Legislation allows partial repayment of state pension contributions      

[AUG. 8, 2005]  SPRINGFIELD -- The governor recently approved legislation that will allow state employees to repay part of a refund of their employee contributions to the State Employees Retirement System in lieu of repaying a full refund, which was previously the only option allowed, reported state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield.

Bomke, primary Senate sponsor of House Bill 1383, said he initiated the legislation at the request of several state employees. He explained that employees under the State Employees Retirement System may take refunds of their employee contributions to the retirement system if they leave state employment before retirement. If they return to the state and rejoin the retirement system, they could repay their full refund, with interest, and regain their prior work service credit toward pension benefits.

"This bill would help former state employees who took SERS refunds when they quit or were laid off from a state job, but who later rejoined the state," Bomke explained Bomke. "Previously, if they wanted to regain credit for their prior work service, they had to pay the entire refund with interest. Depending on the length of their prior service, the repayment could be a significant amount of money, which made it difficult for them to repay the full amount, and sometimes they were forced to forfeit their ability to regain previous service credit."

By allowing partial repayment, Bomke says more employees will be able to repay the service credits toward their retirement. Additionally, the new law will allow employees to make partial repayments over time until the full refund is paid, which should be helpful to some returning state employees.

[News release from Sen. Larry Bomke]