HCS/HB 1139 - This act establishes the 2012 State Employee Retirement Incentive Program. This program applies to employees covered under the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS), who have not been a retiree of the system, that are eligible to receive a normal or life annuity, that terminate employment on or after December 1, 2012, whose annuity commences between January 1, 2013, and March 1, 2013, and have ten years of creditable service. These employees will be eligible to receive a years of service incentive benefit. Any employee terminated for cause will not be eligible to receive this incentive benefit. The incentive benefit will be an amount equal to $1,000 for each year of creditable service up to a maximum of 20 years. The state, through the Office of Administration, must pay the benefit to the retiree or the retiree's beneficiary in five equal installments beginning in March 2013, and each March thereafter until all five installments have been paid. An employee electing to take this retirement incentive is prohibited from any future full-time or part-time employment with a state department.
The state may only fill positions vacated under this program using up to fifty percent of the funds from the vacated positions, unless the position is federally funded.
Certain state higher education institutions, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Department of Conservation may elect to provide their employees with similar benefits provided by this program.
MOSERS must submit a report to the Commissioner of the Office of Administration by July 31, 2013, regarding the number of state employees eligible to retire and the actual number of retirements utilizing this program. The commissioner must then report this information to the Governor and General Assembly by August 31, 2013, along with a cost and savings analysis, the payroll reduction amount, and the number of positions that are core cut as a result of these retirements. The Commissioner must also submit an annual update concerning the program for the next four years beginning August 31, 2014.
MIKE HAMMANN