Colorado § 31-31-202 - Powers and duties of the board.

§ 31-31-202. Powers and duties of the board.

(1) The board shall:

(a) Establish standards for determining the actuarial soundness of:

(I) The pension plans in the defined benefit system and the affiliated old hire plans and the affiliated exempt plans with assets in the fire and police members' benefit investment fund, in accordance with section 31-31-301 (1); and

(II) Alternative pension plans having defined benefits in whole or in part established pursuant to section 31-31-601 (1), as said section existed prior to its repeal. Based upon such standards, the board shall require biennial actuarial reviews of such plans with the cost of the reviews to be paid by employers having established such plans.

(b) Establish standards for benefit projections for money purchase plans;

(c) Establish criteria for the determination of disability to administer the provisions of part 8 of this article 31;

(d) Promulgate rules relating to standards for disclosure of all ramifications of and procedures for obtaining the member approval provided for in section 31-31-601 (1), as said section existed prior to its repeal;

(e) Administer or provide for the administration and, in accordance with the provisions of sections 31-31-302 (1) and 31-31-303, the investment of the fire and police members' benefit investment fund and the fire and police members' self-directed investment fund;

(f) Repealed.

(g) Review or initiate proposed legislation affecting or related to the provisions of this article and article 30.5 of this title;

(h) Provide for disbursements from the fire and police members' benefit investment fund created by section 31-31-301 (1) and from the fire and police members' self-directed investment fund created by section 31-31-301 (4). Such disbursements shall be made only for payment of the expenses of the association, payment of refunds to members, payment of survivor, disability, or retirement benefits, or for purposes of investment.

(i) Make such modifications to the minimum annual rates of contribution certified to municipalities, fire protection districts, and county improvement districts as may be justified by actuarial studies approved by the board, subject to the requirements of section 31-30.5-304. In addition, the board shall supervise the establishment of such minimum annual rates of contribution for any nonexempt municipalities, fire protection districts, or county improvement districts that, for any reason, did not receive such minimum annual rate of contribution. Such establishment and modification of minimum annual rates of contribution shall be conducted substantially in the manner provided by procedural regulations promulgated by the board.

(j) Adopt such rules as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this article 31, article 30.5, and article 31.5 of this title 31;

(k) Approve or deny applications for coverage under the statewide money purchase plan pursuant to section 31-31-501;

(l) Delegate any authority to the executive director, officers, committees, or other contractors as it deems appropriate for the administration of the plans;

(m) Determine eligibility for retirement for disability, whether total or occupational, for any police officer or firefighter in this state whether or not such member is covered by the provisions of this article, in accordance with the rules adopted by the board pursuant to subsection (1)(j) of this section, except for the following:

(I) Those police officers and firefighters having social security coverage and not affiliated as to disability; and

(II) Those police officers and firefighters whose employers have established exempt alternative pension plans, including exempt alternative defined benefit plans that are administered on an actuarially sound basis, based upon assumptions and methodology adopted by the board for statewide use, on or before December 1, 1978, in accordance with the provisions of part 8 of article 30.5 of this title, unless such plans have elected to become covered under the statewide death and disability plan pursuant to part 8 of this article 31.

(2) Repealed.

(3) Under the direction of the board, each employer, including employers not covered by or specifically exempted from the statewide retirement plan in accordance with the provisions of section 31-31-401 (1), shall furnish such information and shall keep such records as the board may require for the discharge of its duties.

(4) (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of this subsection (4), the board shall provide for and determine the cost of a statewide accidental death and disability insurance policy to cover all volunteer firefighters serving in volunteer or paid and volunteer fire departments, the insurance to be applicable only when serving as a volunteer firefighter. The policy shall be paid for as provided in section 31-30-1112 (2)(h)(II) from proceeds of the tax imposed by section 10-3-209, C.R.S.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of this subsection (4), the board shall set the amount of coverage to be provided for each volunteer firefighter, take competitive bids for the policy from insurers, and make such rules as may be necessary to provide for the policy.

(c) The insurer shall have sole power to determine disability for volunteer firefighters under the policy provided by this subsection (4).

(d) On and after July 1, 2004, the responsibility to provide a statewide accidental death and disability insurance policy to cover all volunteer firefighters serving in volunteer or paid and volunteer fire departments shall be the responsibility of the department of local affairs pursuant to section 31-30-1134.

