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The following opinion is presented on-line for informational use only and does not replace the official version. (Mich Dept of Attorney General Web Site - www.ag.state.mi.us) STATE OF MICHIGAN FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL Opinion No. 5841 January 16, 1981 RETIREMENT SYSTEMS: Intervening military service credit for state police members A member of the retirement system for state policemen, otherwise qualified, may receive a maximum of two years of intervening military service credit. Gerald Hough Director Department of State Police 714 South Harrison Road East Lansing, Michigan 48823 You have requested my opinion on the following questions: 1. Does the military service credit authorized under 1935 PA 251, Sec. 8b, as added by 1978 PA 603, include intervening active military service. 2. If the answer to question 1 is yes, may the member also receive credit for intervening active military service for two additional years thereunder? 1935 PA 251; MCLA 28.101 et seq; MSA 3.331 et seq, provides a retirement system for members of the Michigan Department of State Police who subscribe to the constitutional oath of office. By means of 1978 PA 603, the Legislature amended 1935 PA 251, supra, to add section 8b, which reads as follows: '(1) A member of this retirement system who, while an employee of the department of state police, was or who shall be drafted, enlisted, inducted, or commissioned into active duty with the military, naval, marine, or other armed service of the United States government and who seeks reemployment within 6 months following discharge from active service, or if hospitalized at date of discharge, seeks reemployment within 6 months following release from the military facility, shall have the active service credited as a member of the retirement system, in the same manner as if the member had served uninterruptedly. A member of the retirement system who has accumulated 15 or more years of retirement system service credit shall receive credit for not more than 2 years of that service. During the period of active service, and until reemployment, the member's contributions to the Michigan department of public safety pension, accident, and disability fund shall be suspended and the member's balance in the fund standing to the member's credit as of the last payroll date preceding the member's leave of absence shall be accumulated at regular interest. If the member withdraws all or part of the accumulated contributions from the fund, the active service shall not be credited until the member returns to the fund those amounts withdrawn, together with regular interest computed from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment. '(2) A member of this retirement system who does not meet the requirements of subsection (1) and who was drafted, enlisted, inducted, or commissioned into active duty with the military or other armed service of the United States government may elect to receive service credit for not more than 2 years of active duty upon request and payment to the retirement system of an amount equal to 5% of the member's fulltime compensation for the fiscal year in which payment is made multiplied by the years of service that the member elects to purchase up to the maximum. Service shall not be credited if the service is or would be credited under any other federal, state or local publicly supported retirement system, but this restriction shall not apply to those persons who have or will have acquired retirement eligibility under the federal government for service in the reserve. Armed service shall not be credited under this subsection until the member has accumulated 15 years of credited service, of which the last 5 are continuous, and if the member's contributions equal the contributions made or that would have been made for 15 years of service. In the computation of unpaid member contributions, the contribution rate shall be computed based on the member's compensation at retirement or date of payment, whichever occurs first. This subsection shall not apply to a person who becomes a member of this retirement system after December 31, 1979. (emphasis added.) By intervening military service credit, you make reference to the fact that a member of the retirement system, while an employee of the Department of State Police, enters military service of the United States and seeks reemployment within six months following discharge from active service or if hospitalized seeks re-employment within six months following release from the military facility. A plain reading of 1935 PA 251, Sec. 8b(1)-(2), supra, indicates that the Legislature intended to put a limit of a maximum of two years of intervening or nonintervening military service credit that might be obtained by a member of the retirement system. This is confirmed by a study of the legislative history of amendatory 1978 PA 603. As originally introduced, House Bill 4984 proposed a new section 8b(1) to specify that not more than five years of such intervening military service credit could be obtained by any member. The House amended this provision to reduce the maximum military service credit from five to four years, 2 HJ 1994, 2507 (1978), and the Senate, by amendment, further reduced the maximum amount of intervening military service credit from four to two years. 3 SJ 2568 (1978). Thus, it must be concluded that the maximum amount of intervening or nonintervening military service credit that may be obtained by any member of the retirement system, being otherwise eligible, is two years. In 1935 PA 251, Sec. 8b(2), supra, the Legislature has also provided that a member of the retirement system who does not meet the requirements of subsection (1) of section 8b may elect to receive military service credit for not more than two years of nonintervening active duty. It is abundantly clear that subsection (2) permits a maximum credit of two years of nonintervening military service for a member who does not meet the intervening military service requirements of subsection (1). These two subsections of section 8b may not be read together to permit a member to claim credit for both intervening military service and nonintervening military service to obtain a maximum of four years of military service credit in light of the manifest legislative intent that a maximum of two years of intervening or nonintervening military service credit may only be received. It is my opinion, therefore, that a member of the state police retirement system may claim intervening military service credit to a maximum of two years under 1935 PA 251, Sec. 8b(2), supra. In such case, no nonintervening military service credit under 1935 PA 251, Sec. 8b(2), supra, may also be claimed. Frank J. Kelley Attorney General
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