Public employees' benefits: postemployment health care.

The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) permits a public employer authorized by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to elect to participate in the prefunding of postemployment health care benefits and other postemployment benefits for annuitants. Under PEMHCA, the governing body of a participating employer is required to contract with the board regarding the terms and conditions of that employer's participation in the prefunding plan. PEMHCA establishes the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund in the State Treasury, as a trust fund and a retirement fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for expenditure for the prefunding of health care coverage for annuitants. This bill would require the board to determine the actuarially required contributions necessary to ensure that postemployment health care benefits provided under PEMHCA are fully funded. The bill would require an employee first hired on or after January 1, 2012, and his or her employer, to each pay 50% of those actuarially required contributions, to be deposited into the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund. By creating a new source of revenue for deposit into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.