New Hampshire HB 727: relative to the New Hampshire retirement system.

Bill Text

HB 727-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2025 SESSION

 25-0725

 06/08

HOUSE BILL 727-FN

AN ACT relative to the New Hampshire retirement system.

SPONSORS: Rep. Foote, Rock. 13; Rep. Bordes, Belk. 5; Sen. McGough, Dist 11

COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration

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ANALYSIS

 This bill makes significant changes to the NH retirement system, including modifying the maximum retirement benefits for certain public employees, adjusting the dates and percentages related to the calculation of retirement benefit, and adjusting the definition of "earnable compensation.”

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

 Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 25-0725

 06/

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Five

AN ACT relative to the New Hampshire retirement system.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 New Paragraph; Definition; Vested. Amend RSA 100-A:1 by inserting after paragraph XXXVII the following new paragraph:

 XXXVIII. "Vested" means that a member is eligible for a benefit after 10 years of service. The calculations of earnable compensation under RSA 100-A:1, XVII, and average final compensation under RSA 100-A:1, XVIII, shall not be reduced after 3 years of service.

 2 Earnable Compensation. Amend RSA 100-A:1, XVII to read as follows:

 XVII. "Earnable compensation" shall mean: 

 (a) For group I members who have attained vested status prior to January 1, 2012 the full base rate of compensation paid, as determined by the employer, plus any overtime pay, holiday and vacation pay, sick pay, longevity or severance pay, cost of living bonus, annual attendance stipend or bonus, additional pay for extracurricular and instructional activities for full-time teachers and full-time employees who are employed in paraprofessional or support position, additional pay for instructional activities of full-time faculty of the community college system, and any military differential pay, plus the fair market value of non-cash compensation paid to, or on behalf of, the member for meals or living quarters if subject to federal income tax, but excluding other compensation except cash incentives paid by an employer to encourage members to retire, supplemental pay paid by the employer while the member is receiving workers' compensation, and teacher development pay that is not part of the contracted annual salary. [Compensation for extra and special duty, as reported by the employer, shall be included but limited during the highest 3 years of creditable service as provided in paragraph XVIII.]However, earnable compensation in the final 12 months of creditable service prior to termination of employment shall be limited to 1-1/2 times the higher of the earnable compensation in the 12-month period preceding the final 12 months or the highest compensation year as determined for the purpose of calculating average final compensation, but excluding the final 12 months. Any compensation received in the final 12 months of employment in excess of such limit shall not be subject to member or employer contributions to the retirement system and shall not be considered in the computation of average final compensation. Provided that, the annual compensation limit for members of governmental defined benefit pension plans under section 401(a)(17) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, shall apply to earnable compensation for all employees[,] and teachers[, permanent firemen, and permanent policemen] who first become eligible for membership in the system on or after July 1, 1996. Earnable compensation shall not include compensation in any form paid later than 120 days after the member's termination of employment from a retirement eligible position, with the limited exceptions of disability related severance pay paid to a member or retiree no later than 120 days after a decision by the board of trustees granting the member or retiree disability retirement benefits pursuant to RSA 100-A:6 and of severance pay which a member was entitled to be paid within 120 days after termination but which, without the consent of the member and not through any fault of the member, was paid more than 120 days after the member's termination. The member shall have the burden of proving to the board of trustees that any severance payment paid later than 120 days after the member's termination of employment is earnable compensation and meets the requirements of an asserted exception to the 120-day post-termination payment requirement. 

 (b)(1) For group I members who have not attained vested stat