Early retirement.

2017
STATE OF WYOMING
17LSO-0050
ENGROSSED
2.1

SENATE FILE

NO.

SF0095

Early retirement.

Sponsored by:
Senator(s) Meier, Bebout, Driskill, Pappas and Perkins and Representative(s) Haley, Hunt, Jennings, Miller, Steinmetz and Zwonitzer

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to retirement; creating an early retirement option for state employees to be administered by the Wyoming retirement board; specifying qualifications of state employees eligible for early retirement; specifying payments and benefits for early retirement; providing for restrictions on filling and transferring vacant positions; requiring reports; providing for an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

(a)

The
Wyoming
retirement board shall offer an early retirement option to those state employees
who qualify under
the criteria provided in
section 2 of this act
. Qualified stat
e
employees
may
elect to take early retirement
beginning
April 1, 2017 through June 30, 2017.
The early retirement option provided by this act expires July 1, 2017 and a
ny election made
on or after
that date
is ineffective.
Unless earlier withdrawn by the qualified state employee, an election to take early retirement, once granted pursuant to this section, shall not be withdrawn and is a legally binding obligation of the state employee.

(b)

The Wyoming retirement board shall administer this act

according to rules the board may promulgate
.
Prior to April 1, 2017, the board shall identify
and notify
eligible state employees
that they are conditionally eligible for

the
early retirement
option provided by this act. Th
is
option
shall
not affect the authority of the board or the validity of
its
rules promulgated under W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
415(
b) to determine retirement benefit amounts reduced on an actuarial equivalent basis for members who are under sixty (60) years of age.

(c)

Employees electing to take early retirement shall submit a request to the director of the agency for which the employee works. To ensure the continued efficient operation of the agency, the director of the agency
may,

at the director's sole discretion but
with the approval of the appropriate
authority listed in section 4(c
) of this act,
grant the early retirement requ
est
up to two (2) years after receipt of the request, but in no case shall the director delay granting the req
uest later than June 30, 2019.
If the state employee is an employee of the executive branch, in addition to the director, the governor may in the governor's sole discretion and with notice to the employee's director either grant or deny an employee request for early retirement.

The director of the agency shall notify the Wyoming retirement board of all requests granted pursuant to this act.
The
payments and
benefits provided under this act shall commence on the date
the agency director grants the request
.

(d)

As used in this act "employee" and "state employee" mean
any individual entering into
the
service of or working under an employment contract with any agency of the state of Wyoming for which compensation is paid or
which qualifies the individual to participate
in the state retirement account and shall:

(i)

Not include employees of the University of Wyoming or any Wyoming community college;

(ii)

Not include school district employees; and

(iii)

Only include employees whose salary derives more than fifty percent (50%) from state funds. For purposes of this section "state funds" means funds for which the control of the fund is unrestricted for payment of salaries and benefits and any other purpose under this act
.

Section 2.

(
a
)

S
tate employees who qualify under this act are those state employees who
meet all of the following
:

(i)

H
ave been continuously employed by the state for at least two (2) years on the effective date of this act
;

(ii)

Are qualified under W.S.

9
‑
3
‑
415(
a) to take normal retirement benefits.

(
b
)

Supreme court
justices, all other judges and employees who are direct appointees of any of the five (5) state elected officials are excluded from eligibility for early retirement under this act.

Section 3.

(
a
)

I
n addition to
subsection (b) of this section, a state employee electing to take early retirement under this act
may
receive the
normal retirement benefits available

for the employee
under the Wyoming Retirement Act and monthly payments
by the state
for health insurance coverage for the employee and the employee's dependents
for up to five (5) years or
until the employee reaches age sixty
‑
five (65)
, whichever is less,

calculated as provided in subsection (b) of this section
. The month
ly
payments for health insurance coverage
authorized by this subsection
shall be determined
and issued
by the department of administration and information employees' and officials'
group insurance program and be in an amount
calculated as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

A state employee electing to take early retirement under this act whose
qualifying
status changes
before
July 1, 2017, may elect
before
July 1, 2017 to receive monthly
payments for family coverage calculated as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

(b)

A
state employee electing to take early retirement under this act
shall receive the following

as determined and issued by the department of administration and information
:

(i)

An amount not to exceed thirty-one thousand seven hundred fifty-two dollars ($31,752.00) for family coverage or an amount not to exceed twenty thousand one hundred eighty-four dollars ($20,184.00) for single coverage:

(A)

Applied to the employee's monthly health insurance premium for up to five (5) years according to the period of time the employee elects to maintain coverage; and

(B)

Provided the employee pays any remaining monthly balance due for the health insurance
premium.

