FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 351
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS JOHNSON AND RUSSELL.
Read 1st time January 26, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S1078.02I
AN ACT
To repeal section 104.517, RSMo Supp. 1998, relating to state employee benefits, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject, with an effective date.
Section A. Section 104.517, RSMo Supp. 1998, is repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 9.015 and 104.517, to read as follows:
9.015. 1. State offices shall be open Monday through Friday year-round and all such days shall be considered regular workdays except for the following holidays: the first day of January, the third Monday of January, the third Monday in February, the last Monday in May, the fourth day of July, the first Monday in September, the eleventh day of November, the fourth Thursday in November and the Friday immediately following such fourth Thursday, and the twenty-fifth of December. When any of such holidays falls upon Saturday, the Friday immediately preceding shall be considered the holiday. When any of such holidays falls upon Sunday, the Monday next following shall be considered the holiday.
2. The governor and the appointing authority in charge of each agency or facility may determine which facilities or offices shall remain open seven days a week, or other schedule, including holidays, for the safety and convenience of the public.
3. The personnel advisory board, under the authority granted to it in section 36.350, RSMo, shall promulgate rules regarding annual leave and holiday leave for state employees, to take effect as of January 1, 2000, which shall ensure that employees hired before January 1, 2000, retain at least the same amount of combined annual leave and holiday leave that they received prior to January 1, 2000.
4. Personnel whose normal duties require them to remain on duty at their workstation for shifts of twenty-four hours or longer shall be exempt from the provisions of this section. Their holidays and holiday compensation shall be as established by the appointing authority, subject to review and approval by the personnel advisory board, consistent with the work schedule necessary to accommodate the safety and convenience of the public.
5. Any state employee who has requested annual leave and has received approval of that request in accordance with the appointing authority's procedures shall receive payment at the normal hourly rate of pay in lieu of leave for such amount of annual leave time if supervisory approval is subsequently withdrawn requiring the employee to be on duty for the hours for which leave was requested and approved.
104.517. 1. [The board shall provide or contract, or both, for life insurance benefits for employees pursuant to sections 104.320 to 104.540, persons covered by sections 287.812 to 287.855, RSMo, and for employees who are members of the judicial retirement system as provided in section 476.590, RSMo, and at the election of the state highways and transportation commission shall include employees who are members of the state transportation department employees' and highway patrol retirement system as follows:
(1) Employees are entitled to fifteen thousand dollars of life insurance. Coverage shall be effective on the first day of the month coinciding with or next following the employee's date of membership;
(2)] Effective January 1, 2001, the system shall provide or contract or both for basic life insurance for employees under this chapter, persons covered by sections 287.812 to 287.855, RSMo, for employees who are members of the judicial retirement system as provided in section 476.590, RSMo, and at the election of the state highways and transportation commission, employees who are members of the state transportation department employees' and highway patrol retirement system, in the amount of one times annual pay subject to a minimum amount of fifteen thousand dollars. Such life insurance shall provide for triple indemnity in the event the cause of death is a proximate result of a personal injury or disease arising out of and in the course of the actual performance of duty as an employee. Life insurance benefits shall cease on the date of termination of employment and a conversion of such life insurance benefits shall be available. However, a member eligible to receive a lump sum death benefit as provided in subsection 4 of section 104.515 shall be entitled to convert any amount of terminated life insurance benefit in excess of the benefit provided in said section.
2. (1) In addition to the life insurance authorized by the provisions of subsection 1 of this section, any person for whom life insurance is provided or contracted for pursuant to such subsection may purchase, at the person's own expense and only if monthly voluntary payroll deductions are authorized, additional life insurance at a cost to be stipulated in a contract with a private insurance company or as may be required by the system if the board of trustees determines that the system should provide such insurance itself. The maximum amount of additional life insurance which may be so purchased on or after January 1, 1998, is that amount which equals six times the amount of the person's annual compensation, except that if such maximum amount is not evenly divisible by one thousand dollars, then the maximum amount of additional insurance which may be purchased is the next higher amount evenly divisible by one thousand dollars. The selection of a private insurance company to provide this life insurance shall be on the basis of competitive bidding.
(2) Any person defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection retiring on or after September 1, 1988, may retain an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars of life insurance following the date of his or her retirement if such person makes written application for such life insurance at the same time such person's application is made to the board for retirement benefits. Any person, defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection, retiring on or after May 1, 1996, may retain an amount not to exceed sixty thousand dollars of life insurance following the date of the person's retirement if such person makes written application for such life insurance at the same time such person applies to the board for retirement benefits. Such life insurance shall only be provided if such person pays the entire cost of the insurance, as determined by the board, by allowing voluntary deductions from the member's monthly retirement benefits.
(3) Effective January 1, 1998, in addition to the life insurance authorized in subsection 1 of this section, any person for whom life insurance is provided or contracted for pursuant to such subsection may purchase, at the person's own expense and only if monthly voluntary payroll deductions are authorized, life insurance covering the person's children or the person's spouse or both the person's children and the person's spouse at coverage amounts to be determined by the board at a cost to be stipulated in a contract with a private insurance company or as may be required by the system if the board of trustees determines that the system should provide such insurance itself.
Section B. The repeal and reenactment of section 104.517 shall become effective January 1, 2001.