CO Code § 31-31-401 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 31 - Government - Municipal|Article 31 - Fire - Police - New Hire Pension Plans|Part 4 - Statewide Defined Benefit Plan|§ 31-31-401. Applicability of Plan

  Every employer in this state shall provide the pension benefits of the statewide defined benefit plan established by this part 4 for members hired on or after April 8, 1978, except for the following:   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”;    Any employer that covers members under an exempt plan established pursuant to part 8 of article 30.5 of this title;    Any employer that has withdrawn its members from the statewide defined benefit plan pursuant to part 6 of this article and established a locally administered and financed alternative pension plan;    Any employer that has withdrawn its members from the statewide defined benefit plan for the purpose of covering them under the statewide money purchase plan established pursuant to part 5 of this article; and    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).       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.    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 article 30.5 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 defined benefit 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 defined benefit plan after the merger, consolidation, exclusion, or dissolution shall pay the continuing uniform rate of contribution established by the board pursuant to section 31-31-1101 (7).      A department chief hired on or after April 8, 1978, shall be exempted from the statewide defined benefit plan, upon the execution of a written agreement between the department chief and the chief's employer that provides for the department chief's participation in social security or in a federal insurance contribution act replacement plan as allowed under the federal internal revenue code, and the submission of notice to the association. A department chief may satisfy the federal insurance contribution act replacement plan requirement by participating in an employer sponsored plan, the statewide money purchase plan, or the statewide hybrid plan. The transfer of member and employer contributions between the statewide defined benefit plan and the statewide money purchase plan shall be consistent with the provisions of section 31-31-501.    For purposes of this subsection (4), a “department chief” means the senior command officer of any fire or police department of any employer, by whatever title known, including but not limited to chief, administrator, or director.    A department chief exempted pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) may maintain coverage for disability and survivor benefits under part 8 of this article if the department chief participates in the statewide money purchase plan, the statewide hybrid plan, or a local money purchase plan that is qualified under section 401(a) of the federal internal revenue code and that has a contribution rate of not less than sixteen percent.       A member normally serving less than one thousand six hundred hours in any calendar year shall be exempted from the statewide defined benefit plan and shall be covered under the statewide money purchase plan.    If an employer that is otherwise required to enroll its members under the 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.      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.    Editor's note:   This section was formerly numbered as § 31-30-1003 (1) , (2)(a)(I), (4), (5), and (7).   Cross references:   For the “Social Security Act”, see 42 U.S.C. sec. 301 et seq.   ANNOTATION   Annotator's note. Since § 31-31-401 is similar to § 31-30-1003 as it existed prior to the 1996 amendment that relocated parts 3 through 10 of article 30, relevant cases construing the provisions of that section have been included in the annotations to this section.   Plaintiffs not entitled to greater benefits under Denver plan. Peterson v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 725 P.2d 81 (Colo. App. 1986), aff'd in part and rev'd in part on the grounds, 759 P.2d 720 (Colo. 1988).   Refund of employer and employee contributions under subsection (2)(b)(V). The provisions of this section require the fire and police pension association to refund to withdrawing local governments all contributions previously made by them on behalf of both present and former employees. Littleton v. Fire and Police Pension Ass'n, 786 P.2d 458 (Colo. App. 1989).   All moneys refunded by the fire and police pension association must be deposited directly in the local government's alternative pension plan. City of Lamar v. Lamar Police Dept., 857 P.2d 457 (Colo. App. 1992).