Allows law enforcement officers in PERS to transfer to and enroll in PFRS; requires all law enforcement officers to be enrolled in PFRS.

S3192

SENATE, No. 3192

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED JANUARY 28, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� CARMEN F. AMATO, JR.

District 9 (Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Allows law enforcement officers in PERS to transfer
to and enroll in PFRS; requires all law enforcement officers to be enrolled in
PFRS.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

allowing law enforcement officers to transfer
and enroll in the Police and Firemen's Retirement System and supplementing
P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1 et seq.).

����
Be It Enacted

by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Notwithstanding the
provisions of P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1 et seq.) to the contrary, any law
enforcement officer who is enrolled on the effective date of this act in the
Public Employees' Retirement System, established pursuant to P.L.1954, c.84
(C.43:15A-1 et seq.) and meets the requirements for membership in the Police
and Firemen's Retirement System as set forth in the definition of
"policeman" in section 1 of P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1), may
transfer membership to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System, by waiving
all rights and benefits which would otherwise be provided by the Public
Employees' Retirement System. A law enforcement officer may continue membership
in the Public Employees' Retirement System by waiving all rights and benefits
which would otherwise be provided by the Police and Firemen's Retirement
System.� Such waivers shall be accomplished by filing forms satisfactory to the
board of trustees within 90 days after the effective date of this act.� In the
absence of the filing of a timely waiver by an eligible law enforcement
officer, the pension status of that law enforcement officer shall remain
unchanged, and the membership of the law enforcement officer shall not be
transferred to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System.

���� 2.��� Within 120 days after
the effective date of this act, the Public Employees' Retirement system shall
remit to the Police and Firemen's Retirement System all accumulated deductions
standing to the credit of each transferred employee as a member of that retirement
system, and within 180 days following the effective date of this act remit the
pro-rata part of the reserve fund constituting the employer's obligations under
the Public Employees' Retirement System applicable to the employee's account,
and the Police and Firemen's Retirement System shall then enter the respective
sums so remitted to it to the credit of the employee in the annuity savings
fund and to the credit of the employer in the pension accumulation fund of the
Police and Firemen's Retirement System.� Regular interest shall be added to the
employer's obligations if the moneys are not remitted within the periods
prescribed by this section.

���� 3.��� The transferred
employees shall be members of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System and
deductions from their salaries and contributions on their behalf shall
thereafter be made as required by P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1 et seq.).� The
transferred employees shall have the same contribution obligation and enjoy the
same rights and benefits as other members of the retirement system.� Any credit
for public service which had been established in the Public Employees'
Retirement System by the transferred employee shall be established in the
Police and Firemen's Retirement System.

���� 4.��� The actuary of the
Police and Firemen's Retirement System shall calculate the liability of each
employer of employees becoming members of the Police and Firemen's Retirement
System under this act, taking into account the value of moneys remitted by the
Public Employees' Retirement System.� In the event that the value of the money
so remitted is less than the total which is required by the Police and
Firemen's Retirement System to provide the transferred member with credit for
all public service, the employee shall be responsible for the amount equal to
the difference between these two values.� The payment may be made in a lump sum
or in regular monthly installments equal to at least 1/2 the employee's normal
contribution to the retirement system over a period of 10 years, as the
employee may elect, pursuant to rules and regulations as may be promulgated by
the board of trustees.

���� 5.��� Notwithstanding the
provisions of P.L.1944, c.255 (C.43:16A-1 et seq.) to the contrary, any law
enforcement officer hired on or after the effective date of this act, P.L.��
c.�� (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be enrolled in the
Police and Firemen's Retirement System.

���� 6.��� The Board of Trustees of
the Police and Firemen�s Retirement System may promulgate rules and regulations
pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410

(C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the purposes of this act.

���� 7.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill allows certain law
enforcement officers to transfer and enroll in the Police and Firemen's
Retirement System.� It provides that a law enforcement officer who is enrolled
in the Public Employees' Retirement System may transfer to the Police and Firemen's
Retirement System by waiving all rights and benefits which would otherwise be
provided by the Public Employees' Retirement System.� Any law enforcement
officer may continue membership in the Public Employees' Retirement System by
waiving all rights and benefits which would otherwise be provided by the Police
and Firemen's Retirement System.� Such waivers would be accomplished by filing
forms satisfactory to the board of trustees within 90 days after the enactment
of this bill.

���� The actuary of the Police and
Firemen's Retirement System would be required to calculate the liability of
each employer of the employees becoming members of the Police and Firemen's
Retirement System, taking into account the value of moneys remitted by the
Public Employees' Retirement System.� In the event that the value of the money
so remitted is less than the total which is required by the Police and
Firemen's Retirement System to provide the transferred member with credit for
all public service, the employee is responsible for the amount equal to the
difference between these two values.

���� Any law enforcement officer
hired on or after the enactment of this bill would be enrolled in the Police
and Firemen's Retirement System.