REPORT TITLE:
ERS; Beneficiary


DESCRIPTION:
Allows maximum retirement benefit for a sole designated
beneficiary if a member, otherwise eligible to retire, dies in
service.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1631
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that there are occasions
 
 2 when an employee who is otherwise eligible to retire, continues
 
 3 to work.  When this employee dies in service, the law provides
 
 4 for an ordinary death benefit whereby the member's designated
 
 5 beneficiary may elect to receive payment either as provided in
 
 6 the ordinary death benefit provisions or an allowance that would
 
 7 have been payable had the member retired the day prior to death
 
 8 under option 2 of the election modes of retirement allowances.
 
 9 The anecdotal evidence is that often a member's surviving spouse
 
10 and children are left with less than the maximum benefit had the
 
11 member retired and selected the option of maximum benefit.  Under
 
12 these conditions, the member's family is penalized for having
 
13 lost their parent or spouse prematurely, before having retired.
 
14 The purpose of this Act is to give the designated beneficiary, if
 
15 there is only one, the maximum benefit that the member, had the
 
16 member retired, would have gotten upon retirement.
 
17      SECTION 2.  Chapter 88, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
18 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
19 read as follows:
 

 
Page 2                                                     
                                     S.B. NO.           1631
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      "§88-    Limited retirement allowance option for a single
 
 2 designated beneficiary.  Notwithstanding other provisions of this
 
 3 chapter, in the event that a member was eligible for service
 
 4 retirement at the time of death in service, if there is only a
 
 5 single designated beneficiary, that designated beneficiary may
 
 6 elect to receive the member's maximum allowance as if the member
 
 7 had retired the day prior to death as provided in section
 
 8 88-83(a) discounted for actuarial considerations."
 
 9      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
11 
 
12                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________