Correctional Officers' Retirement System - Reemployment After Retirement - Exemption from Earnings Offset, the official text

WES MOORE, Governor                                          Ch. 258

Chapter 258

                   (Senate Bill 710)

AN ACT concerning

Correctional Officers’ Retirement System – Reemployment After Retirement –
                                   Exemption from Earnings Offset

FOR the purpose of exempting a retiree of the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System
         from a certain earnings offset if the retiree is reemployed with a certain participating
         employer; and generally relating to the reemployment of retirees of the Correctional
         Officers’ Retirement System.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
         Article – State Personnel and Pensions
         Section 25–403
         Annotated Code of Maryland
         (2024 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement)

         SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND,
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

                   Article – State Personnel and Pensions

25–403.

         (a) Except as provided in subsection (h) of this section, an individual who is
receiving a service retirement allowance or vested allowance may accept employment with
a participating employer on a permanent, temporary, or contractual basis, if the individual
immediately notifies the Board of Trustees[:

             (1)] of the individual’s intention to accept the employment[; and

             (2) of the compensation that the individual will receive].

        [(b) (1) The Board of Trustees shall reduce the allowance of an individual who
accepts employment as provided under subsection (a) of this section if:

                           (i) the individual’s current employer is a participating employer
other than the State and is the same participating employer that employed the individual
at the time of the individual’s last separation from employment with a participating
employer before the individual commenced receiving a service retirement allowance or
vested allowance; or

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Ch. 258  2026 LAWS OF MARYLAND

                           (ii) the individual’s current employer is any unit of State government
and the individual’s employer at the time of the individual’s last separation from
employment with the State before the individual commenced receiving a service retirement
allowance or vested allowance was also a unit of State government.

                  (2) (i) Subject to subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph, the
reduction under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall equal the amount by which the sum
of the individual’s initial annual basic allowance and the individual’s annual compensation
exceeds the average final compensation used to compute the basic allowance.

                           (ii) Any reduction taken under this subsection may not reduce the
retiree’s allowance to an amount less than the required deduction for:

                                    1. if the retiree retired from any unit of State government,
the retiree’s monthly State–approved medical insurance premiums; or

                                    2. if the retiree retired from a participating employer other
than the State, the approved monthly medical insurance premiums required by the
participating employer that employed the retiree at the time of the retiree’s retirement.

                           (iii) The Board of Trustees shall recover from the retiree any
difference between the reduction required under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph and
the reduction taken under subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph.

                  (3) The reduction under this subsection does not apply to:

                           (i) an individual who has been retired for 5 years, beginning on
January 1, after the date the individual retires;

                           (ii) an individual whose average final compensation was less than
the minimum annual salary on the standard State pay scale as of January 1 of the
preceding calendar year and who is reemployed on a permanent, temporary, or contractual
basis;

                           (iii) an individual who is serving in an elected position as an official
of a participating governmental unit or as a constitutional officer for a county that is a
participating governmental unit;

                           (iv) a retiree of the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System who is
reemployed on a contractual basis for not more than 4 years by the Division of Corrections,
the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, or the Patuxent Institution in the
Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services as a correctional officer in a
correctional facility defined in § 1–101 of the Correctional Services Article; or

                           (v) a retiree of the Correctional Officers’ Retirement System who is
reemployed on a contractual basis for not more than 4 years as a parole and probation

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WES MOORE, Governor  Ch. 258

employee in a position authorized under Title 6, Subtitle 1 of the Correctional Services
Article; OR

                         (VI) A RETIREE OF THE CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS’
RETIREMENT SYSTEM WHO IS EMPLOYED AS A BAILIFF IN A STATE COURT.]

        (B) AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS RECEIVING A SERVICE RETIREMENT

ALLOWANCE OR A VESTED ALLOWANCE AND WHO ACCEPTS EMPLOYMENT WITH A

PARTICIPATING EMPLOYER ON A PERMANENT, TEMPORARY, OR CONTRACTUAL
BASIS IS NOT SUBJECT TO A REDUCTION TO THE INDIVIDUAL’S ALLOWANCE.

         (c) An individual who is receiving a service retirement allowance or a vested
allowance and who is reemployed by a participating employer may not receive creditable
service or eligibility service during the period of reemployment.

         (d) The individual’s compensation during the period of reemployment may not be
subject to the employer pickup provisions of § 21–303 of this article or any reduction or
deduction as a member contribution for pension or retirement purposes.

         (e) The State Retirement Agency shall institute appropriate reporting procedures
with the affected payroll systems to ensure compliance with this section.

        (f) [(1) Immediately on the employment of any individual receiving a service
retirement allowance or a vested allowance, a participating employer shall notify the State
Retirement Agency of the type of employment and the anticipated earnings of the
individual.

                (2)] At least once each year, in a format specified by the State Retirement
Agency, each participating employer shall provide the State Retirement Agency with a list
of all employees included on any payroll of the employer, the Social Security numbers of
the employees, and their earnings for that year.

         (g) At the request of the State Retirement Agency, a unit of State government
shall certify to the State Retirement Agency that the individual was not employed by any
unit of State government at the time of the individual’s last separation from employment
before the individual commenced receiving a service retirement allowance or a vested
allowance.

         (h) An individual who is receiving a service retirement allowance under this title
may not be employed within 45 days of the date the individual retired, on a permanent,
temporary, or contractual basis, by:

                  (1) the State or other participating employer; or

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Ch. 258  2026 LAWS OF MARYLAND

                  (2) a withdrawn participating governmental unit, if the retiree was an
employee of the withdrawn participating governmental unit while the withdrawn
governmental unit was a participating employer.

        [(i) The Division of Corrections, the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services,
or the Patuxent Institution in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services
shall notify the State Retirement Agency of any retirees who qualify under subsection
(b)(3)(iv) of this section.

         (j) On or before September 1 of each year, the Commissioner of Corrections, the
Commissioner of Pretrial Detention and Services, and the Director of the Patuxent
Institution in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services shall jointly
submit a report in accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article to the Joint
Committee on Pensions that provides:

                (1) the number of rehired retirees under subsection (b)(3)(iv) AND (VI) of
this section;

                  (2) the annual salary of each rehired retiree at the time of retirement and
the current annual salary of each rehired retiree;

                  (3) the number of correctional officers hired who are not retirees; and

                (4) the annual salary of each correctional officer who is hired.]

         SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July
1, 2026.

Approved by the Governor, April 28, 2026.

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