PENCD-IMRF-DNST FIRE-HIRE DATE

Amends the Downstate Firefighter Article of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that a firefighter who previously participated in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) for service as a member of the fire department of a municipality and was transferred to that municipality's firefighters' pension fund upon its creation, as required under the Downstate Firefighter Article as a result of the federal decennial census of 2010, shall, for the purposes of determining the applicable tier of benefits, be deemed to have become a firefighter and member of that municipality's firefighters' pension fund on the date that he or she first participated in IMRF as a member of the fire department of that municipality, notwithstanding whether that start date was before January 1, 2011. Amends the State Mandates Act to require implementation without reimbursement. Effective immediately. Pension Note (Government Forecasting & Accountability) SB 194 presumably deals with a situation where a Downstate Fire pension fund was created in the wake of the 2010 federal census and a firefighter who had theretofore been a Tier 1 participant in IMRF began service in the newly created Downstate Fire pension fund as a Tier 2 employee. It is unknown how many firefighters were impacted in this way.