Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to provide for school employee member eligibility for disability retirement.

The creation of the School Employee Member class moved school employees out of the general class into a class of their own. 59-1352 currently does not include this new defined class. This correction to statute will codify that the School Employee class has access to the same disability retirement benefit they had when they were members of the general class.

Amends existing law to to revise a provision regarding contributions and investment earnings under supplemental benefit plans and to provide for qualified after-tax contributions.

PERSI Choice plan members do not have access to a Roth option under current Idaho Code. To comply with Secure 2.0 catch-up contribution regulations, a qualified after-tax contribution investment option must be available to participate in catch-up contributions. 59-1308(9) needs to be updated to allow for this type of investment option to be in compliance with federal law.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding police officer member status.

The purpose of this legislation is to add Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified juvenile detention supervisors, juvenile probation supervisors, adult misdemeanor supervisors, emergency communications supervisors and Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections to the Rule of 80 retirement plan as is currently conducted with their adult counterparts.

Amends existing law to revise the definition of an employee.

This legislation amends the definition of “employee” for the purposes of PERSI enrollment to exclude seasonal employees of soil and water conservation districts in positions that do not exceed eight consecutive months in a calendar year if the employer certifies in writing that the position is seasonal or casual and is affected by weather. This definition already applies to seasonal golf course, park, or other positions in cities, counties, irrigation districts, cemetery districts, and mosquito abatement districts.

Amends existing law to provide that a purchase of membership service shall be made within 90 days prior to the date of retirement.

Section 59-1363 is silent with regards to the specific time frame when a purchase of member service can be completed. PERSI rule 626 defines that a member may request the cost of a purchase of service within 90 days before a member's effective date of retirement. While the rule has defined the appropriate time frame to complete a purchase of service, it is more appropriate for the time frame to be included in statute.

Amends existing law to establish penalties for the disclosure of confidential member records.

Section 59-1316, Idaho Code, provides that member records are confidential but does not provide enforcement mechanism in the event of disclosure of confidential information. In addition, it provides additional support in quashing subpoena for confidential information, without a court ordered directive. The State tax commission has this enforcement mechanism in code and uses it to enforce confidentiality and motions to quash.