Serving those who serve Georgia E RSGA Employees' Retirement System of Georgia For the Week of: March 9 - 13, 2015 Legislative Days: 28 - 30 Employees' Retirement System of Georgia Legislative Update March 13, 2015 Page 1 Inside This Update 1 Legislative Log For More Information on Legislation, please visit: www.ers.ga.gov Contact Us Jim Potvin Executive Director, ERSGA 404-603-5602 jim.potvin@ers.ga.gov Kelly L. Moody Legislative Liaison and Communications Manager ERSGA 404-603-5646 kelly.moody@ers.ga.gov Danise Thaxton Executive Assistant to the Director, ERSGA 404-603-5602 danise.thaxton@ers.ga.gov Legislative Log Monday, March 9 - Thursday, March 12, 2015 No retirement bills were considered. Friday, March 13, 2015 HB 605 Georgia Judicial Retirement System; member who was serving in a full-time position on his or her retirement may use prior part-time service for vesting; provide This legislation changes provisions relating to the vesting requirements for judges moving from part-time service to full-time service in the Judicial Retirement System (JRS). Part-time judges currently vest in JRS after ten years of service, as do full-time judges. However, if a part-time judge moves into a full-time position, the years of service as a part-time judge are reduced by two thirds and a formerly part-time judge is not eligible to use any of their part-time service towards vesting as a full-time judge. This means the judge would have to work at least ten more years to be eligible for a retirement benefit in JRS. Under the proposed changes, part-time judges that move into a full-time judge position will be allowed to retain previously earned vesting credit in JRS beginning July 1, 2016. Calculation for prior creditable service will be based on a ratio determined by dividing the average monthly compensation for the 24 consecutive month period producing the highest such average during the part-time service by the average monthly salary during the 24 consecutive month period producing the highest such average during the full time service. The resultant percentage will be multiplied by the total part-time service and the result added to the total full-time service, resulting in the total service calculation. HB 605 was assigned to the House Retirement Committee.