Gen. 149 149

1

 The full text of SPP §2-508(b)(1) is as follows:

A retiree may enroll and participate in the

health insurance benefit options established under

the Program if the retiree: 

(i) ended State service with at least 10 years

of creditable service and within 5 years before the

age at which a vested retirement allowance would

normally begin;

(ii) ended State service with at least sixteen

years of creditable service;

(continued...)

RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

COURTS AND JUDGES ) PERSONNEL ) ELIGIBILITY OF MASTERS

FOR STATE HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS

April 16, 1997

The Honorable James P. Casey

Master for Juvenile Causes

You have requested our opinion whether retired masters who

are members of the Judges’ Retirement System are eligible for health

insurance benefits under the State Employee and Retiree Health and

Welfare Benefits Program established by Title 2, Subtitle 5 of the

State Personnel and Pensions (“SPP”) Article, Maryland Code. In

our opinion, they are. 

I

Current Statutory Text

Certain individuals are authorized by SPP §2-508(b) to “enroll

and participate in the health insurance benefit options established

under the [State Employee and Retiree Health and Welfare Benefits]

Program ....” To qualify, an individual must be a “retiree” and must

meet the other criteria in SPP §2-508(b)(1). For example, a retiree

is eligible if the retiree “ended State service with at least 16 years of

creditable service.” SPP §2-508(b)(1)(ii).1
150 [82 Op. Att’y

1

 (...continued)

(iii) ended State service on or before June 30,

1984;

(iv) retired directly from State service with a

State retirement allowance on or after July 1,

1984, and had at least 5 years of creditable

service; or

(v) retired directly from State service with a

State disability retirement allowance on or after

July 1, 1984.

Your letter indicates that some retired masters who are

members of the Judges’ Retirement System would meet the criteria

related to “State service” and “creditable service.” The term

“creditable service” includes “service while a member of the Judges’

Retirement System ....” SPP §2-508(a)(2)(ii). The term “State

service” includes “service with the State by ... a member of the

Judges’ Retirement System ....” SPP §2-508(a)(4)(ii). The

membership of the Judges’ Retirement System includes “a master in

chancery or a master in juvenile causes who ... was appointed ... on

or before June 30, 1989" and “serves full time as a master.” SPP

§27-201(a)(3).

The only ambiguity about the masters’ eligibility for State

health insurance is whether they are “retirees.” In relevant part, the

definition of “retiree” is “a former State employee who receives a

retirement allowance under Division II of this article.” SPP §2-

508(a)(3)(i)1. SPP Division II includes Title 27. Thus, a master

who qualifies as a member of the Judges’ Retirement System under

SPP Title 27 “receives a retirement allowance under Division II of

this article.” The question, then, is whether a master is “a former

State employee.” The term “former State employee” is not defined.

II

Evolution of the Statute

The predecessor of SPP §2-508 was enacted as part of Chapter

290 of the Laws of Maryland 1984. The 1984 legislation, codified

in former Article 64A, §48B, allowed most pension beneficiaries,

“as defined in Articl[e] 73B,” to “participate ... in the State

Employees Health Insurance Program provided that the beneficiary

... retired from State service with a State retirement allowance from
Gen. 149 151

2

 Other eligibility criteria were termination from State service with

16 years or more of creditable service; termination from State service prior

to July 1, 1984; and termination from State service with ten years of

creditable service within five years of normal retirement age. Former

Article 64A, §48B(b)(2), (3) and (4).

July 1, 1984" and “had at least 5 years of State service.” Former

Article 64A, §48B(b). The term “State service” was defined to mean

“service with the State as an employee, judge, teacher, or

correctional officer as defined in Article 73B, §§1(3), 55(f), 81(3),

111(4), 140(4), and 156(a), and Article 88B, §49(3).” 

When Chapter 290 was enacted, the term “judge,” as defined

in former Article 73B, §55(f), included “any master in chancery or

master in juvenile causes appointed in any county by the circuit court

for that county and who serves on a full-time basis as a master ....”

Therefore, these masters were engaged in “State service” as that

term was defined in former Article 64A, §48B(a), and, after

becoming pension “beneficiaries” with at least five years of State

service, also became eligible for State health insurance benefits. 

