I intend to reintroduce Senate Bill 669 to permit full-time municipal and regional police officers to buy back up to five years of previous police employment service for pension benefit purposes.
 
Currently, if an officer transfers to a different police department, he or she likely must forfeit any accrued service and start fresh in the new department’s pension system.  Considering the mental and physical demands of police work, five years towards retirement can make a significant difference. 
 
This legislation could benefit officers of all ages and at different stages of careers – from older officers with retirement on the horizon, to younger officers looking to make a career move but who are hesitant to do so if it means losing time. 
 
My legislation will call on local governments and regional police departments to amend their ordinances or resolutions establishing a police pension fund in order to provide their full-time officers the option to purchase up to five years of pension service credit for prior full-time and part-time service with another department.  Allowing the purchase of prior part-time service is especially beneficial for those individuals that did not start their career in a full-time position.
 
The Municipal Police Pension Law (Act 600 of 1955), which provides for the purchase of military service, is the basis for my proposal. Therefore, the amount due for the purchase of previous service would be computed in a similar manner as is used for the purchase of military service.
 
Considering the important work that our municipal and regional police officers do in protecting Pennsylvania’s residents on a daily basis, this retirement benefit flexibility is well-deserved and justified.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring and supporting this important piece of legislation.
 
Previous co-sponsors of Senate Bill 669 were: ARGALL, BARTOLOTTA, HUTCHINSON, MARTIN, MASTRIANO, PITTMAN, STEFANO, TOMLINSON, and YUDICHAK.

Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0449: 53-91