Bill Text: IL SB0037 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Engrossed

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the engrossed bill with the following changes. Provides that the fire chief of a secondary employer shall report any injury, illness, or exposure incurred by a secondary employee during his or her employment to the primary employer's pension fund within 96 hours from the time of the occurrence. Provides that a municipality (instead of a unit of local government) that has established a pension fund under the Downstate Firefighter Article and who employs a full-time firefighter shall be deemed a primary employer with respect to that full-time firefighter. Provides that any municipality (instead of any unit of local government) of 5,000 or more inhabitants that employs or enrolls a firefighter (instead of employs a firefighter) and meets other criteria shall be deemed a secondary employer. Requires a secondary employer to annually prepare a report a report accounting for all hours worked by and wages and salaries (instead of wages and salaries) paid to secondary employee firefighters. Requires a certified copy of the report to be transmitted to the primary employer's pension fund (instead of the primary employer). Removes provisions requiring a secondary employer to make specified contributions to the primary employer's firefighters' pension fund. Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-4)

Status: (Passed) 2019-08-23 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 101-0522 [SB0037 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB0037-Engrossed.html

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SB0037 Engrossed LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
AN ACT concerning public employee benefits.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Pension Code is amended by changing
Section 4-118 as follows:
(40 ILCS 5/4-118) (from Ch. 108 1/2, par. 4-118)
Sec. 4-118. Financing.
(a) The city council or the board of trustees of the
municipality shall annually levy a tax upon all the taxable
property of the municipality at the rate on the dollar which
will produce an amount which, when added to the deductions from
the salaries or wages of firefighters and revenues available
from other sources, will equal a sum sufficient to meet the
annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund, as
determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois
Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by
the pension fund or municipality. For the purposes of this
Section, the annual actuarial requirements of the pension fund
are equal to (1) the normal cost of the pension fund, or 17.5%
of the salaries and wages to be paid to firefighters for the
year involved, whichever is greater, plus (2) an annual amount
sufficient to bring the total assets of the pension fund up to
90% of the total actuarial liabilities of the pension fund by

SB0037 Engrossed - 2 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
the end of municipal fiscal year 2040, as annually updated and
determined by an enrolled actuary employed by the Illinois
Department of Insurance or by an enrolled actuary retained by
the pension fund or the municipality. In making these
determinations, the required minimum employer contribution
shall be calculated each year as a level percentage of payroll
over the years remaining up to and including fiscal year 2040
and shall be determined under the projected unit credit
actuarial cost method. The amount to be applied towards the
amortization of the unfunded accrued liability in any year
shall not be less than the annual amount required to amortize
the unfunded accrued liability, including interest, as a level
percentage of payroll over the number of years remaining in the
40 year amortization period.
(a-2) A unit of local government that has established a
pension fund under this Article and who employs a full-time
firefighter, as defined in Section 4-106, shall be deemed a
primary employer with respect to that full-time firefighter.
Any unit of local government of 5,000 or more inhabitants that
employs a firefighter while that firefighter continues to earn
service credits as a participant in a primary employer's
pension fund under this Article shall be deemed a secondary
employer and such employees shall be deemed to be secondary
employee firefighters. Primary and secondary employers shall
have the following duties to ensure that the primary employer's
pension fund under this Article is compensated for additional

SB0037 Engrossed - 3 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
liabilities and risks to which firefighters are exposed when
performing work as firefighters for secondary employers:
(1) A secondary employer shall annually prepare a
report accounting for all wages and salaries paid to the
secondary employee firefighters it employs for each fiscal
year in which such firefighters are employed and transmit a
certified copy of that report to the primary employer and
the secondary employee firefighter no later than 30 days
after the end of any fiscal year in which wages were paid
to the secondary employee firefighters.
(2) The secondary employer, concurrent with the
certification of its report, shall contribute an amount
equal to 17.5% of the total wages and salaries paid to the
secondary employee firefighter to the primary employer's
pension fund for deposit to the credit of the pension fund.
(3) The secondary employer shall deduct an amount equal
to 9.455% of the salaries and wages paid to the secondary
employee and, concurrent with the certification of its
report, shall pay the deducted amount to the primary
employer's pension fund for deposit to the credit of the
pension fund. This contribution shall be in addition to the
contribution required under paragraph (2) of this
subsection.
(4) The primary employer and the pension fund of that
primary employer shall have standing to enforce the pension
funding obligations of the secondary employer and

SB0037 Engrossed - 4 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
secondary employee firefighters established under this
subsection in accordance with the provisions of subsection
(b-10) of this Section.
The contributions required under paragraphs (2) and (3) of
this subsection apply beginning on the first day of the primary
employer's pension fund's first fiscal year beginning on or
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st
General Assembly.
The contributions required under paragraphs (2) and (3) of
this subsection are for the purposes of compensating the
primary employer's pension fund for additional liabilities and
risks to which firefighters are exposed when performing work as
firefighters for secondary employers.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed to allow a
secondary employee to qualify for benefits or creditable
service for employment as firefighters for secondary
employers.
(a-5) For purposes of determining the required employer
contribution to a pension fund, the value of the pension fund's
assets shall be equal to the actuarial value of the pension
fund's assets, which shall be calculated as follows:
(1) On March 30, 2011, the actuarial value of a pension
fund's assets shall be equal to the market value of the
assets as of that date.
(2) In determining the actuarial value of the pension
fund's assets for fiscal years after March 30, 2011, any

