OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 441 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 441’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Edwards and A. Miller
Effective date:
Chris Edwards, Attorney
Ashley Dean, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Includes in the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) law enforcement division a
PERS member who, after the bill’s effective date, becomes employed full time as a
parole officer by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction or the Department of
Youth Services.
 Allows a PERS member who, on the bill’s effective date, is employed as a parole officer
to elect to participate in the PERS law enforcement division, rather than regular PERS,
for the member’s future service.
 Requires the establishment of supervision standards for parole and field officers.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
PERS law enforcement division
Under continuing law, the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) has special
retirement and benefit provisions for PERS members who are considered law enforcement
officers.1 These are officers whose primary duties are to preserve the peace, protect life and
property, and enforce Ohio law. They include deputy sheriffs, township police officers, and
university police officers. These officers are in the PERS law enforcement division (PERS-LE).2
Parole officers
The bill includes “parole officers” in PERS-LE. A “parole officer” is either of the following:
1 R.C. 145.332, not in the bill.
2 R.C. 145.01(ZZ).
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 A PERS member employed full time by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
in the Adult Parole Authority to supervise criminal offenders released from prison on
parole or post-release control;
 A PERS member who is employed full time by the Department of Youth Services as a
juvenile parole officer.
A member’s participation in PERS-LE as a parole officer depends on when the member
began employment as a parole officer in relation to the bill’s effective date. Specifically:
 A member who starts employment as a parole officer on or after the bill’s effective date
is automatically included in PERS-LE;
 A member who, on the bill’s effective date, is employed as a parole officer may elect to
participate in PERS-LE rather than regular PERS.3
Election to participate and service credit
For a PERS member who is employed as a parole officer on the bill’s effective date, the
bill prescribes a procedure to elect to participate in PERS-LE, rather than regular PERS. To make
an election, the member must notify PERS on a form provided by the PERS Board. PERS must
receive the notice not later than 90 days after the bill’s effective date. The election, once made,
is irrevocable and causes the member to be considered a PERS law enforcement officer for
future service as a parole officer.
The bill also addresses the treatment of service credit earned by a member before
making the election. Except as described below, service credit earned before the first day of the
first month following PERS’ receipt of the notice of election to participate in PERS-LE is not
considered PERS-LE service credit.
A member, however, may apply to PERS to have the member’s service credit described
above considered PERS-LE service credit. The member and the member’s employer, subject to
PERS Board rules, must pay PERS the difference between the contributions the member and the
member’s employer made to PERS and the contributions they would have paid if the member
had been in PERS-LE. The Board must notify the member and the employer of the amount to be
paid to purchase the credit. The Board cannot require the member or the employer to pay any
additional amount to purchase the service credit, including interest or any percentage of the
actuarial liability resulting from the purchase.4
Background – PERS law enforcement officers
A member who is employed as a parole officer on the bill’s effective date and is close to
retirement may find it more advantageous to remain in regular PERS than move to PERS-LE.
This is because, in determining eligibility for retirement under the PERS-LE provisions, typically
3 R.C. 145.01(YY) and (ZZ), by reference to R.C. 2967.01 and 5139.18, not in the bill, and R.C. 145.336.
4 R.C. 145.336.
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only law enforcement service credit is considered. A member with both regular service credit
and law enforcement credit can retire under regular PERS but receives no additional benefit for
the higher contributions made for law enforcement service.5
PERS law enforcement officers have higher employee and employer contribution rates
than regular PERS members. The table below compares those contributions rates. The
employee contribution is a percentage of the employee’s salary. The employer contribution is
an amount equal to a percentage of the employee’s salary.6
Contribution rates
PERS member Employee Employer
Regular PERS member 10.00% 14.00%
PERS law enforcement
13.00% 18.10%
officer
Additionally, law enforcement officers have different eligibility requirements for age and
service retirement than regular PERS members. For example, PERS law enforcement officers in
Group C (for purposes of retirement eligibility, PERS members are placed into one of three
groups) are eligible to retire with a full PERS pension at age 52 with at least 25 years of service
credit, or age 64 with at least 15 years of service credit. Regular PERS members in Group C are
eligible to retire with a full PERS pension at age 55 with at least 32 years of service credit, or age
67 with at least five years of service credit. The pension amount a member receives is
determined based on the member’s age, years of service, and final average salary.7
Federal Internal Revenue Code
While parole officers could qualify for the earlier retirement by participating in PERS-LE,
it is not clear whether they would avoid a federal income tax penalty for earlier retirement, as
do other PERS law enforcement officers. Under the federal Internal Revenue Code (IRC), a
“qualified public safety employee” may retire and begin receiving distributions from a
governmental plan at age 50, or after obtaining 25 years of service, without incurring an
5R.C. 145.32, 145.33, and 145.332, not in the bill, and see Law Enforcement/Public Safety Officers (PDF),
which may be accessed by conducting a keyword “law enforcement” search on the Public Employees
Retirement System (PERS) website: opers.org.
6 R.C. 145.47, 145.48, and 145.49, not in the bill, and see What is OPERS?, which may be accessed by
conducting a keyword “what is OPERS” search on the PERS website: opers.org.
7R.C. 145.32 and 145.332, not in the bill, and see page 1 of Retiring from Public Employment (PDF),
which may be accessed by conducting a keyword “retiring public employment” search on the PERS
website: opers.org.
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additional 10% tax that otherwise applies to PERS members who receive distributions before
age 55. The IRC defines “qualified public safety employee” as:
[A]ny employee of a State or political subdivision of a State
who provides police protection, firefighting services, emergency
medical services, or services as a corrections officer or as a
forensic security employee providing for the care, custody, and
control of forensic patients for any area within the jurisdiction of
such State or political subdivision[.]8
Therefore, it is unclear whether parole officers would be considered “qualified public
safety employees” under this definition for federal income tax purposes.
Supervision standards for parole and field officers
Not later than one year after the bill’s effective date, the Adult Parole Authority (APA)
must establish supervision standards for parole and field officers. These standards must specify
a “caseload” and a workload for parole and field officers. The caseload and workload standards
must comport with industry standards set by the American Probation and Parole Association,
except that an individual parole or field officer’s caseload cannot exceed 50 offenders per
parole or field officer, regardless of the offenders’ classification.9
Not later than two years after the APA establishes the standards, the Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction must ensure that the field services section has enough parole and
field officers to comply with them, and that the officers have been trained to the extent
required to comply with them.10
Definitions
The bill defines the following terms for purposes of its provisions described above:11
 “Caseload” means the maximum number of persons paroled, conditionally pardoned, or
released to community supervision who should be under the supervision of any parole
or field officer;
 “Parole or field officer” means an adult parole, senior adult parole, or adult field officer,
a juvenile parole, senior juvenile parole, or juvenile field officer, or a combination adult
and juvenile parole or field officer, of the field services section.
8 26 United States Code 72(t)(1), (2), and (10). See also page 35 of IRS Publication 575 (PDF), which may
be accessed by conducting a keyword “Publication 575” search on the Internal Revenue Service website:
irs.gov.
9 R.C. 5149.04(F)(1).
10 R.C. 5149.04(F)(2).
11 R.C, 5149.04(A).
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As Introduced
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HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 03-07-24
ANHB0441IN-135/ar
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As Introduced


Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 145.01, 5149.04