H 7684Benefit Programs

Public Officers and Employees - Retirement System - Contributions and Benefits

This bill allows correctional officers to count prior service as a teacher or state employee toward their retirement eligibility.

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Introduced Feb 11, 2026Committee House Finance

Plain-English Summary

This legislation modifies the retirement regulations for Rhode Island correctional officers. Specifically, it allows correctional officers who have also worked as teachers or other state employees to combine their years of service from these different roles to determine their eligibility date for retirement. If an officer chooses to combine their service time, they will receive a single retirement benefit that adds the accrued benefits from their correctional service to the benefits earned from their other state or teaching positions. This option applies to current employees and retroactively to those who retired on or after July 1, 2012.

For younger readers

This law changes how prison guards, also known as correctional officers, can retire. Retirement is when you have worked enough years that you can stop working and still get paid. Sometimes, these guards also worked other jobs for the state, like being a teacher. This new rule says they can add the time they spent at both jobs together. This helps them reach the required time to retire sooner. It ensures they get credit for all the work they did for the state, not just one specific job.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups

Correctional OfficersState EmployeesPublic School TeachersState Retirement BoardRetired Correctional Officers (Post-2012)

Impacted communities

All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost

Amount unknown

Estimated revenue

None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints

For Progressives

Promotes fairness for public workers by honoring their total service time across different departments, ensuring they are not penalized for career mobility within the public sector.
Strengthens the social safety net for retired public servants by potentially allowing them to access their earned retirement benefits sooner or more efficiently.
Recognizes the value of diverse experience in public service, such as teaching, by allowing those years to count toward correctional retirement eligibility.
Increases state spending on the carceral system's workforce rather than redirecting those funds toward community-based social services or rehabilitation programs.
May increase long-term pension liabilities for the state, which could theoretically constrain the budget available for other progressive priorities like education or healthcare.
Prioritizes benefit enhancements for law enforcement personnel, a group that arguably already possesses significant political leverage compared to other vulnerable workers.

For Conservatives

Supports law enforcement personnel by ensuring they receive full and fair credit for their years of service to the state, boosting morale among correctional officers.
Honors the implied contract between the state and its employees by fixing a bureaucratic gap that may have prevented workers from utilizing all their earned service time.
May assist in the retention of experienced officers who might otherwise leave the profession if they felt their previous state service was being undervalued.
Increases the financial burden on taxpayers by expanding pension eligibility and potentially accelerating the timeline for benefit payouts.
Expands government bureaucracy by creating additional administrative steps and calculations for the retirement board to manage.
Could set a precedent for other groups of state employees to demand similar retroactive adjustments to their pension calculations, further straining the state budget.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 3 additions

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 36-10-9.2 of the General Laws in Chapter 36-10 entitled "Retirement System — Contributions and Benefits" is hereby amended to read as follows: 36-10-9.2. Retirement on service allowance — Correctional officers.

(a) This section shall apply to the retirement of members employed as assistant director (adult services), assistant deputy director, chief of inspection, deputy chief of inspection, and associate directors, correctional officer, inspector, chief of security, work rehabilitation program supervisor, supervisor of custodial records and reports, and classification counselor within the department of corrections. (b)(1) Any member who has attained the age of fifty (50) years may be retired subsequent to the proper execution and filing of a written application; provided, however, that the member shall have completed twenty (20) years of total service within the department of corrections and who retires before October 1, 2009, or is eligible to retire as of September 30, 2009.

(2) For members who become eligible to retire on or after October 1, 2009, benefits are available to members who have attained the age of fifty-five (55) and have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of total contributory service within the department of corrections. For members in service as of October 1, 2009, who were not eligible to retire as of September 30, 2009, but who are eligible to retire on or prior to June 30, 2012, the minimum retirement age of fifty-five

(55) will be adjusted downward in proportion to the amount of service the member has earned as of September 30, 2009. The proportional formula shall work as follows:

(i) The formula shall determine the first age of retirement eligibility under the laws in effect on September 30, 2009, which shall then be subtracted from the minimum retirement age of fifty- five (55).

(ii) The formula shall then take the member’s total service credit as of September 30, 2009, as the numerator and the years of service credit determined under (b)(2)(i) as the denominator.

(iii) The fraction determined in (b)(2)(ii) shall then be multiplied by the age difference determined in (b)(2)(i) to apply a reduction in years from age fifty-five (55).

(c) Any member with contributory service on or after July 1, 2012, who has completed at least five (5) years of contributory service but who has not completed twenty-five (25) years of contributory service, shall be eligible to retire upon the attainment of the member’s Social Security retirement age or, notwithstanding any other provisions, effective July 1, 2015, members in active service shall be eligible to retire upon the earlier of:

(1) The attainment of at least age sixty-five (65) and the completion of at least thirty (30) years of total service, or the attainment of at least age sixty-four (64) and the completion of at least thirty-one (31) years of total service, or the attainment of at least age sixty-three (63) and the completion of at least thirty-two (32) years of total service, or the attainment of at least age sixty- two (62) and the completion of at least thirty-three (33) years of total service; or

(2) The member’s retirement eligibility date under § 36-10-9(1)(c)(ii).

(d) Any member who shall have rendered service both as a state employee under § 36-10- 9 and/or as a teacher under § 16-16-12, and service under subsection (a) of this section, shall be eligible to elect to combine the member’s service under subsection (a) of this section and service under § 36-10-9 and/or § 16-16-12 to determine the member’s retirement eligibility date under § 36-10-9 or § 16-16-12. For any member making this election, the member will receive a single benefit equal to the accrued benefit computed under § 36-10-10.2, plus the accrued benefit computed under § 36-10-10 and/or § 16-16-13.

(e) The provisions of subsection (d) shall also apply to members who have retired on a service retirement allowance on or after July 1, 2012. Any such request for adjustment shall be in writing to the retirement board and shall apply prospectively from the date the request is received by the retirement board.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.