(ii)

For e
mployees who are age sixty
‑
seven
(6
7
) or older on the date the request submitted under section
1

of this act
is granted
,
a bonus equal to
two
(
2
) months of the employee's current salary, exclusive of longevity pay, in a lump sum.

(
c
)

If
a
n employee
who is
receiving
monthly payments for
health
insurance
coverage
under subsection (a) of t
his section

becomes eligible
because of new employment
for
any other health care plan
with comparable coverage and benefits as determined by the
department of administration and information
employees
'
and officials
'
group insurance
program
, the employee
shall
:

(i)

No longer be
eligible for payments
for health insurance coverage

under subsection (a) of this section
in the month following the month in which
the employee
became eligible for coverage under the new plan;

(ii)

N
otify the
department of administration and information
employees
'
and officials
'
group insurance
program
which shall notify the agency from which the employee retired to discontinue
payments
for health insurance coverage
in the month following the month in which
the employee
became eligible for coverage under the new plan;

(iii)

R
epay the agency from which
the employee
retired any payments
for health insurance coverage
made after the month in which
the employee
became eligible for coverage under the new plan and prior to the employee providing the notice required by paragraph (ii) of this subsection, together with interest of ten percent (10%) per annum from the date of the payments.

Section 4.

(
a
)

Fifty percent (50%) of any vacancies
in a
ny
position created by a
state employee electing to take early retirement under this
act shall be filled
only
:

(i)

Notwithstanding W.S.

9
‑
2
‑
1005(a) and (c), after the governor exercises sole discretion and authority to transfer up to thirty percent (30%) of the vacancies eligible to be repopulated among or between agencies in the executive branch. Any position the governor transfers shall include the position and a
ppropriation attached thereto;

(ii)

Subject to available funds within each agency's available personal services (100 series) appropriation; and

(iii)

Upon fully obligating sufficient funds to pay
separation costs and benefit
costs under this act
.

(b)

An early retire
e
under this act shall cease to be eligible for further payments and benefits under this act in the month following the month in which the retiree:

(i)

Is employed as a full
‑
time employee by
the executive
,
legislative
or judicial
branch
;

(ii)

Is employed under any contract of employment by
the

executive
,
legislative
or judicial
branch
; or

(iii)

P
rovide
s
services to
the

executive
,
legislative
or judicial
branch
where the retiree:

(A)

Is an independent contractor or a contract employee under a contract; or

(B)

Is an owner, partner, officer or stockholder of the entity which has contracted with the
executive
,
legislative
or judicial
branch
to provide the
services.

(c)

For executive branch, the governor, for legislative branch, the management council and for judicial branch, the chief justice of
Wyoming

shall
prepare a report
not later than August 1 of each year that
summariz
es
the cost savings which have accrued
for the previous fiscal year
as a result of th
e
early retirement
option
provided by this act
. The governor shall specify the format for the
reports

and distribute the
reports
annually to the legislature prior t
o the convening of the session.

(d)

Not later than August 1 of each year, the Wyoming retirement board shall analyze any state retirement programs under which any employee retires under this act and certify any actuarially unfunded liability resulting from retirement under this act. Not later than sixty (60) days after receiving the report required by this subsection from the Wyoming retirement board and the reports in subsection (c) of this section, the state auditor shall certify the savings identified in subsection (c) of this section and transfer up to the certified amount of the actuarially unfunded liabilities from the realized savings to the Wyoming retirement board for deposit into the appropriate state retirement plan fund
.

Section
5
.

The amount of money necessary to meet the bonus payments under this act is appropriated and shall be expended from the fund and account from which an electing employee's salary
was
paid prior to the election. The amount of money necessary to meet the
payments for
health insurance
coverage
under this act shall be paid from any
personal service funds available in the employing agency's biennial budget.

Section
6
.

This act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

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SF0095