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BILL # HB 2145 |
TITLE: PSPRS; CORP; death benefits; suicide |
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SPONSOR: Kern |
STATUS: House Engrossed |
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PREPARED BY: Ryan Fleischman
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Currently, Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) and Corrections Officer Retirement Plan (CORP) death benefits are available for members who are killed in the line or duty or die from injuries suffered in the line duty. Statute requires that the death "was the direct and proximate result of the member's public safety duties," except that deaths caused by suicide are ineligible for death benefits.
The bill would remove the prohibition on providing PSPRS and CORP death benefits in cases where the member's cause of death is suicide, if the member received traumatic event counseling provided by the employer. State and local governments are required to provide counseling to a public safety employee after the employee experiences a traumatic event, with the costs being paid by the employer.
In these suicide cases covered by HB 2145, the death must still be the "direct and proximate result of the member's public safety duties" in order to receive benefits. The bill would apply retroactively to December 31, 2018.
Estimated Impact
The cost of the bill would depend on the number of direct work-related suicides in any 1 year. Based on Arizona's share of national data, the bill is estimated to cost $240,000 a year at the state level. This cost will grow by an additional $240,000 each year as the number of eligible beneficiaries increases each year. In the short term, these benefits would likely be paid from PSPRS and CORP plan assets. In the long term, the system actuaries would adjust the state retirement contribution rate upward, resulting in a state cost that would primarily impact the General Fund.
Current statute provides death benefits to surviving spouses of a deceased members of PSPRS and CORP who are killed in the line of duty or die as a result of injuries suffered in the line of duty, excluding deaths caused by suicide. These benefits are a monthly amount equal to the deceased member's average monthly compensation minus any amount that goes to an eligible child. HB 2145 would change the eligibility for death benefits to allow claims for deaths that result from suicide, if the member received traumatic event counseling provided by the employer.
PSPRS did not have an estimated impact of this change. To estimate the number of PSPRS members affected by the bill's change, national suicide data for police officers was reduced proportionally for Arizona based on population (228 nationwide cases in 2019 x 2.2% Arizona population share = 5 Arizona cases). When estimating the number of CORP members impacted by the bill, nationwide data was unavailable. Recent news reports indicate that during calendar year 2019, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff experienced 14 suicide deaths for corrections officers. Based on this figure, applying the proportion of active CORP members (13,429) to federal BOP staff (36,396), results in an estimate of approximately 5 CORP members impacted each year by the bill.
This analysis assumes these 10 suicide cases are deemed by PSPRS to be the "direct and proximate result of the member's public safety duties" and that for each case the member received traumatic event counseling provided by the employer. This assumption overstates the impact of the bill because it is unlikely that all of these benefit claims in a given year would be determined to meet this standard.
(Continued)
According to PSPRS, the average monthly benefit for PSPRS members killed in action is $5,500. The average monthly benefit for CORP members killed in action is $2,900. Based on the number of cases discussed above, the additional annual cost to provide death benefits covered by the bill is $330,000 for PSPRS members and $174,000 for CORP members, for a total additional cost of $504,000.
Given the relative proportion of state and local government employment of various public safety positions, this analysis assumes the bill's benefit would apply to 6 state government members each year (1 PSPRS and 5 CORP). This would result in an estimated state cost of $240,000 per year to pay out new death benefits.
Local Government Impact
Given the relative proportion of state and local government employment of various public safety positions, this analysis assumes the bill's benefit would apply to 4 PSPRS local government members each year. This would result in an estimated local government cost of $264,000 per year to pay out new death benefits.
2/28/20