00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 201                                                                          
01 "An Act allowing employers in the public employees' retirement system to elect to                                       
02 classify dispatchers in a police or fire department as peace officers for retirement benefit                            
03 purposes."                                                                                                              
04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
05    * Section 1.  AS 39.35 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                 
06            Sec. 39.35.382.  Dispatcher service as peace officer service.  (a)  An                                     
07       employer may elect to classify credited service as a dispatcher as peace officer service                          
08       by notifying the administrator of the employer's election not later than February 15 of                           
09       the year in which the employer will begin to classify dispatcher service as peace                                 
10       officer service.  Dispatcher service shall be treated as peace officer service by that                            
11       employer beginning on July 1 of the year for which notice is given.  An election by the                           
12       employer under this section becomes irrevocable on July 1 of the year for which                                   
13       notice is given.                                                                                                  
14            (b)  Not later than April 1 of the year benefits are to be converted under (a) of                            

01       this section, the administrator shall notify the employer who makes an election under                             
02       (a) of this section of the amount of indebtedness of the employer to the system.                                  
03       Indebtedness shall be established for the employer for the conversion of all credited                             
04       service of persons employed by the employer as dispatchers to peace officer service.                              
05       The indebtedness is equal to the full actuarial cost of the conversion of the credited                            
06       service to treatment as peace officer service.  Indebtedness shall be paid by the                                 
07       employer in the manner prescribed by the board.                                                                   
08            (c)  An employee whose employer has converted credited service as a                                          
09       dispatcher to peace officer service under this section shall be treated as a peace officer                        
10       for purposes of this chapter.                                                                                     
11            (d)  In this section, "dispatcher" means an employee occupying a position as a                               
12       trained public safety telecommunicator employed in a state trooper office or in a                                 
13       police or fire department in the public employees' retirement system.