(5) (a) The board, in the performance of its duties under this article, shall have the power of subpoena over persons, and books, papers, records, and other things, and such power shall be enforceable by the courts; except that no subpoena shall be issued until the subpoena has been approved by a vote of the board.

(b) The chair of the board, or any other member of the board designated by the chair, shall have the power to administer oaths, in the performance of the duties of the board under this article.

(5.5) The board may release the names and addresses of retirees of a plan affiliated with the fire and police pension association pursuant to part 7 of this article to the local pension board of the affiliated plan if:

(a) The local pension board has filed a written request in the manner prescribed by the association; and

(b) The local pension board has provided the board with written assurances that the information requested will be used only for pension-related purposes.

(6) The board shall have such other powers and duties as are specifically granted pursuant to this article and parts 1 to 7 of article 30.5 of this title.

(7) The board may promulgate rules for the assessment of interest, including the waiver of interest for good cause, on unpaid contributions to statewide plans. Interest shall accrue at the rate of one-half of one percent per month.

(8) The board may assess the reasonable actuarial, audit, and operational costs incurred by the association related to compliance with regulatory requirements which are attributable to employers with members participating in plans administered by the association. Alternatively, the board may find such costs to be de minimis and pay the costs from the plan assets.

Source: L. 96: Entire article added with relocations, p. 896, § 1, effective May 23. L. 98: (2)(a)(II) amended, p. 827, § 44, effective August 5. L. 2001: (5.5) added, p. 416, § 2, effective June 1; (1)(f) repealed, p. 1276, § 41, effective June 5. L. 2004: (4) amended, p. 1137, § 4, effective July 1. L. 2006: (1)(a)(I), (1)(e), and (1)(h) amended, p. 182, § 8, effective March 31. L. 2015: (4)(a) amended, (SB 15-264), ch. 259, p. 964, § 82, effective August 5; (7) and (8) added, (SB 15-027), ch. 9, p. 20, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2022: (3) amended, (HB 22-1034), ch. 61, p. 301, § 2, effective January 1, 2023. L. 2024: (1)(a)(II) and (1)(d) amended, (HB 24-1042), ch. 15, p. 38, § 7, effective March 6. L. 2026: (1)(c) and (1)(j) amended, (1)(l) added, (1)(m) added with relocations, and (2) repealed, (SB 26-039), ch. 37, p. 179, § 4, effective August 12.

Editor's note: (1) This section was formerly numbered as § 31-30-1005 (1) to (5).

(2) Subsection (1)(m) is similar to former subsection (2) as it existed prior to 2026. Subsection (2) was relocated to subsection (1)(m) in 2026.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 31-31-202 is similar to § 31-30-1005 as it existed prior to the 1996 amendment that relocated parts 3 through 10 of article 30, relevant cases construing the provisions of that section have been included in the annotations to this section.

Health insurance benefits may also be provided to retirees covered by the Policemen's and Firemen's Pension Reform Act. The provisions of this act indicate that the fund's administrative board may contract with carriers to provide this type of coverage. The act does not specify the manner in which these benefits are to be funded, nor does it specify the extent of coverage which may be provided. Colo. Springs Fire Fighters v. Colo. Springs, 784 P.2d 766 (Colo. 1989).

Rules promulgated by fund's administrative board to enable it to review whether an employer had elected to continue rank escalation benefits after January 1, 1980, fit squarely within the board's express statutory authority under subsection (1)(j). Pueblo v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 827 P.2d 597, (Colo. App. 1992).

Hearing held by fund's administrative board to review and ascertain the character or nature of the city's determination regarding continuation of rank escalation benefits was critical to the board's ability to carry out its statutory obligations, first, to members eligible for benefits under pension plans affiliated with FPPA and, second, to the state in distributing its contributions to such plans. Pueblo v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 827 P.2d 597, (Colo. App. 1992).

Actions taken by fund's administrative board under its rules were limited to interpreting acts taken by the employer, and the dispositive actor in setting the scope of pension benefits, undisputably a local policy issue, continued under the rules, to the city as the employer. Pueblo v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 827 P.2d 597 (Colo. App. 1992).

As "gatekeeper" of state moneys, fund's administrative board must insure that employers maintain a level of annual contributions to pay earned benefits to present and future plan members and see that no state moneys are used to fund a continuation of full rank escalation benefits after January 1, 1980. Pueblo v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 827 P.2d 597 (Colo. App. 1992).