(a) Proposed legislation which directly impacts the retirement system can potentially affect the benefits of all plan participants and beneficiaries. Since it is in the best interests of plan participants and beneficiaries to determine the financial consequences of any proposed legislation which would directly impact the state’s liability to the retirement system, no committee shall recommend passage of any bill or resolution having an effect on contributions, benefits and retirement allowances of the retirement system pursuant to the provisions of chapters 8 — 10 of title 36, unless the bill or resolution shall be accompanied by a statement which shall set forth the full actuarial costs or full actuarial value, as those terms are defined in § 36-8-1.
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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 22-12.1-1
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
(b) These statements or notes shall be known as “pension impact notes,” and they shall accompany each such bill or resolution prior to consideration of the house in which the bill or resolution originated. The reasonable cost of preparing pension impact notes shall be charged as an administrative expense and paid from the retirement system’s restricted receipts account established pursuant to § 36-8-10.1. Only the chair of the senate committee on finance with the approval of the president of the senate can request a pension impact note on proposed legislation that originates in the senate. Only the chair of the house committee on finance with the approval of the speaker of the house can request a pension impact note on proposed legislation that originates in the house. The governor can request a pension impact note on proposed legislation recommended in the appropriation acts required by § 35-3-7 or § 35-3-8.
(c)(1) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the chair of the senate committee on finance and/or the house committee on finance, with approval of the president of the senate or the speaker of the house of representatives respectively, may request a pension impact note relating to any proposed impact upon the state’s liability to the retirement system regardless of the existence of related proposed legislation.
(2) The reasonable cost of preparing pension impact notes which are not related to existing proposed legislation shall be paid from the annual appropriation for the joint committee on legislative services.
(d)(1) The director of the department of administration, with approval of the governor, may request a pension impact note.
(2) The reasonable cost of preparing impact notes which are not related to existing proposed legislation shall be paid from the annual appropriation for the department of administration budget.
History of Section.
P.L. 1991, ch. 111, § 2; P.L. 2008, ch. 100, art. 23, § 1; P.L. 2011, ch. 381, § 1; P.L. 2011, ch. 406, § 1.
