§ 31-31-401 — Applicability of plan

Colorado § 31-31-401

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 31: Government
• Art.: Fire - Police - New Hire Pension Plans

Text

(1) Every employer in this state shall
provide the pension benefits of the statewide retirement plan established by part
31.5 of this title 31 for members hired on or after April 8, 1978, except for the
following:

(a) Any employer that began covering members under the federal Social
Security Act on or before August 11, 2005, and any employer that began covering
members under the federal Social Security Act on or before August 11, 2005, that
chooses to cover members hired after August 11, 2005, under the federal Social
Security Act;

(b) Any employer that covers members under an exempt plan established
pursuant to part 8 of article 30.5 of this title 31;

(c) Any employer that withdrew its members from the statewide defined
benefit plan pursuant to section 31-31-601, as said section existed prior to its
repeal, and established a locally administered and financed alternative pension
plan;

(d) Any employer that has withdrawn its members from the defined benefit
component of the statewide retirement plan for the purpose of covering them under
the statewide money purchase plan established pursuant to part 5 of this article 31;
and

(e) Any employer that covers a member hired on or after April 8, 1978, but
before January 1, 1980, under an old hire pension plan as permitted by section 31-30.5-103 (1).

(2) Nothing in this part 4 shall affect retirement pensions or disability or
survivor benefits of members hired prior to April 8, 1978, who retired, were
disabled, or died prior to January 1, 1980.

(3) Where an employer results from a merger, a consolidation, or an
exclusion or dissolution proceeding between or among one or more employers,
including a new governmental entity created by intergovernmental agreement
between or among one or more employers, all members transferred to or employed
by such resulting employer shall, for the purposes of this article 31 and articles
30.5 and 31.5 of this title 31, have those rights and obligations they had prior to the
merger, consolidation, exclusion, dissolution, or intergovernmental agreement. In
the event of a transfer of members, provision shall be made in such agreement or
proceeding for allocation and transfer of plan assets, and, in the event of the
transfer of members of a defined benefit plan, provision shall be made in such
agreement or proceeding for discharging plan liabilities and funding in order to
maintain or enhance the actuarial soundness of the remaining and resulting plans. If
the resulting employer had no members prior to the merger, consolidation,
exclusion, or dissolution, it may continue as its plan any plan of a transferring
employer, authorized by this article, for its members hired after the effective date
of the agreement or proceeding or the resulting employer shall belong to the
statewide retirement plan. The board may authorize the resulting employer to
consolidate preexisting retirement plans and any retirement plan attributable
solely to the resulting employer into one or more plans if the plans to be
consolidated are identical, the benefits are equal for all members covered under
the retirement provisions of the plans, and no member suffers a reduction of
benefits or an increase in member contributions due to such plan consolidation. Any
member employed by a predecessor department who participated in a money
purchase plan prior to the merger, consolidation, exclusion, or dissolution and who
participates in the statewide retirement plan after the merger, consolidation,
exclusion, or dissolution shall pay the continuing uniform rate of contribution
established by the board pursuant to section 31-31.5-305.

(4) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2022.)

(5) A member normally serving less than one thousand six hundred hours in
any calendar year shall be exempted from the lifetime benefit components of the
statewide retirement plan and shall be covered under the statewide money
purchase plan.

(6) If an employer that is otherwise required to enroll its members under a
plan fails to properly enroll such members, neither the fire and police pension
association nor the defined benefit system trust fund is obligated or liable for any
purpose to any person or employer arising from such failure.

Legislative History

Source: L. 96: Entire article added with relocations, p. 902, � 1, effective May 23. L. 2003: (5) added, p. 1232, � 3, effective August 6. L. 2005: (1)(a) amended, p. 305, � 1, effective August 8. L. 2013: (6) added, (SB 13-080), ch. 68, p. 222, � 1, effective August 7. L. 2015: (3) amended, (SB 15-026), ch. 8, p. 18, � 1, effective August 5; (4)(a) amended and (4)(c) added, (SB 15-028), ch. 10, p. 23, � 1, effective August 5. L. 2018: (3) amended, (HB 18-1031), ch. 5, p. 35, � 2, effective August 8. L. 2022: Entire section amended, (HB 22-1034), ch. 61, p. 302, � 6, effective January 1, 2023. L. 2024: (1)(c) and (1)(d) amended, (HB 24-1042), ch. 15, p. 39, � 8, effective March 6.