2017 Session
Key: + - Bill has been enacted into law; * - Bill is dead; # - Bill has been tabled or referred to interim study; ^ - Bill is subject to further action in 2018.
House Bill 294 *
This bill requires that the actuarial and professional costs related to statutorily mandated analysis of proposed legislation done by the retirement system be reimbursed from general funds not otherwise appropriated. Currently, these costs are paid from the NHRS trust fund.
House Bill 366 *
This bill modifies the calculation of average final compensation for retirement system members who commenced service on or after July 1, 2011 or who had not attained vested status prior to January 1, 2012.
House Bill 369 *
This bill extends the period of amortization for the unfunded accrued liability of the New Hampshire retirement system by 10 years.
House Bill 405 +
This bill requires the upcoming decennial retirement commission established in RSA 100-A:57 to review the following issues: the feasibility and cost of eliminating the reduction in a Group I retiree’s retirement allowance at the age of 65; the current plan for paying off the retirement system’s unfunded actuarial accrued liability; the effects of retirees returning to work, and; the effects that changes to employer contribution rates have on municipalities.
House Bill 413 *
This bill requires the state to pay 15 percent of employer contributions for teachers, police officers and firefighters employed by political subdivisions beginning in fiscal year 2018.
House Bill 415 *
This bill requires the state to pay 35 percent of employer contributions for teachers, police officers and firefighters employed by political subdivisions beginning in fiscal year 2021. This bill establishes an income tax. This bill also reduces the rates of the business profits tax and repeals the business enterprise tax, the education tax, the utility property tax, and the interest and dividends tax.
House Bill 418 +
This bill repeals the duties of the State Retiree Health Plan Commission to analyze and make recommendations regarding premium contributions contained in RSA 100-A:56, III(c) and (d). (Note: Although this commission is included in RSA 100-A, NHRS has no role in it; state retiree medical benefits are administered by the Risk Management Unit of the Department of Administrative Services, not the retirement system.)
House Bill 421 *
This bill allows the Board of Trustees of the retirement system to revoke a member’s benefits if the member is convicted of a crime related to his or her public office or public employment which occurred during active service and for which the member resigned or was dismissed from employment.
House Bill 425 *
This bill requires the retirement system to use the assumed rate of return of 7.75 percent for calculating employer contribution rates for the biennium beginning July 1, 2017, and to recertify employer rates to reflect the rate of return change.
House Bill 542 *
This bill requires a retired member of the retirement system who becomes employed part-time with a retirement system employer to pay a fee to the retirement system.
House Bill 543 *
This bill prohibits a retiree in the New Hampshire Retirement System from working part-time for the same employer from which he or she retired.
House Bill 548 *
This bill changes the normal retirement age for non-vested and newly hired Group I employees of retirement system employers to be the normal retirement age under the federal Social Security Act.
House Bill 561 ^
This bill (1) requires a retirement system employer to notify NHRS when it learns of instances where a retiree exceeds the statutory definition of part-time; (2) allows the NHRS executive director (E.D.) to suspend a member’s retirement allowance for exceeding the statutory limitations for part-time employment in RSA 100-A:1, XXXIV, with the provision that the suspension may be waived or reduced for “good cause”; (3) allows the E.D. to assess a penalty on an employer that knew that a retiree inaccurately recorded or failed to record his or her time; and (4) requires employers to notify NHRS and pay the portion of the employer contribution rate attributable to the unfunded actuarial accrued liability and medical subsidy for part-time or interim employees working in a position substantially similar to a position that was formerly a full-time, NHRS membership position, and was filled within 12 months of the vacancy.
House Bill 593 #
This bill grants Group II status to certain positions in the department of corrections. Persons employed in those positions with service prior to the effective date shall be eligible for split benefits.
House Bill 631 #
This bill establishes a cash balance pension plan for retirement system members who begin service with the state on or after July 1, 2017. Teacher, police, fire, and employee members of political subdivision employers hired on or after July 1, 2017, would become cash balance plan members if their employers elect to participate in the plan.
House Bill 644 *
This bill extends the interest and dividends tax to capital gains, increases exemptions for the tax, and appropriates $45 million per year, beginning July 1, 2017, to offset political subdivision employer contributions to NHRS.
Senate Bill 140 +
This bill establishes three-year terms for members of the retirement system’s Independent Investment Committee.
Senate Bill 219 #
This bill grants a one-time additional allowance of $500 to NHRS retirees who meet all of the following criteria: (1) retired with more than 20 years of service; (2) has been retired for five years or more as of 7/1/17; (3), receives an annual pension benefit of $30,000 or less. The bill makes a general fund appropriation for the retirement allowances.
Senate Bill 231 *
This bill allows a part-time judge of the circuit court to retire and collect a pension under the provisions of RSA 100-A and elect senior active or judicial referee status.