SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1404

88TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES O'TOOLE (Sponsor), AUER, MAY (108) AND O'NEILL.

Read 1st time February 1, 1996 and 1000 copies ordered printed.

DOUGLAS W. BURNETT, Chief Clerk

L3218.01I

AN ACT

To repeal sections 87.130, 87.205, 87.220 and 87.235, RSMo 1994, relating to firemen's retirement and relief systems in certain cities, and to enact in lieu thereof four new sections relating to the same subject.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 87.130, 87.205, 87.220 and 87.235, RSMo 1994, are repealed and four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 87.130, 87.205, 87.220 and 87.235, to read as follows:

87.130. 1. All persons who are firemen shall be members as a condition of their employment and shall receive no pension or retirement allowance from any other pension or retirement system supported wholly or in part by the city or the state of Missouri because of years of service for which they are entitled to benefits under this system nor shall they be required to make contributions under any other pension or retirement system of the city or the state of Missouri, anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

2. If any member, in any period of five consecutive years after last becoming a member, is absent from service for more than four years unless [he] the member has twenty years or more of creditable service, or if any member withdraws [his] the member's accumulated contributions, or if any member becomes a beneficiary, [he] the person shall thereupon cease to be a member; except in the case of a member who has served in the armed forces of the United States or retired pursuant to section 87.170 and is subsequently reinstated as a fireman or as a member in beneficiary status as a widow.

3. Any member who is reinstated after retiring pursuant to conditions in section 87.170 shall not be eligible to participate in the benefit provided pursuant to section 87.182.

87.205. 1. Upon retirement for accidental disability, a member shall receive seventyfive percent of the pay then provided by law for the highest step in the range of salary for the title or rank held by [said] such member at the time of such retirement unless [he] the member is permanently and totally incapacitated from performing any work, occupation or vocation of any kind whatsoever and is continuously confined to [his] the member's home except for visits to obtain medical treatment, in which event [he] the member may receive, in the discretion of the board of trustees, a retirement allowance in an amount not exceeding [his] the member's rate of compensation as a fireman in effect as of the date the allowance begins.

2. Anyone who has retired pursuant to the provisions of section 87.170 and has been reinstated pursuant to subsection 2 of section 87.130 who subsequently becomes disabled as provided in section 87.200 shall receive a total benefit which is the higher of either the disability pension or the service pension.

87.220. 1. Upon the receipt of proper proofs of the death of a member who retired while in service, including retirement for service, ordinary disability or accidental disability, prior to September 28, 1983, and provided no other benefits are payable, there shall be paid the following benefits:

(1) A retirement allowance to all widows during their widowhood of fifty percent of the deceased member's average final compensation or two hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater, plus ten percent of such compensation to or for the benefit of each unmarried dependent child of the deceased member who is either under age eighteen or who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated regardless of age, but not in excess of three children, including both classes, and paid as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(2) If no widow benefits are payable [under] pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, such total allowance as would have been paid [thereunder] had there been a widow shall be divided among the unmarried dependent children under age eighteen and such unmarried children, regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, and paid, to or for the benefit of such children, as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct[, except that not more than onehalf of the widow's benefit shall be paid to one child];

[(3) If there is no widow, or child under the age of eighteen years, or child, regardless of age, who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, then an amount equal to the widow's benefit shall be paid to his estate, as the board of trustees shall direct.]

(3) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child or children under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall be paid beyond the age of eighteen years through the age of twenty-five years in such cases where the child is a full-time student at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school, school for technical or vocational training or university, but such benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. A college or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited which maintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by any state college or university.

2. Upon the receipt of proper proofs of the death of a member in service or who retired while in service, including retirement for service, ordinary disability or accidental disability, after September 28, 1983, and provided no other benefits are payable, there shall be paid the following benefits:

(1) A retirement allowance to all widows during their widowhood of twentyfive percent of the deceased member's average final compensation or two hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater, plus ten percent of such compensation to or for the benefit of each unmarried dependent child of the deceased member who is either under age eighteen or who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated regardless of age, but not in excess of three children, including both classes, and paid as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct;

(2) If no widow's benefits are payable [under] pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, such total allowance as would have been paid [thereunder] had there been a widow shall be divided among the unmarried dependent children under age eighteen and such unmarried children, regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, and paid to or for the benefit of such children, as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct[, except that no more than onehalf of the widow's benefit shall be paid to one child];

[(3) If there is no widow, or child under the age of eighteen years, or child, regardless of age, who is totally and permanently mentally or physically incapacitated, then an amount equal to the widow's benefit shall be paid to his estate, as the board of trustees shall direct.]

(3) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child or children under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall be paid beyond the age of eighteen years through the age of twenty-five years in such cases where the child is a full-time student at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school, school for technical or vocational training or university, but such benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. A college or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited which maintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by any state college or university.

87.235. 1. Upon the receipt of evidence and proof that the death of a member was the result of an accident or exposure at any time or place, provided that at [said] such time or place the member was in the actual performance of [his] the member's duty and, in the case of an exposure, while in response to an emergency call, or was acting pursuant to orders, there shall be paid in lieu of all other benefits the following benefits:

(1) A retirement allowance to the widow during [her] the person's widowhood of fifty percent of the deceased member's average final compensation, plus ten percent of such compensation to or for the benefit of each unmarried dependent child of the deceased member, who is either under the age of eighteen, or who is totally and permanently mentally or physically disabled and incapacitated, regardless of age, but not in excess of a total of three children, including both classes, and paid as the board of trustees in its discretion directs;

(2) If no widow benefits are payable [under] pursuant to subdivision (1), such total allowance as would have been paid had there been a widow shall be divided among the unmarried dependent children under the age of eighteen and such unmarried children, regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physically disabled and incapacitated, and paid to or for the benefit of such children as the board of trustees in its discretion shall direct[, except that not more than onehalf of the widow's benefits shall be paid for one child];

(3) If there is no widow, or child under the age of eighteen years, or child, regardless of age, who is totally and permanently mentally or physically disabled and incapacitated, then an amount equal to the widow's benefit shall be paid to [his] the member's dependent father or dependent mother, as the board of trustees shall direct, to continue until remarriage or death[.];

(4) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child or children under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall be paid beyond the age of eighteen years through the age of twenty-five years in such cases where the child is a full-time student at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school, school for technical or vocational training or university, but such benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. A college or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited which maintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by any state college or university.

2. No benefits [under] pursuant to this section shall be paid to a child over eighteen years of age who is totally and permanently mentally or physically disabled and incapacitated, if such child is a patient or ward in a publicsupported institution.

3. Wherever any dependent child designated by the board of trustees to receive benefits [under] pursuant to this section is in the care of the widow of the deceased member, the child's benefits may be paid to the widow for the child.