SENATE BILL NO. 1171

• Amends the Municipal Employees Retirement Act of 1984 to allow municipalities to revoke their election to participate in the retirement system by majority vote of their governing body, either for all members or for specific divisions, subsets, or collective bargaining units.

• Permits municipalities to change benefit programs and member contribution programs, including curtailing or eliminating future benefit accruals or setting new eligibility criteria for defined benefit participation.

• Requires municipalities taking such actions to hire an actuary to analyze contribution requirements, with the retirement system paying actuarial analysis costs from plan assets.

• Makes municipalities responsible for funding their contribution requirements based on actuarial analysis using generally accepted actuarial methods and alternative amortization periods selected by the municipality.

• Prohibits the retirement system from requiring a municipality that revokes participation or changes coverage to participate in another retirement plan administered by the system as a condition of that action.