A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to modify and make permanent the option for retired educators to return to the public schools without loss of retirement benefits.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 135‑3(8)c. reads as rewritten:
"c.	Should a beneficiary who retired on an early or service retirement allowance under this Chapter be reemployed, or otherwise engaged to perform services, by an employer participating in the Retirement System on a part‑time, temporary, interim, or on a fee‑for‑service basis, whether contractual or otherwise, and if such beneficiary earns an amount during the 12‑month period immediately following the effective date of retirement or in any calendar year which exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the reported compensation, excluding terminal payments, during the 12 months of service preceding the effective date of retirement, or twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), whichever is greater, as hereinafter indexed, then the retirement allowance shall be suspended as of the first day of the month following the month in which the reemployment earnings exceed the amount above, for the balance of the calendar year. The retirement allowance of the beneficiary shall be reinstated as of January 1 of each year following suspension. The amount that may be earned before suspension shall be increased on January 1 of each year by the ratio of the Consumer Price Index to the Index one year earlier, calculated to the nearest tenth of a percent (1/10 of 1%).
The computation of postretirement earnings of a beneficiary under this sub‑subdivision, G.S. 135‑3(8)c., who has been retired at least  two months and has not been employed in any capacity, except as a substitute teacher or a part‑time tutor, with a public school for at least  two months immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment, shall not include earnings while the beneficiary is employed  as a teacher, a principal, an assistant principal, or in an instructional support personnel position on a substitute, interim, or permanent basis in a public school. The Department of Public Instruction shall certify to the Retirement System that a beneficiary is employed  by a local school administrative unit under the provisions of this sub‑subdivision and as a retired  educator as the term is defined under the provisions of G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a).
Beneficiaries employed under this sub‑subdivision are not entitled to any benefits otherwise provided under this Chapter as a result of this period of employment."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a) reads as rewritten:
"(5a)	"Retired  educator" means a beneficiary of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System of North Carolina who has been retired at least two months, has not been employed in any capacity, other than as a substitute teacher or a part‑time tutor, with a local board of education for at least two months, immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment, is determined by a local board of education to have had satisfactory performance during the last year of employment by a local board of education, and who is employed  as provided in G.S. 135‑3(8)c. A retired  educator who is a teacher shall be treated the same as a probationary teacher except that (i) a retired teacher is not eligible for career status and (ii) the performance of a retired teacher who had attained career status prior to retirement shall be evaluated in accordance with a local board of education's policies and procedures applicable to career teachers."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑316(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	A local board of education may pay a retired  educator, as that term is defined in G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a) no more than the employee would have received on the  appropriate salary schedule, excluding longevity, had the employee not retired."
SECTION 4.  Subsection (d) of Section 28.24 of S.L. 1998‑212, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126, reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section becomes effective January 1,  1999."
SECTION 5.  The introductory language of Section 67 of S.L. 1998‑217, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126, reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 67. Effective January 1, 1999,  G.S. 135‑3(8)c., as rewritten by Section 28.24(a) of S.L. 1998‑212 reads as rewritten:"
SECTION 6.  Subsection (b) of Section 67.1 of S.L. 1998‑217, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126, reads as rewritten:
"(b)	This section becomes effective January 1,  1999."
SECTION 7.  Subsection (c) of Section 32.25 of S.L. 2001‑424, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126, reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 32.25.(c)  This section becomes effective July 1,  2001."
SECTION 8.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.