07 LC 21
9070
House
Bill 309
By:
Representative Fleming of the
117th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 47-2-244 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to optional benefits under the Employees´ Retirement System of Georgia
available to appellate court judges, notice of election of benefits, eligibility
for benefits, disability benefits, and survivors benefits, so as to provide that
an appellate court judge may begin receiving retirement benefits at age 60 under
certain conditions; to provide conditions for an effective date and automatic
repeal, to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 47-2-244 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to optional
benefits under the Employees´ Retirement System of Georgia available to
appellate court judges, notice of election of benefits, eligibility for
benefits, disability benefits, and survivors benefits, is amended by revising
subsection (h) as follows:
"(h)
The surviving spouse of an appellate court judge, provided such surviving spouse
is the designated beneficiary, shall be entitled to receive a benefit payable
monthly for life equivalent to 50 percent of the benefits to which the spouse
would have been entitled based upon his or her years of service as an appellate
court judge and without regard to whether such judge had attained age
65
60.
However, if the designated beneficiary, or beneficiaries, is someone other than
the surviving spouse of the deceased judge, then such named beneficiary or
beneficiaries shall be entitled to receive a benefit payable monthly for life
based on an actuarial equivalent, provided the actuarial equivalent shall not be
in excess of 50 percent of the amount that would have been payable to the judge.
For the purpose of this provision, in the event the beneficiary, or
beneficiaries, is not the member´s spouse, the actuarial equivalent shall
be computed based upon the assumption that the member had a spouse who was the
same age as the member."
SECTION
2.
Said
Code section is further amended by revising subsection (m) as
follows:
"(m)
No benefit shall be payable to an appellate court judge under this Code section
until such judge reaches
65
60
years of age, except for incapacity."
SECTION
3.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2007, only if it is determined to have
been concurrently funded as provided in Chapter 20 of Title 47 of the Official
Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Public Retirement Systems Standards Law";
otherwise, this Act shall not become effective and shall be automatically
repealed in its entirety on July 1, 2007, as required by subsection (a) of Code
Section 47-20-50.
SECTION
4.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.