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Senate committee backs bill clarifying retired employees may volunteer without losing PERSI benefits
Summary
The Senate Commerce Committee voted to send House Bill 55 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation after testimony that the bill clarifies when retired public employees may serve as unpaid volunteers without jeopardizing retirement benefits under PERSI's separation rules.
The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday voted to send House Bill 55 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. Representative Sean Dygert, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure clarifies that certain retirees may serve as unpaid, bona fide volunteers for their former employers without forfeiting retirement benefits under PERSI’s separation rules.
The bill aims to resolve situations in which retirees who leave service under the “rule of 90” face a 90-day separation requirement that currently can bar them from helping successors. "What this language does is ... define what a bona fide volunteer is," Representative Sean Dygert said, adding that the volunteer work must be "without any expectation of any kind of compensation of any kind." He described cases where long-time employees — including teachers and volunteer fire chiefs — want to assist successors but fear triggering a complaint that could imperil benefits.
Mike Hampton, director of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI), told the committee the additional language is intended to prevent retirees from trying to return to paid status while ensuring bona fide volunteer activity is allowed. "They're actually coming in as a bona fide volunteer, as defined in this section, so that they're coming in and not trying to circumvent and just come back into a position, in a volunteer name only," Hampton said.
Senators who spoke in committee praised the bill for preserving institutional knowledge. Senator Ward Engelking moved to forward the bill with a due-pass recommendation; Senator Burnt seconded the motion. The committee recorded a voice vote and the motion carried. The chair announced, "Motion carries and House Bill 55 will be sent to the floor of the Idaho State Senate with a due pass recommendation." The committee did not take a roll-call vote.
The bill text specifies conditions for volunteer status and aims to protect retirees who provide informal mentoring or custodial assistance from losing retirement benefits; the committee hearing included examples but no amendment to the draft language. The committee record does not list a numeric vote tally. The bill will next go to the Senate floor for consideration.
