00 HOUSE BILL NO. 170 01 "An Act relating to granting certain employees of the Department of Fish and Game 02 status as peace officers under the public employees' retirement system." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04  * Section 1. AS 39.35 is amended by adding a new section to article 5 to read: 05 Sec. 39.35.365. Peace officer status for qualified employees of the  06 Department of Fish and Game. (a) Service as an employee of the Department of 07 Fish and Game on or after July 1, 2001, is considered service as a peace officer under 08 this chapter if the employee is a permanent full-time employee, including a permanent 09 seasonal employee, of the Department of Fish and Game and the employee fills a 10 position that has been certified by the commissioner of fish and game and approved by 11 the commissioner of administration as having duties that require a significant amount 12 of field work, travel, or exposure to hazardous working conditions. 13 (b) An employee who was employed before July 1, 2001, but on or after 14 June 23, 1983, in a position that would be eligible for certification under (a) of this 01 section except for the requirement that the service be performed on or after July 1, 02 2001, may convert the credited service for that position during that time to credited 03 service as a peace officer by claiming the service as peace officer service before the 04 member is appointed to retirement. When the member claims this credited service as 05 peace officer service, an indebtedness of the member to the system shall be 06 established. The indebtedness is equal to (1) the contributions to the system that the 07 employee would have made if the service had counted as peace officer service, less (2) 08 the contributions to the system that the employee actually made. Interest, as 09 prescribed by regulation, accrues on this indebtedness, as required by regulation. Any 10 outstanding indebtedness that exists at the time a person is appointed to retirement will 11 require an actuarial adjustment to the benefits payable based upon the service claimed 12 under this subsection. 13 (c) In this section, 14 (1) "a significant amount" means at least five percent of an individual's 15 working time; 16 (2) "exposure to hazardous working conditions" means actively 17 engaged in fish and game conservation or protection work that involves a 18 demonstrated high risk of serious bodily injury or death, and includes 19 (A) conducting aerial surveys in small aircraft; 20 (B) working on vessels on the open sea; 21 (C) traveling in small skiffs over open water or in remote 22 locations; and 23 (D) conducting stream surveys or other work where contact 24 with dangerous wild animals is likely; 25 (3) "field work" means working outside of a permanent structure and 26 does not include working within or in proximity to a permanent residential 27 community; 28 (4) "travel" means going to and from a place of duty as a passenger or 29 operator in a plane, bus, train, automobile, boat, or any other form of mechanized 30 transportation; it does not include travel primarily for the purpose of going from one 31 established city, village, or community to another. 01  * Sec. 2. AS 39.35.680(28) is amended to read: 02 (28) "peace officer" or "fire fighter" means an employee occupying a 03 position as a peace officer, chief of police, correctional officer, correctional 04 superintendent, fire fighter, fire chief, qualified employee of the Department of Fish  05 and Game, or probation officer; 06  * Sec. 3. AS 39.35.680 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 07 (41) "qualified employee of the Department of Fish and Game" means 08 an employee of that department who meets the qualifications for peace officer status 09 set out in AS 39.35.365.