The next year, in Chapter 745 of the Laws of Maryland 1985,

the General Assembly altered the eligibility criteria under former

Article 64A, §48B. Chapter 745 retained the prior definition of

“State service” but also more fully defined the term “beneficiary”

and introduced the concept of “creditable service.” So, for example,

a “beneficiary” was made eligible for State health insurance benefits

if the beneficiary “retired directly from State service with a State

retirement allowance from July 1, 1984" and “had at least 5 years of

creditable service.” Former Article 64A, §48B(b)(1).2 As newly

defined, the term “beneficiary” included a “judge ... receiving a

retirement allowance under the provisions of Article 73B ....”

§48B(a)(1). The term “creditable service” was defined as, in

relevant part, “service as a judge.” §48B(a)(2)(ii). 

The term “judge” was not defined separately for purposes of

§48B. In our view, the Legislature intended that the definition of

“judge” in the pension law would carry over to this section as well.

“It is presumed that the General Assembly acted with full knowledge

of prior legislation and intended statutes that affect the same subject

matter to blend into a consistent and harmonious body of law.” State

v. Bricker, 321 Md. 86, 93, 581 A.2d 9 (1990). Indeed, the
152 [82 Op. Att’y

3

 We were not asked to address the eligibility of other masters for

State health insurance benefits. We express no view on that question.

4

 The 1993 recodification placed provisions regarding health

benefits, including the retirees’ health insurance law, in SPP Title 8,

Subtitle 1. Chapter 347 of the Laws of Maryland 1996 moved these

provisions into SPP Title 2, Subtitle 5.

unchanged definition of “State service,” with its reference to the

definition of “judge” in Article 73B, §55(f), made this usage

explicit. Because, for pension purposes, the term “judge” included

full-time masters, the 1985 legislation did not change the eligibility

of retired masters for State health insurance. 

In 1989, the General Assembly made a major change in the

pension status of masters. Newly appointed masters were no longer

to be part of the Judges’ Retirement System. Instead, they were to

become part of the State Employees Pension System. This policy

was carried out in part by redefining the term “judge” in former

Article 73B, §55 to limit the definition to those masters serving prior

to the effective date of the new law: “‘Judge’ ... includes ... any

master in chancery or master in juvenile causes appointed on or

before June 30, 1989 in any county by the circuit court for that

county and who serves on a full-time basis as a master....” Former

Article 73B, §55(h). Masters appointed after June 30, 1989, were

added to the definition of “employee” in §111(4)(b) and so became

members of the Employees Pension System. 

These changes, however, did not affect the eligibility of

masters in the Judges’ Retirement System for State health insurance

benefits.3 These masters were still “judges,” for purposes of the

definitions of “beneficiary,” “creditable service,” and “State service”

in former Article 64A, §48B(a). 

Subsequent recodification of the retirees’ health insurance law

was not intended to have the substantive effect of depriving these

masters of the eligibility that they had prior to the recodification. In

Chapter 10 of the Laws of Maryland 1993, the General Assembly

enacted provisions governing retirees’ eligibility for State health

insurance benefits that are substantially identical to the provisions

now codified at SPP §2-508.4

 The 1993 enactment used the term

“retiree” and defined it exactly as it now appears in SPP §2-

508(a)(3). This definition, according to the Revisor’s Note, was
Gen. 149 153

5

 When the General Assembly decided to end the eligibility of a

class of retirees for State health insurance, it legislated that result

explicitly. See Chapter 218 of the Laws of Maryland 1986.

“new language derived without substantive change from former Art.

64A, §48B ....” 

To summarize, in 1984 masters in the Judges’ Retirement

System who met the statutory criteria were eligible for State health

insurance benefits. They remained eligible after the 1985

amendments to the statute. Neither the 1989 change in the pension

law affecting masters nor the 1993 recodification of the retirees’

health insurance law ended their eligibility.5 For purposes of

eligibility for State health insurance benefits, retired masters who

were members of the Judges’ Retirement System are properly

viewed as “former State employees” and therefore as “retirees.”

III

Conclusion

In summary, it is our opinion that masters in the Judges’

Retirement System who meet the statutory criteria for State service

and creditable service are eligible for State health insurance benefits.

J. Joseph Curran, Jr.

Attorney General

Jack Schwartz

Chief Counsel

 Opinions and Advice