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Each Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plan shall be governed by the following:
(a) provisions specific to each Tier as set forth in this Article; and
(b) these General Provisions for the Fire and Police Pension Plan.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Charter Amendment A § 2, approved June 5, 2001, effective July 10, 2001.
For the purposes of the Tiers of the Fire and Police Pension Plan set forth in this Part 3, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context.
(a) City: The City of Los Angeles.
(b) Board: The Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners.
(c) Plan or System: The Fire and Police Pension Plan administered by the Board. Any reference in this Part to “Fire and Police Pension Plans” shall be deemed a reference to the Fire and Police Pension Plan.
(d) Beneficiary: Person entitled to receive a benefit from the Plan.
(e) Department Member. A person who is a sworn Member of the Fire Department or a sworn Member of the Police Department, as those terms are defined for each Tier. This term shall not include a person who is a sworn Member of the Police Department who was eligible to make the election authorized by Charter Section 1703 or 1709 but remained a member of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System. This term also includes a person who is a sworn Member of the Harbor Department who qualifies for membership in the Plan pursuant to the provisions of any Tier of the Plan, but shall not include any sworn employee of the Harbor Department who was appointed prior to January 8, 2006 and was eligible to make the election authorized by Charter Section 1709 but remained a member of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System. Additionally, this term includes a person who is a sworn Member of the Department of Airports who qualifies for membership in the Plan pursuant to the provisions of any Tier of the Plan, but shall not include any employee of the Department of Airports who was appointed prior to January 7, 2018 and was eligible to make the election authorized by Charter Section 1704 or 1709 but remained a member of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System. Lastly, this term includes a person who is a sworn Member of the Department of Recreation and Parks who qualifies for membership in the Plan pursuant to Charter Section 1709, but it shall not include a person who is a sworn Member of the Department of Recreation and Parks who was eligible to make the election authorized by Charter Section 1709 but remained a member of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System.
(f) Retired Plan Member: A person who is a former Plan Member whose active duty status has been terminated and is receiving a regular monthly benefit payment from any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plan.
(g) Tier: Any one of the several benefit structures denominated as a “Tier” within the Fire and Police Pension Plan.
(h) Outside Agency: Any governmental entity other than the Fire or Police Departments of the City of Los Angeles.
(i) Transferring Employees: Employees of an Outside Agency who become Department Members pursuant to a merger or contract for fire or police services authorized by action of the Council.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Charter Amendment A § 3, approved June 5, 2001, effective July 10, 2001; Charter Amendment 1, approved March 8, 2005, effective April 6, 2005; Subsec. (e), Charter Amendment G § 2, approved March 8, 2011, effective April 8, 2011; Subsec. (e), Charter Amendment SSS § 1, approved November 8, 2016, effective December 15, 2016; Subsec. (e), Charter Amendment FF, approved November 5, 2024, effective January 8, 2025.
A deputized, reserve or auxiliary police officer or firefighter hired by the City of Los Angeles to perform duties on a part-time basis shall:
(a) not be a Plan Member or System Member of any Tier for any purpose;
(b) not be entitled, and the surviving spouse or surviving minor or dependent children or dependent parent(s) shall not be entitled to payment of any benefit or pension provided by the Fire and Police Pension Plans; and
(c) not have any deductions made for pension purposes from any moneys earned or paid by the City.
(a) Adoption of Annual Budget. The Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners shall adopt a budget each year setting forth the administration expense for each Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plan. The budget shall be adopted at a meeting open to the public. At the discretion of the Council, administrative expense, which includes investment management expense, may be paid from the assets of the Plan.
(b) Separate Items of Budget. The Board shall annually prepare and transmit to the Mayor, Council and Controller a budget setting forth the estimated cost of maintaining the Fire and Police Pension Plan. The budget shall include each of the following separate items, whether such item is a positive number or a negative number:
(1) Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 1.
