive such pension benefit in any form permitted by
subsection (1) of this section, including a single lump-sum payment. If the
minimum pension benefit is paid in a form other than a straight life annuity,
such benefit shall be the actuarial equivalent of the straight life annuity
that would otherwise be paid to the officer pursuant to this subsection.
(c) If the police officer chooses the single lump-sum payment option, the
officer can request that the actuarial equivalent be equal to the average of
the cost of three annuity contracts based on products available for purchase in
Nebraska. Of the three annuity contracts used for comparison, one shall be
chosen by the police officer, one shall be chosen by the retirement committee,
and one shall be chosen by the city. The annuity contracts used for comparison
shall all use the same type of sex-neutral basis benefit calculation.
(3) If the retirement value of an officer entitled to a minimum pension
benefit under subsection (2) of this section is not sufficient at the time of
the first payment to purchase or provide the required pension benefit, the city
shall transfer such funds as may be necessary to the employer account of the
police officer so that the retirement value of such officer is sufficient to
purchase or provide for the required pension benefit.
(4) Any retiring police officer whose pension benefit is less than twenty-
five dollars per month on the straight life annuity option shall be paid a
lump-sum settlement equal to the retirement value and shall not be entitled to
elect to receive annuity benefits.
Sec. 2. This act becomes operative on October 1, 2026.
Sec. 3. Original section 16-1007, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska,
is repealed.
LB743
2026
LB743
2026
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