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operations. No longer will decisions on pensions be dictated
by Division of Pensions staff and the attorney general’s office,
who are not members of the system. Pension funding, rath-
er than politics and expediency, will be the focus. The state’s
Division of Pensions will be hired to process retirement pa-
perwork, as it does now, to ensure there is no delay to the dis-
tribution of retirement checks or the filing of retirement ap-
plications during and after the transfer of management. The
process for retirement will be streamlined, and the board will
have the final say on approving pensions without interference
from the state that occurs now.
The new Board of Trustees will have exclusive power over
the policy that governs the PFRS and will have the authority
to adjust benefits – COLA, the special retirement percent, con-
tribution levels, the tier levels, the cap on pensions for officers
hired after 2010 and disability pensions, to name a few – with-
out having to go to the state legislature. Benefit changes will
require an actuary to affirm that the system can absorb them,
and a supermajority vote is needed to adopt them.
PFRS assets will be invested at the recommendation of the
PFRS Board through its investment committee and money
managers. The state will then invest the money where and
how the PFRS Board directs. The board will have the power to
audit and review these investments, as well as the authority to
remove PFRS assets from the state treasurer if it is shown that
the state has mismanaged those investment choices. Moving
forward, PFRS money will be invested and managed by PFRS
members.
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JULY 2018
The change will not happen immediately, however. Official-
ly, under the new law, the new management of the system will
take over on or about July 4, 2019. Seven months from July 3 of
this year, the new PFRS trustees will be appointed and elected.
Once the board is seated, action will proceed to hire the pro-
fessional staff that will manage PFRS on a daily basis and will
work out the transition of system management from the state.
On the 366th day after the law was signed, PFRS will be under
new management.
This law is significant for so many reasons. On a personal
note, it is most likely the most important law I have ever lob-
bied into existence in my nearly 25 years representing the NJ
State PBA in Trenton. The lives and the futures of tens of thou-
sands of law enforcement officers, their families and their sur-
vivors depend on a healthy retirement system. This bill does
more to see to that than any the State PBA has lobbied for in
nearly three decades.
The promise all officers make when they take the oath to
serve and protect our communities comes with a promise
from the government that a pension will be there when their
careers conclude. You live up to your promise every day when
you go to work, but the government has failed in its obliga-
tion to protect that pension for you. We did what needed to
be done to recognize the commitment you have made so that
you receive what you have been promised.
I know I speak for President Colligan and Executive Vice
President Kovar when I say that it is the single greatest honor
of my career to see this law passed to ensure that your service,
your sacrifice and your dedication to the people of New Jersey
are rewarded with a healthy and growing pension system.d