HCS SB 761 -- KANSAS CITY TEACHERS RETIREMENT

This bill makes several changes to the Public School Retirement System of Kansas City. The definition of normal retirement age currently provides for 80 credits (years of age plus years of service); the bill lowers this figure to 75. Effective January 1, 1999, the employer and employee contribution rises to 7.5%.

The current minimum disability retirement benefit is 25% of final average compensation; the bill sets the minimum at the lesser of 25% or the service retirement allowance calculated as though the member had earned creditable service until the age of 60. The bill also removes a prohibition on the availability of retirement benefit options for disability retirees. Applications for disability retirement can be made after a member ceases to be an active member if the disability began while the member was active and if the application is made no more than 6 months after the disabled member ceases employment. The bill clarifies that benefits for disability retirants earning more than the difference between disability pay plus social security and the current rate of compensation for the position the person held at retirement will be reduced for those who have not yet reached normal retirement age. Disability retirants are permitted, as regular retirants currently are, to elect optional allowances for beneficiaries.

The multiplier for retirement benefits is currently 1.34% of final average compensation, with a maximum of 60%; the bill changes the multiplier for members retiring on or after June 30, 1999, to 2%, retaining the 60% maximum. Currently the board of trustees determines each year if benefits can be increased for retirants of at least age 65 who have been retired for 14 months. The bill allows eligibility for increases to persons receiving benefits on the fourth January following the commencement of their retirement benefits. The bill also clarifies that those former members whose benefits will be transferred to the general reserve fund when they cannot be contacted to receive their accumulated contributions are limited to unvested former members.

The bill also makes a technical change to the section that permits certain entities to seek a declaratory judgment concerning the Hancock amendment to make it applicable to all new benefit features under the chapter.

Missouri House of Representatives