SB200: relative to retirement system death benefits for members who die while performing military service.

CHAPTER 324

SB 200-FN – FINAL VERSION

6May2009… 1448h

2009 SESSION

09-1033

10/01

SENATE BILL 200-FN

AN ACT relative to retirement system death benefits for members who die while performing military service.

SPONSORS: Sen. Janeway, Dist 7; Sen. Barnes, Jr., Dist 17

COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill allows beneficiaries of retirement system members who die while performing qualified military service to receive ordinary death benefits, as provided in the federal Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008. The bill also provides for continuation of the benefit after the remarriage of the surviving spouse.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

6May2009… 1448h

09-1033

10/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine

AN ACT relative to retirement system death benefits for members who die while performing military service.

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

324:1 New Paragraph; Definition Added; Qualified Military Service. Amend RSA 100-A:1 by inserting after paragraph XXXI the following new paragraph:

XXXII. “Qualified military service” means any service in the uniformed services as defined in 38 U.S.C. chapter 43, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), by any member if such member is entitled to reemployment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act with respect to such service.

324:2 Retirement System; Ordinary Death Benefit; Members in Qualified Military Service. Amend RSA 100-A:9, I to read as follows:

I. Upon receipt by the board of trustees of proper proof of the death of a group I or group II member in service indicating that such death was not the result of an accident occurring while in the performance of duty, there shall be a death benefit payable to the member’ s surviving [widow] spouse or designated beneficiary or beneficiaries, if living, otherwise to the member’ s estate. For purposes of this section only, any group I or group II member who dies on or after January 1, 2007 while performing qualified military service shall be considered a member in service at the time of death whose death was not the result of an accident occurring while in the performance of duty as a member.

324:3 Ordinary Death Benefit; Remarriage of Spouse. Amend RSA 100-A:9, II to read as follows:

II. If the member has at least 10 years combined creditable service or was eligible for service retirement at the time of the member’s death, there shall be payable to the member’s surviving spouse an allowance, continuing until the spouse’s death [or remarriage], equal to 50 percent of the service retirement allowance that would have been payable to the member had the member retired immediately prior to death, based on average final compensation and creditable service at the time of death. In lieu of an allowance, the surviving spouse may elect a lump sum benefit equal to the deceased member’s annual earnable compensation, in addition to the amount payable under RSA 100-A:11.

324:4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved: August 7, 2009

Effective Date: August 7, 2009