HB 22-1101

House Bill 22-1101 is a Colorado law that allows retired PERA (Public Employees' Retirement Association) members who have specific skills needed in rural schools to work full-time without losing their retirement benefits. The bill makes this program permanent and expands it to include school nurses and paraprofessionals, helping rural districts address critical staffing shortages. It also requires PERA to provide regular reports on the program's impact starting December 1, 2025. Since the bill has been signed into law, it is now in effect and benefiting eligible retirees and rural schools across Colorado.

Official Summary

The act expands a program, which had been scheduled to repeal on July 1, 2023, that allows a public employees' retirement association (PERA) service retiree to work full-time without any reduction in the service retiree's retirement benefits for a rural school district that has a critical shortage of qualified individuals with specific experience, skills, or qualifications that the service retiree has by: Making the program permanent; Adding school nurses and paraprofessionals to those who are eligible for post-PERA retirement full-time employment; and Allowing a board of cooperative services or a charter school that is located within a rural school district and that has such a critical shortage to participate in the program. The act also requires PERA to submit additional reports, containing the same types of information as the initial report that PERA submitted as required by law in 2020, to the finance committees of the general assembly on or before December 1, 2025, and on or before December 1 of each fifth year thereafter. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Votes