A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish a special separation allowance for career firefighters and career rescue squad workers.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:
"Article 12G.
"Separation Allowances for Career Firefighters and Career Rescue Squad Workers.
"§ 143‑166.90.  Definitions.
As used in this Article:
(1)	"Beneficiary" means any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit from the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or an equivalent locally sponsored retirement plan.
(2)	"Career firefighter" means a person (i) who is a full‑time paid employee of an employer that participates in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or an equivalent locally sponsored retirement plan and maintains a fire department certified by the North Carolina Department of Insurance and (ii) who is actively serving in a position with assigned primary duties and responsibilities for the prevention, detection, and suppression of fire.
(3)	"Career rescue squad worker" means a person (i) who is a full‑time paid employee of an employer that participates in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or an equivalent locally sponsored retirement plan and maintains a rescue squad or emergency medical services team certified by the North Carolina Department of Insurance or the Department of Health and Human Services and (ii) who is actively serving in a position with assigned primary duties and responsibilities for the alleviation of human suffering and assistance to persons who are in difficulty, who are injured, or who become suddenly ill by providing proper and efficient care or emergency medical services.
(4)	"Employer" means a county, city, town, or other political subdivision of this State that participates in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or an equivalent locally sponsored retirement plan.
"§ 143‑166.91.  Special separation allowances for career firefighter and career rescue squad workers.
(a)	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, every career firefighter and career rescue squad worker who is employed by an employer, and every former career firefighter and career rescue squad worker who was permanently disabled in the line of duty and formerly employed by an employer, who qualify under this section shall receive, beginning in the month in which the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker retires on a basic service retirement, under the provisions of G.S. 128‑27(a), (a1), (a2), or (c), or beginning July 1, 2011, in the case of former career firefighters and career rescue squad workers permanently disabled in the line of duty, an annual separation allowance equal to five hundred seventy‑five thousandths percent (0.575%) of the annual equivalent of the base rate of compensation most recently applicable to him or her for each year of creditable service. The allowance shall be paid in equal installments on the payroll frequency used by the employer. In order to qualify for the allowance, the officer shall meet all of the following requirements:
(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.
(2)	Not have become eligible for unreduced Social Security benefits.
(3)	Have completed at least five years of continuous service as a career firefighter or career rescue squad worker as herein defined immediately preceding a service retirement. Any break in the continuous service required by this subsection because of disability retirement benefits shall not adversely affect the qualification of a career firefighter or career rescue squad worker to receive the allowance, provided the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker returns to service within 45 days after the disability benefits cease and is otherwise qualified to receive the allowance. However, a career firefighter or career rescue squad worker who is permanently disabled in the line of duty shall be eligible to receive the allowance beginning in the month after the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker would have completed 30 years of service but for the disability.
(b)	As used in this section, "creditable service" means the service for which credit is allowed under the retirement system of which the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker is a member, provided that at least fifty percent (50%) of the service is as a career firefighter or career rescue squad worker as herein defined.
(c)	Payment to a retired career firefighter or career rescue squad worker under the provisions of this section shall cease at:
(1)	The last day of the month following the death of the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker;
(2)	The last day of the month in which the career firefighter or career rescue squad worker becomes eligible for unreduced Social Security benefits; or
(3)	The first day of reemployment by any employer in any capacity, whether full‑time, part‑time, temporary, or contractual.
(d)	This section does not affect the benefits to which an individual may be entitled from State, federal, or private retirement systems. The benefits payable under this section shall not be subject to any increases in salary or retirement allowances that may be granted to local employees by any employer.
(e)	The governing body for each unit of local government shall be responsible for making determinations of eligibility for its employees for the benefits provided under this section and for making payments to those eligible employees."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2011.