(a) A sum equal to that percentage of the salaries of all Tier 1 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to cover the entry age cost to be paid by the City on account of new entrants into Tier 1. The entry age cost is defined as the level percentage of compensation of new Tier 1 entrants which must be paid into the Plan from their date of entry in order to provide the benefits under the Plan, less the contributions to be made by new entrants during the period of their membership as provided in Section 1324.
(b) A sum, which may be a positive number or a negative number, equal to the dollar amount shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to amortize the unfunded liabilities of the Plan allocable to Tier 1 for the purpose of preparation of the budget. The unfunded liabilities to be allocated are the present value of all of the assumed obligations under Tier 1 of the Plan, less
(i) the present value of the future contributions to be made by the City under the preceding subsection and by the members under Section 1324, and
(ii) the assets of the Plan allocated for this purpose to the Fire and Police Tier 1 Service Pension Fund and to the Fire and Police Tier 1 General Pension Fund. The amortization period shall be 70 years beginning with the fiscal year 1967-1968.
(c) A sum sufficient to cover the cost, if any, as determined by an actuarial estimate, of benefits granted by the Council under the authority of Section 1330 of Tier 1.
(2) Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 2.
(a) A sum equal to that percentage of the salaries of all Tier 2 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to cover the entry age cost to be paid by the City on account of new System Member entrants into Tier 2. The entry age cost is defined as the level percentage of salary of Tier 2 entrants which must be paid into the Plan from their respective dates of entry in order to provide the benefits pursuant to this Plan, less the deductions to be made from the salaries of new entrants, while they are Tier 2 Members, as provided by Section 1420.
(b) A sum, which may be a positive number or a negative number, equal to that percentage of the aggregate salaries of all members of the Fire Department and of the Police Department who are included under the provisions of Tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Plan, as shown in the last actuarial valuation required to amortize the unfunded liabilities of the Plan allocable to Tier 2 for the purpose of preparation of the budget, which sum will remain level as a percentage of salary, but which will increase in dollar amount in accordance with the aggregate salary increase assumption. The unfunded liabilities to be allocated are the present value of all of the assumed obligations under Tier 2 of the Plan less:
(i) the present value of the future contributions to be made by the City pursuant to the preceding subsection (2) (a);
(ii) the present value of the deductions to be made from the salaries of the Tier 2 Members; and
(iii) the assets of the Plan allocated for this purpose to the Fire and Police Tier 2 Service Pension Fund and the Fire and Police Tier 2 General Pension Fund.
The amortization period shall be 70 years beginning with the fiscal year 1967-68, except the Board shall assume that the unfunded liabilities of Tier 2 shall be $258,000,000 as of July 1, 1967. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the unfunded liability as of any fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 2001 with respect to Tier 2 is greater than zero, the amortization period for such unfunded liability shall be 30 years if less than the period specified in the preceding sentence. The amortization period for any increases in the unfunded liability for any subsequent fiscal year shall be the amortization period of 70 years beginning with the fiscal year 1967-68 or, if shorter, 30 years with respect to increases in unfunded liabilities resulting from amendment to the Plan and 15 years with respect to increases in unfunded liabilities resulting from actuarial experience losses; the amortization period for any decreases in unfunded liabilities shall remain unchanged.
(c) A sum sufficient to cover the cost, if any, as determined by actuarial estimate, of benefits granted by the Council under the authority of Section 1428 of this Tier 2.
(3) Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 3.
(a) A sum equal to that percentage of the salaries of all Tier 3 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to cover the entry age cost to be paid by the City on account of Tier 3 Member entrants into the Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 3. The entry age cost being defined as the level percentage of salary of new Tier 3 Member entrants which must be paid into the Plan from their respective dates of entry in order to provide the benefits pursuant to the Tier 3 provisions, less the deductions to be made from the salaries of new entrants while they are Tier 3 Members.
