A municipal affiliated public employer may elect by resolution of its governing body or by execution of a collective bargaining agreement and in the manner prescribed by the retirement board to be responsible for making contributions of up to seventy-five percent of its employees' member contributions as follows:

1. A. the resolution or collective bargaining agreement shall be irrevocable; except that:

   1. (1) if the resolution is passed or the collective bargaining agreement is executed on or before June 30, 2020, the percentage of the employee contributions that the municipal affiliated public employer elects to be responsible for making shall apply to the statutory employee contribution rate in effect on June 30, 2020 and shall not apply to any increase in the statutory employee contribution rate that may occur after that date; and
   2. (2) if the resolution is passed or the collective bargaining agreement is executed on or after July 1, 2020, the percentage of the employee contributions that the municipal affiliated public employer elects to be responsible for making shall apply to the statutory employee contribution rate in effect on the date that the resolution is passed or the collective bargaining agreement is executed and shall not apply to any increases in the statutory employee contribution rate that may occur after that date; provided, however, that if the statutory employee contribution rate is decreased after the date that the resolution is passed or the collective bargaining agreement is executed, the percentage of the employee contributions that the municipal public affiliated employer is responsible for making shall apply to the decreased statutory employee contribution rate;

2. B. a municipal affiliated public employer may by subsequent resolution or collective bargaining agreement:

   1. (1) elect to increase the percentage of employee member contributions for which it will be responsible;
   2. (2) elect to be responsible for a percentage of any increase to the statutory employee contribution rate in effect after the passing of an earlier resolution or the execution of an earlier collective bargaining agreement; or
   3. (3) at the time a new coverage plan is adopted, elect to be responsible under the new coverage plan for making a different percentage of employee member contributions than that which it elected under a previous coverage plan;
3. C. the resolution or executed collective bargaining agreement shall apply to all employees or else to specified employee divisions of the municipal affiliated public employer and shall be effective the first pay period of the month following the filing of the resolution with the retirement board;
4. D. the portion of the employee contributions made by the municipal affiliated public employer on behalf of a member shall be credited to the member's individual accumulated member contribution account in the member contribution fund. The member shall be responsible for the difference between the contributions the member would be required to make if the municipal affiliated public employer had not made the election provided for in this section and the amount contributed by the municipal affiliated public employer pursuant to the provisions of this section;
5. E. pensions payable to members whose municipal affiliated public employer makes the election provided for in this section shall be the same as if the member had made the entire member contribution; and
6. F. any municipal affiliated public employer increasing the percentage of the employee member contributions it elects to make pursuant to this section shall submit a resolution or executed collective bargaining agreement to the association by July 1 of the fiscal year in which the increase will take place indicating the percentage of the employee member contributions that will be made by the municipal affiliated public employer.

History: Laws 1987, ch. 253, § 5; 1999, ch. 92, § 1; 2013, ch. 225, § 3; 2020, ch. 11, § 2.

ANNOTATIONS

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1987, Chapter 253 repealed former 10-11-5 NMSA 1978, as amended by Laws 1977, ch. 247, § 48, relating to officers, and enacted a new section, effective July 1, 1987.

The 2020 amendment, effective July 1, 2020, delayed the dates for determining the percentage of employee contributions for which the municipal affiliated public employer elects to be responsible; and in Subsection A, Paragraph A(1), after each occurrence of "June 30", deleted "2013" and added "2020", and in Paragraph A(2), after "July 1", deleted "2013" and added "2020".

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, permitted municipal employers to elect by the execution of a collective bargaining agreement to pay a portion of its employees’ member contributions; provided that municipal employers will not pay any portion of the one and one-half percent increase in employee contributions effective July 1, 2013 without passing a resolution or executing a collective bargaining agreement; provided that municipalities may by subsequent resolution or collective bargaining agreement elect to pay a portion of employee contribution increases that occur after July 1, 2013; in the introductory sentence, after "resolution of its governing body" added "or by execution of a collective bargaining agreement"; in Subsection A, in the introductory sentence, after "the resolution", added "or collective bargaining agreement" and after "irrevocable", deleted "however" and added "except that"; added Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection A; in Subsection B, in the introductory sentence, after "resolution", added "or collective bargaining agreement"; added Paragraph (2) of Subsection B; in Paragraph (3) of Subsection B, after "to be responsible", added "under the new coverage plan" and after "coverage plan for", added "making"; in Subsection C, after "the resolution", added "or executed collective bargaining agreement"; and in Subsection F, after "submit a resolution", added "or executed collective bargaining agreement".

Severability. — Laws 2013, ch. 225, § 93 provided that if any part or application of Laws 2013, ch. 225 is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.

The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, inserted "up to" in the introductory language; in Subsection A inserted the language beginning "however" to the end, and added Paragraphs (1) and (2); added the Subsection B designation, and added "the resolution" at the beginning of the subsection; redesignated the subsequent subsections accordingly; added Subsection E; and made minor stylistic changes.

Compiler's notes. — Laws 1999, ch. 92, § 2 provided that if the public employees retirement association received a ruling from the internal revenue service that the provisions of this act jeopardize the qualified status of the public employees retirement plan, the provisions of this act shall be null and void as of the date of receipt of the ruling.