07 LC 21
9503S
The
House Committee on Retirement offers the following substitute to SB
161:
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 47-2-125 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to reexamination of persons receiving disability benefits under the
Employees´ Retirement System of Georgia, effect of refusal to undergo
examination, and effect of ability to engage in gainful employment, so as to
delete provisions providing for physical examinations done at a place convenient
to the beneficiary; to provide that a beneficiary who has not reached the age of
60 shall submit to an examination; to provide that the amount earnable by
certain disabled members shall include certain payments that the beneficiary
receives from workers´ compensation; to repeal conflicting laws; and for
other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 47-2-125 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
reexamination of persons receiving disability benefits under the Employees´
Retirement System of Georgia, effect of refusal to undergo examination, and
effect of ability to engage in gainful employment, is amended by revising
subsection (a) as follows:
"(a)(1)
Once each year during the first five years following the retirement of a member
on a disability retirement allowance and once in every three-year period
thereafter, the board of trustees may require a disability beneficiary who has
not yet attained retirement age as specified in subsection (a) of Code Section
47-2-110 to undergo a medical
examination,
such examination to be made at the disability beneficiary´s place of
residence or other place mutually agreed
upon, by
a physician
or physicians designated by the medical
board. The disability beneficiary may request such an examination. Should any
disability beneficiary who has not yet attained retirement age refuse to submit
to such medical examination, the pension of such disability beneficiary may be
discontinued by the board of trustees until the withdrawal of such refusal; and
should the refusal continue for one year, all rights of the disability
beneficiary in and to a pension may be revoked by the board of trustees.
(2)
Should the medical board report and certify to the board of trustees that a
disability beneficiary is engaged in or is able to engage in a gainful
occupation paying more than the difference between the disability
beneficiary´s retirement allowance and the earnable compensation used to
calculate the disability retirement allowance at the time of retirement, the
board of trustees may reduce the disability beneficiary´s pension to an
amount which, together with the disability beneficiary´s annuity and the
amount earnable by the disability beneficiary, equals the earnable compensation
used to calculate the disability retirement allowance at the time of retirement.
Should the disability beneficiary´s earning capacity be later changed, the
amount of the pension may be further modified, provided that the modified
pension shall not exceed an amount which, together with the disability
beneficiary´s annuity and the amount earnable by the disability
beneficiary, equals the earnable compensation used to calculate the disability
retirement allowance at the time of retirement.
(3)
The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to persons who first or again
become members of this retirement system on or after July 1, 2007. For purposes
of paragraph (2) of this subsection, the amount earnable by the beneficiary
shall include any income payment received from workers´ compensation;
provided, however, that in the event of a lump sum payment, the monthly
disability allowance shall be reduced on an actuarial basis as determined by the
actuary of this retirement
system."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.