Colorado § 31-31-701 - Affiliation by old hire pension plans.

§ 31-31-701. Affiliation by old hire pension plans.

(1) Any employer may elect affiliation with the association relating to an old hire fire or police pension plan that it has established pursuant to article 30.5 of this title by filing with the board a resolution approved as to form by the fire and police pension association and adopted by the employer. The effective date of affiliation must be mutually agreed upon by the employer and the association.

(2) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2014.)

(3) On the effective date of affiliation pursuant to this section, the assets of the old hire pension plan shall be transferred to the trust fund created by subsection (6) of this section. The amount of the transfer must equal the market value of such assets at the close of business on date of affiliation. Upon affiliation and the transfer of assets to the fund, benefits due pursuant to the old hire plan shall be paid by the association from the assets of the plan.

(4) An eligible employer may request of the board, prior to filing a resolution of affiliation, an estimate of the employer's contribution rate necessary to comply with the contribution requirements established by subsection (5) of this section.

(5) An employer that affiliates pursuant to this section shall annually contribute an amount approved by the board, upon advice of its actuary, to pay the normal cost plus amortize the unfunded past service liability attributed to old hire members hired prior to April 8, 1978, over a period not to exceed the lesser of twenty years or the number of years equal to the average remaining life expectancy of the pension fund's members.

(6) There is hereby created the old hire plan members' benefit trust fund that consists of the assets of old hire plans administered and managed by the board pursuant to this section. The board shall keep an accurate account of each such individual old hire plan.

(7) (a) The fire and police pension association has the following responsibilities for affiliated plans:

(I) Investing the assets of the plan, including determining the allocation of assets;

(II) Collecting and accounting for contributions to the plan;

(III) Distributing benefits provided under the plan as directed by the employer or its agent and issuing tax forms and filing tax reports regarding distributions;

(IV) Conducting actuarial valuations and audits of the plan as are required by statute or by regulatory bodies;

(V) Maintaining records and reporting the investments, assets, and benefits of the plan as required by statute or by regulatory bodies;

(VI) Authorizing the payment of expenses of the plan from the assets of the plan. Any expenses that are incurred by the association which are directly related to the association's administration of the plan shall be paid from that plan's assets. Any expenses that are incurred by the association which are attributable to more than one plan administered by the association shall be allocated to each plan on an equitable basis as determined by the association. The allocated expense shall be paid from the assets of each plan.

(VII) Taking such other actions as may be allowed or required by statute.

(b) The local old hire pension board has the following responsibilities for an affiliated plan:

(I) Establishing eligibility for and the amount of benefits to be received by members and beneficiaries of the plan, including but not limited to determination of base salaries, years of service under the plan, marital status, and continuing eligibility of members and survivors;

(II) Maintaining records of the terms and provisions of the plan, as they may be adopted and amended;

(III) Making determinations regarding benefit or cost-of-living adjustments and rank escalation, if any;

(IV) Periodically certifying information required by the association to administer the plan benefits; and

(V) Electing options for the allocation of assets, if such options are provided by the association.

Source: L. 96: Entire article added with relocations, p. 921, § 1, effective May 23. L. 2006: (3) amended and (6) added, p. 195, § 20, effective March 31. L. 2014: Entire section amended, (SB 14-031), ch. 52, p. 245, § 7, effective March 20.

Editor's note: This section was formerly numbered as § 31-31-1003 (3).

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 31-31-701 is similar to § 31-30-1003 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.

Plaintiffs not entitled to greater benefits under Denver plan. Peterson v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 725 P.2d 81 (Colo. App. 1986), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on the grounds, 759 P.2d 720 (Colo. 1988).

Refund of employer and employee contributions under subsection (2)(b)(V). The provisions of this section require the fire and police pension association to refund to withdrawing local governments all contributions previously made by them on behalf of both present and former employees. Littleton v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 786 P.2d 458 (Colo. App. 1989).

All moneys refunded by the fire and police pension association must be deposited directly in the local government's alternative pension plan. City of Lamar v. Lamar Police Dept., 857 P.2d 457 (Colo. App. 1992).