SB 344-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
02/03/10 0321s
2010 SESSION
10/09
SENATE BILL 344-FN
AN ACT relative to employment and retirement benefits of certain non-judicial court employees.
SPONSORS: Sen. DeVries, Dist 18; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Rep. Nixon, Hills 17
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
This bill allows certain non-judicial court system employees who elected not to join the state retirement system upon the establishment of the unified court system but remained in the Manchester employees’ contributory retirement system to be permitted upon retirement to be paid for accrued, unused sick time and receive credit for such paid time in the Manchester retirement system.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
02/03/10 0321s
10-2742
10/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to employment and retirement benefits of certain non-judicial court employees.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Certain Non-Judicial Court System Employees; Unused Sick Leave Pay; Retirement Credit.
I. Notwithstanding RSA 490:28 and administrative rules of the department of administrative services, division of personnel, Pers 1204.04, any person retiring in 2010 from full-time, non-judicial employment with the court system, and who is and has been a member of the Manchester employees’ contributory retirement system following the transfer of the person’s position to the state pursuant to the establishment of unified court system effective January 1, 1984, shall be entitled to payment of unused sick leave which shall be included in the member’s salary or wages at the member’s date of termination of employment.
II. At such termination of employment, the state shall provide payment of a sum equal to 50 percent of the number of sick leave days remaining to the employee’s credit, provided that the total number of days eligible for payment shall not exceed 60 days.
III. The board of trustees of the Manchester employees’ contributory retirement system shall include the payment of unused sick leave under paragraph II as earnings of such employee for the purpose of calculating final average earnings of the member-employee.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
LBAO
10-2742
Amended 04/08/10
SB 344 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to employment and retirement benefits of certain non-judicial court employees.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Branch and New Hampshire Municipal Association state this bill, as amended by the Senate (Amendment #2010-0321s), would increase state and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2010 and each year thereafter. This bill would have no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue, or county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Branch states this bill would allow non-judicial employees who remained a member of the Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement System pursuant to RSA 490:29, II upon court unification on January 1, 1984, to be paid a percentage of unused sick leave on termination of employment. The percentage stated in the bill is 50.0%, with a cap of payment for sixty days of unused sick leave. The Branch states the proposed bill applies to only one person, and that person currently earns an annual salary of $46,462.46. At that salary, the daily rate of pay is $178.70. Thus, the maximum fiscal impact of this bill to the Branch will be $10,722 ($178.70 times 60 days) if the employee terminates employment with the maximum available sick leave. The Branch also states it includes an expectation of employee accrued leave payouts in determining its budget requirements, and there may be capacity to fund this amount within its existing appropriation. Since the proposed bill requires the affected employee to retire in calendar year 2010 to receive this benefit, the increase in state expenditures could come in either FY 2010 or FY 2011.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill proposes to include a payment for unused sick leave as pensionable compensation for the computation of pension benefits from the Manchester Employees’ Contributory Retirement System. This will result in increased local expenditures for pension benefits for all employees that qualify for this payment. The Association does not have data on the number of employees affected by this change and cannot estimate the fiscal impact on the Manchester Employees’ Contributory Retirement System at this time.
The New Hampshire Retirement System states this bill would affect only non-judicial court system employees who elected not to join the System, but rather to remain in the Manchester Employees’ Contributory Retirement System. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to the New Hampshire Retirement System.