2014 Rhode Island General Laws
Title 8 - Courts and Civil Procedure–Courts
Chapter 8-8.2 - Traffic tribunal
Section 8-8.2-12 - Additional benefits payable to retired judges and their surviving spouses or domestic partners.

§ 8-8.2-12 Additional benefits payable to retired judges and their surviving spouses or domestic partners. – (a) All judges of the administrative adjudication court and all judges of the administrative adjudication court who have been reassigned to the traffic tribunal, or their surviving spouses or domestic partners, who retire after January 1, 1970 and who receive a retirement allowance pursuant to the provisions of this title, shall, on the first day of January, next following the third anniversary of the retirement, receive a cost of living retirement adjustment in addition to his or her retirement allowance in an amount equal to three percent (3%) of the original retirement allowance. In each succeeding year thereafter during the month of January, the retirement allowance shall be increased an additional three percent (3%) of the original allowance, compounded annually from the year cost of living adjustment was first payable to be continued during the lifetime of the judge or his or her surviving spouse or domestic partner. For the purpose of such computation, credit shall be given for a full calendar year regardless of the effective date of the retirement allowance.

(b) Any judge who retired prior to January 31, 1980, shall be deemed for the purpose of this section to have retired on January 1, 1980.

(c) For judges not eligible to retire as of September 30, 2009 and not eligible upon passage of this article, and for their beneficiaries, the cost of living adjustment described in subsection (a) above shall only apply to the first thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) of retirement allowance, indexed annually, and shall commence upon the third (3rd) anniversary of the date of retirement or when the retiree reaches age sixty-five (65), whichever is later. The thirty-five thousand dollar ($35,000) limit shall increase annually by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumer (CPI-U) as published by the United States Department of Labor Statistics determined as of September 30 of the prior calendar year or three percent (3%), whichever is less. The first thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000), as indexed, of retirement allowance shall be multiplied by the percentage of increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as published by the United States Department of Labor Statistics determined as of September 30 of the prior calendar year or three percent (3%), whichever is less on the month following the anniversary date of each succeeding year. For judges eligible to retire as of September 30, 2009 or eligible upon passage of this article, and for their beneficiaries, the provisions of this subsection (c) shall not apply.

(d)(1) Notwithstanding the prior paragraphs of this section, and subject to paragraph (d)(2) below, for all present and former justices, active and retired justices, and beneficiaries receiving any retirement, disability or death allowance or benefit of any kind, whether provided for or on behalf of justices engaged on or prior to December 31, 1989 as a non-contributory justice or engaged after December 31, 1989 as a contributory justice, the annual benefit adjustment provided in any calendar year under this section shall be equal to (A) multiplied by (B) where (A) is equal to the percentage determined by subtracting five and one-half percent (5.5%) (the "subtrahend") from the Five-Year Average Investment Return of the retirement system determined as of the last day of the plan year preceding the calendar year in which the adjustment is granted, said percentage not to exceed four percent (4%) and not to be less than zero percent (0%), and (B) is equal to the lesser of the justice's retirement allowance or the first twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) of retirement allowance, such twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) amount to be indexed annually in the same percentage as determined under (d)(1)(A) above. The "Five-Year Average Investment Return" shall mean the average of the investment return of the most recent five (5) plan years as determined by the retirement board. Subject to paragraph (d)(2) below, the benefit adjustment provided by this paragraph shall commence upon the third (3rd) anniversary of the date of retirement or the date on which the retiree reaches his or her Social Security retirement age, whichever is later. In the event the retirement board adjusts the actuarially assumed rate of return for the system, either upward or downward, the subtrahend shall be adjusted either upward or downward in the same amount.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (d)(3), the benefit adjustments under this section for any plan year shall be suspended in their entirety unless the GASB Funded Ratio of the Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island, the Judicial Retirement Benefits Trust and the State Police Retirements Benefits Trust, calculated by the system's actuary on an aggregate basis, exceeds eighty percent (80%) in which even the benefit adjustment will be reinstated for all justices for such plan year.

In determining whether a funding level under this paragraph (d)(2) has been achieved, the actuary shall calculate the funding percentage after taking into account the reinstatement of any current or future benefit adjustment provided under this section. "GASB Funded Ratio" shall mean the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (d)(2), in each fifth plan year commencing after June 30, 2012 commencing with the plan year ending June 30, 2017, and subsequently at intervals of five (5) plan years, a benefit adjustment shall be calculated and made in accordance with paragraph (d)(1) above until the GASB Funded Ratio of the Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island, the Judicial Retirement Benefits Trust and the State Police Retirement Benefits Trust, calculated by the system's actuary on an aggregate basis, exceeds eighty percent (80%).

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the provisions of this paragraph (d) of § 8-8.2-12 shall become effective July 1, 2012 and shall apply to any benefit adjustment not granted on or prior to June 30, 2012.

History of Section.
(P.L. 1999, ch. 218, art. 4, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 510, § 3; P.L. 2010, ch. 23, art. 16, § 4; P.L. 2011, ch. 408, § 18; P.L. 2011, ch. 409, § 18.)