SSB 3060 (LSB 5444XC (5) 88)

SENATE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND BUSINESS RELATIONS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON SCHULTZ)

A BILL FOR

An Act concerning benefits under the municipal fire and police retirement system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 411.1, subsection 14, Code 2020, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   14.  “Member in good standing” means any member in service who has not been terminated by the employing city of the member pursuant to section 400.18 or 400.19. Termination procedures initiated by the chief of police or chief of the fire department pursuant to section 400.19 shall not become final or adversely impact a member’s status as a member in good standing until all appeals provided by an applicable collective bargaining agreement or by law have been exhausted. Disciplinary action other than discharge shall not adversely affect a member’s status as a member in good standing.
    Sec. 2.  Section 411.6, subsection 5, paragraphs a and b, Code 2020, are amended to read as follows:
   a.  Upon application to the system, of a member in good standing, of a beneficiary, or of the chief of the police or fire departments, respectively, any member in good standing or beneficiary who has become totally and permanently incapacitated for duty as the natural and proximate result of an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place or arising out of and in the course of the employment, or while acting pursuant to order, outside of the city by which the member is regularly employed, shall be retired by the system if the medical board certifies that the member or beneficiary is mentally or physically incapacitated for further performance of duty, that the incapacity is likely to be permanent, and that the member or beneficiary should be retired. However, if a person’s membership in the system first commenced on or after July 1, 1992, the member or beneficiary shall not be eligible for benefits with respect to a disability which would not exist, but for a medical condition that was known to exist on the date that membership commenced. A medical condition shall be deemed to have been known to exist on the date that membership commenced if the medical condition is reflected in any record or document completed or obtained in accordance with the system’s medical protocols pursuant to section 400.8, or in any other record or document obtained pursuant to an application for disability benefits from the system, if such record or document existed prior to the date membership commenced. A member who is denied a benefit under this subsection, by reason of a finding by the medical board that the member is not mentally or physically incapacitated for the further performance of duty, shall be entitled to be restored to active service in the same position held immediately prior to the application for disability benefits.
   b.  If a member in service or the chief of the police or fire departments becomes incapacitated for duty as a natural or proximate result of an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by the actual performance of duty at some definite time or place arising out of or in course of the employment, or while acting, pursuant to order, outside the city by which the member is regularly employed, the member, upon being found to be temporarily incapacitated following a medical examination as directed by the city, is entitled to receive the member’s full pay and allowances from the city’s general fund or trust and agency fund until reexamined as directed by the city and found to be fully recovered or until the city determines that the member is likely to be permanently disabled. If the temporary incapacity of a member continues more than sixty days, or if the city expects the incapacity to continue more than sixty days, the city shall notify the system of the temporary incapacity. Upon notification by a city, the system may refer the matter to the medical board for review and consultation with the member’s treating physician during the temporary incapacity. Except as provided by this paragraph, the board of trustees of the statewide system has no jurisdiction over these matters until the city determines that the disability is likely to be permanent.
    Sec. 3.  Section 411.6, subsection 5, paragraph c, Code 2020, is amended by adding the following new subparagraph:
   NEW SUBPARAGRAPH.  (2A)  Disease under this subsection shall also mean any incapacitating mental disorder arising out of and in the course of the employment, or while acting, pursuant to order, outside the city by which the member is regularly employed. A disease shall qualify as an incapacitating mental disorder irrespective of the absence of similar effects on other members.
    Sec. 4.  Section 411.6, subsection 6, paragraph c, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  Upon retirement for accidental disability on or after July 1, 1998, or a determination that a beneficiary is entitled to a retirement for accidental disability, a member or beneficiary shall receive an accidental disability retirement allowance which shall consist of a pension in an amount equal to the greater of sixty percent of the member’s average final compensation or the retirement allowance that the member would receive under subsection 2 if the member had attained fifty-five years of age.