SB0037 Engrossed - 5 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
actuarial gains or losses from investment return incurred
in a fiscal year shall be recognized in equal annual
amounts over the 5-year period following that fiscal year.
(b) The tax shall be levied and collected in the same
manner as the general taxes of the municipality, and shall be
in addition to all other taxes now or hereafter authorized to
be levied upon all property within the municipality, and in
addition to the amount authorized to be levied for general
purposes, under Section 8-3-1 of the Illinois Municipal Code or
under Section 14 of the Fire Protection District Act. The tax
shall be forwarded directly to the treasurer of the board
within 30 business days of receipt by the county (or, in the
case of amounts added to the tax levy under subsection (f),
used by the municipality to pay the employer contributions
required under subsection (b-1) of Section 15-155 of this
Code).
(b-5) If a participating municipality fails to transmit to
the fund contributions required of it under this Article for
more than 90 days after the payment of those contributions is
due, the fund may, after giving notice to the municipality,
certify to the State Comptroller the amounts of the delinquent
payments in accordance with any applicable rules of the
Comptroller, and the Comptroller must, beginning in fiscal year
2016, deduct and remit to the fund the certified amounts or a
portion of those amounts from the following proportions of
payments of State funds to the municipality:

SB0037 Engrossed - 6 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
(1) in fiscal year 2016, one-third of the total amount
of any payments of State funds to the municipality;
(2) in fiscal year 2017, two-thirds of the total amount
of any payments of State funds to the municipality; and
(3) in fiscal year 2018 and each fiscal year
thereafter, the total amount of any payments of State funds
to the municipality.
The State Comptroller may not deduct from any payments of
State funds to the municipality more than the amount of
delinquent payments certified to the State Comptroller by the
fund.
(b-10) If a unit of local government fails to transmit to
the fund contributions required of it under subsection (a-2) of
this Section for more than 90 days after the payment of those
contributions is due, the fund may, after giving notice to the
unit of local government, certify to the State Comptroller the
amounts of the delinquent payments in accordance with any
applicable rules of the Comptroller, and the Comptroller must,
beginning in fiscal year 2020, deduct and remit to the fund the
certified amounts or a portion of those amounts from payments
of State funds to the unit of local government. The State
Comptroller may not deduct from any payments of State funds to
the unit of local government more than the amount of delinquent
payments certified to the State Comptroller by the fund.
(c) The board shall make available to the membership and
the general public for inspection and copying at reasonable

SB0037 Engrossed - 7 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
times the most recent Actuarial Valuation Balance Sheet and Tax
Levy Requirement issued to the fund by the Department of
Insurance.
(d) The firefighters' pension fund shall consist of the
following moneys which shall be set apart by the treasurer of
the municipality: (1) all moneys derived from the taxes levied
hereunder; (2) contributions by firefighters as provided under
Section 4-118.1; (3) all rewards in money, fees, gifts, and
emoluments that may be paid or given for or on account of
extraordinary service by the fire department or any member
thereof, except when allowed to be retained by competitive
awards; and (4) any money, real estate or personal property
received by the board.
(e) For the purposes of this Section, "enrolled actuary"
means an actuary: (1) who is a member of the Society of
Actuaries or the American Academy of Actuaries; and (2) who is
enrolled under Subtitle C of Title III of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or who has been engaged
in providing actuarial services to one or more public
retirement systems for a period of at least 3 years as of July
1, 1983.
(f) The corporate authorities of a municipality that
employs a person who is described in subdivision (d) of Section
4-106 may add to the tax levy otherwise provided for in this
Section an amount equal to the projected cost of the employer
contributions required to be paid by the municipality to the

SB0037 Engrossed - 8 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
State Universities Retirement System under subsection (b-1) of
Section 15-155 of this Code.
(g) The Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability shall conduct a study of all funds established
under this Article and shall report its findings to the General
Assembly on or before January 1, 2013. To the fullest extent
possible, the study shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
(1) fund balances;
(2) historical employer contribution rates for each
fund;
(3) the actuarial formulas used as a basis for employer
contributions, including the actual assumed rate of return
for each year, for each fund;
(4) available contribution funding sources;
(5) the impact of any revenue limitations caused by
PTELL and employer home rule or non-home rule status; and
(6) existing statutory funding compliance procedures
and funding enforcement mechanisms for all municipal
pension funds.
(Source: P.A. 99-8, eff. 7-9-15.)
Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
Section 8.43 as follows:
(30 ILCS 805/8.43 new)

SB0037 Engrossed - 9 - LRB101 02871 RPS 47879 b
Sec. 8.43. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8
of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the
implementation of any mandate created by this amendatory Act of
the 101st General Assembly.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.