Relating to public retirement systems by allowing for the forfeiture of certain portions of the pension of a public employee who commits felony theft from a public employer

This bill relates to public retirement systems by allowing for the forfeiture of certain portions of the pension of a public employee who commits felony theft from a public employer. The bill defines “public employee” to mean an individual employed by a public employer and who is entitled to a pension under Code chapter 97A (Iowa department of public safety peace officers’ retirement, accident, and disability system), 97B (Iowa public employees’ retirement system), 411 (municipal fire and police retirement system), or 602 (judicial retirement system). 2. In addition to any other penalties provided by law, the bill provides that upon the conviction of a public employee for theft from a public employer for which the penalty is a felony, the public employee shall lose all rights in the public employee’s pension under a public retirement system prior to a bona fide retirement and the pension shall be revoked by the system. If convicted, the clerk of the district court is required to notify the applicable retirement system. Any accumulated contributions made by the public employee to the system shall be returned to the public employee. Any benefits received by the public employee in excess of the public employee’s contributions shall be returned to the system. Under the bill, the portion of the revoked pension that is not attributable to contributions made to the system by the public employee shall be considered property subject to forfeiture under Code chapter 809A, and the system shall proceed under the procedures of Code chapter 809A to seize such portion of the pension. The bill shall not be construed in a manner that impairs the rights of any individual under a marital property, spousal support, or child support order. In addition, this section shall not be construed to impair the statutory rights of a governmental entity to collect an amount from the public employee for deposit in the victim compensation fund established in Code chapter 915.