Arizona Laws 38-842.02. Public safety employer risk pool
A. The public safety employer risk pool is established for members hired on or after July 1, 2017 and consists of, for actuarial purposes in the system and to determine contribution rates pursuant to section 38-843, any employer of an eligible group that has on May 1, 2017 two hundred fifty or fewer active members who were hired before July 1, 2017.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 38-842.02
- Effective date of participation: means July 1, 1968, except with respect to employers and their covered employees whose contributions to the fund commence thereafter, the effective date of their participation in the system is as specified in the applicable joinder agreement. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Eligible groups: means only the following who are regularly assigned to hazardous duty:
(a) Municipal police officers who are certified peace officers. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Employers: means :
(a) Cities contributing to the fire fighters' relief and pension fund as provided in sections 9-951 through 9-973 or statutes amended thereby and antecedent thereto, as of June 30, 1968 on behalf of their full-time paid firefighters. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- State: means the state of Arizona, including any department, office, board, commission, agency or other instrumentality of this state. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- System: means the public safety personnel retirement system established by this article. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. If an employer has more than two hundred fifty active members who were hired before July 1, 2017 in any eligible group on May 1, 2017, the employer may not participate in the risk pool for any of the employer’s eligible groups, except that:
1. Each state agency’s eligibility for the risk pool is not affected by another state agency’s ineligibility for the risk pool.
2. For a county with multiple eligible groups in the system, the eligibility of each eligible group of a county for the risk pool is not affected by the ineligibility for the risk pool of another eligible group of that county.
C. Any Indian tribe that has elected to participate in the system and that qualifies for the public safety employer risk pool pursuant to subsection A of this section may elect to opt out of the risk pool before January 1, 2019. The Indian tribe shall notify the administrator of the system in writing before January 1, 2019 of the Indian tribe’s decision not to participate in the public safety employer risk pool. If an Indian tribe is a new employer in the system pursuant to subsection D of this section, the Indian tribe shall have ninety days after the date of participation to elect to opt out of the risk pool and to notify the administrator of the system in writing of the Indian tribe’s decision not to participate in the public safety employer risk pool.
D. This state or any political subdivision of this state, Indian tribe or public organization that becomes a new employer in the system and that has two hundred fifty or fewer employees, on the effective date of participation in the system pursuant to section 38-851, who are in an eligible group shall participate in the public safety employer risk pool unless subsection B or C of this section applies.
E. If any individual employer in the public safety employer risk pool experiences a deviation in reported active member payroll of greater than twenty percent of the average of all participating employers in the risk pool in a twenty-four-month period, the system actuary shall prepare a financial impact report to determine whether the deviation creates an increased or decreased unfunded liability within the risk pool. If the deviation in reported active member payroll creates an increase to the unfunded liability within the risk pool, the responsible individual employer shall pay into the system, within sixty days after being notified of the amount due, one hundred percent of the cost of the increase in the unfunded liability. If the deviation in reported active member payroll creates a decrease to the unfunded liability within the risk pool, the system shall immediately credit the responsible individual employer one hundred percent of the cost of the decrease in the unfunded liability.