Colorado § 31-31-903 - Group life insurance plans.

§ 31-31-903. Group life insurance plans.

(1) (a) The board may enter into contracts with carriers to provide group life insurance coverage to active members of paid pension plans administered by the association and, if they are receiving a benefit from another plan administered by the association, to the following individuals:

(I) A retired member;

(II) A retired volunteer firefighter;

(III) A surviving spouse;

(IV) A dependent child; and

(V) An individual who is receiving a benefit from the fire and police members' deferred compensation fund created by section 31-31-901.

(b) For purposes of this section, "carrier" means a private insurance company holding a valid outstanding certificate of authority from the division of insurance.

(2) The administration and management of the group life insurance plan shall be the exclusive responsibility of the carrier. The terms and conditions of coverage shall be as negotiated in the contract between the association and the carrier. The board may change the terms of or discontinue the coverage if the board determines that such action is in the best interests of the members. Participating members shall be notified sixty days prior to the effective date of any such change or discontinuance.

(3) The association shall pay no premium subsidy for group life insurance authorized to be offered by this section. Premiums shall be deducted from the salaries of participating active members and submitted to the association with the employer's monthly contribution reports or shall be deducted from the monthly benefit payments of participating retired members or their beneficiaries. Participating members who receive neither salaries nor benefits may arrange alternative methods of premium payment with the association.

(4) The named beneficiary shall be the beneficiary of life insurance obtained pursuant to the provisions of this section, unless the member or a court order names a different beneficiary for life insurance purposes. Life insurance obtained pursuant to the provisions of this section may be assigned by the member.

Source: L. 96: Entire article added with relocations, p. 938, § 1, effective May 23.

Editor's note: This section was formerly numbered as § 31-30-1005 (8).

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 31-31-903 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).