Providing credit for accrued sick leave for certain law enforcement officers and making a state mandate inapplicable

This bill provides credit for accrued sick leave for certain retired law enforcement officers.23A, providing credit for accrued sick leave, defines an “eligible law enforcement officer” as a law enforcement officer who is eligible to receive retirement benefits under a retirement system under Code chapter 97B or 411 on or after July 1, 2023.23. The new Code section provides that an eligible law enforcement officer, excluding officers covered under a collective bargaining agreement which provides otherwise, who retire or are eligible to retire and die while in active employment can receive a cash payment of up to $2,000 for their unused sick leave. The bill further provides that the remaining value of sick leave shall be available to pay for that portion of the officer’s group health insurance premium that would otherwise be paid for by the employer if the officer were still employed by the employer. The payment of premiums from accrued sick leave continues until the balance of the law enforcement officer’s banked value of eligible accrued sick leave is exhausted, the retiree otherwise becomes eligible for Medicare, or the officer dies. In addition, the bill provides that if the law enforcement officer returns to permanent full-time or part-time employment with the officer’s previous government employer, any unused sick leave balances are forfeited and the officer is not eligible for restoration of the unused sick leave accrued during the prior employment.3.2, subsection 3, which would relieve a political subdivision from complying with a state mandate if funding for the cost of the state mandate is not provided or specified. Therefore, political subdivisions are required to comply with any state mandate included in the bill.