    Sec. 5.  Section 411.6, subsection 7, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   The system may, and upon the member’s application by the member or beneficiary shall, require any disability beneficiary who has not yet attained age fifty-five to undergo a medical examination at a place designated by the medical board. The examination shall be made by the medical board or, in special cases, by an additional physician or physicians designated by such board. If any disability beneficiary who has not attained the age of fifty-five refuses to submit to the medical examination, the member’s allowance may be discontinued until withdrawal of such refusal, and if the refusal continues for one year all rights in and to the member’s pension may be revoked by the system. For a disability beneficiary who has not attained the age of fifty-five and whose entitlement to a disability retirement commenced on or after July 1, 2000, the medical board may, as part of the examination required by this subsection, suggest appropriate medical treatment or rehabilitation if, in the opinion of the medical board, the recommended treatment or rehabilitation would likely restore the disability beneficiary to duty.
    Sec. 6.  Section 411.6, subsection 9, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  If, upon the receipt of evidence and proof from the chief of the police or fire department that the death of a member in service was the natural and proximate result of an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place or arising out of and in the course of the employment, or while acting pursuant to order, outside of the city by which the member is regularly employed, the system decides that death was so caused in the performance of duty, there shall be paid, in lieu of the ordinary death benefit provided in subsection 8, an accidental death benefit as set forth in this subsection.
    Sec. 7.  Section 411.15, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   411.15  Hospitalization and medical attention.
   Cities shall provide hospital, nursing, and medical attention for the members of the police and fire departments of the cities, when injured while in the performance of their duties as members of such department or for injuries and diseases arising out of and in the course of the employment, and shall continue to provide hospital, nursing, and medical attention for all injuries or diseases incurred while in the performance of their duties or arising out of and in the course of the employment for members or beneficiaries receiving a retirement allowance under section 411.6, subsection 6. Cities may fund the cost of the hospital, nursing, and medical attention required by this section through the purchase of insurance, by self-insuring the obligation, or through payment of moneys into a local government risk pool established for the purpose of covering the costs associated with the requirements of this section. However, the cost of the hospital, nursing, and medical attention required by this section shall not be funded through an employee-paid health insurance policy. The cost of the hospital, nursing, and medical attention required by this section shall be paid from moneys held in a trust and agency fund established pursuant to section 384.6, or out of the appropriation for the department to which the injured person belongs or belonged; provided that any amounts received by the injured person from any other source for such specific purposes, shall be deducted from the amount paid by the city under the provisions of this section.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill concerns benefits under the municipal fire and police retirement system established under Code chapter 411.
   The bill amends the definition of “member in good standing” to mean any member in service who has not been terminated by the employing city of the member.
   Code section 411.6(5), concerning accidental disability benefits, is amended to allow a beneficiary to make application to the retirement system for an accidental disability retirement benefit. The subsection is further amended to provide that a person is entitled to pay and allowances if determined to be temporarily incapacitated prior to an accidental disability retirement determination and for an accidental disability retirement if the person has become totally and permanently incapacitated as a result of injury and disease arising out of and in the course of the employment and by the actual performance of duty without regard to whether that actual performance of duty was at some definite time and place. The subsection is also amended to provide that disease for purposes of an accidental disability benefit also means any incapacitating mental disorder arising out of and in the course of the employment, or while acting, pursuant to order, outside the city by which the member is regularly employed.
   Code section 411.6(6), providing for a retirement allowance upon retirement for accidental disability, is amended to provide that a beneficiary who is determined to be entitled to a retirement for accidental disability shall receive a pension as determined for members receiving an accidental disability retirement. 
   Code section 411.6(7), concerning reexamination of beneficiaries retired on account of disability, is amended to allow a beneficiary who has not reached age 55 to request a medical examination to determine, in part, if the beneficiary can be restored to duty. 
   Code section 411.6(9), concerning accidental death benefits, is amended to provide that an accidental death benefit shall also be paid if the death was as a result of injury and disease arising out of and in the course of the employment or by the actual performance of duty without regard to whether that actual performance of duty was at some definite time and place. 
   Code section 411.15, concerning cities’ requirement to provide hospitalization and medical attention for injuries or diseases while on duty, is amended to provide that such attention shall also be provided for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. The Code section is further amended to provide that cities shall continue to provide hospitalization and medical attention for injuries or diseases while on duty for members or beneficiaries receiving any retirement allowance under Code section 411.6 and not just an accidental disability retirement allowance under Code section 411.6, subsection 6.