AN ACT to authorize a more flexible payment schedule for the special separation for law enforcement officers.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑166.41(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, every sworn law‑enforcement officer as defined by G.S. 135‑1(11b) or G.S. 143‑166.30(a)(4) employed by a State department, agency, or institution who qualifies under this section shall receive, beginning  in the month in which he retires on a basic service retirement under the provisions of G.S. 135‑5(a) or G.S. 143‑166(y), an annual separation allowance equal to eighty‑five hundredths percent (0.85%) of the annual equivalent of the base rate of compensation most recently applicable to him for each year of creditable service. The allowance shall be paid in  equal installments on the payroll frequency used by the employer. To qualify for the allowance the officer shall:
(1)	Have (i) completed 30 or more years of creditable service or, (ii) have attained 55 years of age and completed five or more years of creditable service; and
(2)	Not have attained 62 years of age; and
(3)	Have completed at least five years of continuous service as a law enforcement officer as herein defined immediately preceding a service retirement. Any break in the continuous service required by this subsection because of disability retirement or disability salary continuation benefits shall not adversely affect an officer's qualification to receive the allowance, provided the officer returns to service within 45 days after the disability benefits cease and is otherwise qualified to receive the allowance."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 29th day of May, 2007.

	_____________________________________
		 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2007