(b) A sum, which may be a positive number or a negative number, equal to that percentage of salaries of all Tier 3 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to amortize the unfunded liabilities of the Plan allocable to Tier 3 for the purpose of preparation of the budget. The unfunded liabilities to be allocated are the present value of all the assumed obligations under Tier 3 of the Plan less:
(i) the present value of the future contributions to be made by the City under the preceding subsection 3(a);
(ii) the present value of the deductions to be made from the salaries of the Tier 3 Members; and
(iii) the assets of the Plan allocated for this purpose to the Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 3.
(c) A sum sufficient to cover the cost, if any, as determined by an actuarial estimate, of benefits granted by the City Council by ordinance as authorized by Tier 3.
(4) Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 4.
(a) A sum equal to that percentage of the salaries of all Tier 4 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to cover the entry age cost to be paid by the City on account of Member entrants into Tier 4. The entry age cost is defined as the level percentage of salary of new Tier 4 Member entrants which must be paid into the Plan from their respective dates of entry in order to provide the benefits pursuant to the Tier 4 provisions, less the deductions to be made from the salaries of new entrants while they are Tier 4 Members.
(b) A sum, which may be a positive number or a negative number, equal to that percentage of salaries of all Tier 4 Members shown in the last actuarial valuation to be required to amortize the unfunded liabilities of the Plan allocable to Tier 4 for the purpose of preparation of the budget. The unfunded liabilities to be allocated are the present value of all the assumed obligations under Tier 4 of the Plan less:
(i) the present value of the future contributions to be made by the City pursuant to the preceding subsection 4(a);
(ii) the present value of the deductions to be made from the salaries of the Tier 4 Members; and
(iii) the assets of the Plan allocated for this purpose to the Fire and Police Pension Plan - Tier 4.
(c) A sum sufficient to cover the cost, if any, as determined by an actuarial estimate, of benefits granted by the Council by ordinance as authorized by Tier 4.
(c) General Obligation of the City. For the purpose of providing funds to meet the budget of the Fire and Police Pension Plan, the Council annually shall provide from revenues available to it, funds sufficient to provide the total amount of all positive items, reduced by the total amount of all negative items, in the budget submitted by the Board, such reduction subject to any restrictions imposed by Section 401(h) of the Internal Revenue Code.
SECTION HISTORY
Amended by: Charter Amendment A § 4, approved June 5, 2001, effective July 10, 2001.
(a) Definition. For the purposes of this section, “compensation” is defined as every payment provided for by any general law granting benefits for injury, sickness or death caused by or arising out of employment, and also includes payments made to satisfy any claim for damages to the extent that the payments relieve the obligation to pay compensation under that general law.
(b) Coordination of Pension Benefits. If, pursuant to general law, an award of compensation is made or compensation is paid on account of injury, sickness or death caused by or arising out of employment as a Department Member, then the total amount of any disability or survivor pension granted pursuant to any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plans shall be reduced by the total amount of the awarded compensation and the amount remaining after reduction shall be the pension granted.
(c) Payment Procedure. If the reduction provided in subsection (b) of this section is applicable to a pension:
(1) Applied First to Compensation Award. Any pension payments made under any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plans shall be deemed to be, and shall be, payments of the compensation award and shall be first applied as payments of the compensation award. Any pension payments not applied as satisfaction of the compensation award shall be deemed to be, and shall be, applied as payments of the pension granted.
(2) Payments Made to the Extent They Exceed Award. Pension payments shall be made only to the extent that the cumulative sum of the payments of disability or survivor pension provided in any Tier exceed the cumulative sum of the compensation award.
(3) Limit on Installment Basis. Compensation awards may be deducted on an installment basis if no installment is less than 25% of any monthly pension amount payable to the Retired Plan Member.
(d) Service Pensions Not Affected. The reduction provided in subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to any service pension granted under any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plans. Nor shall any pension be reduced by any compensation which shall be awarded or paid to any Retired Plan Member receiving a service pension under any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plans or to any Plan Member who shall die while eligible to retire. Any deductions made from the salary of any Plan Member and deposited to the credit of any Tier of the Fire and Police Pension Plans shall be applied solely to the cost of service pensions granted under that Tier and never shall cover, directly or indirectly, the cost of any compensation award.
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