Section 2.23 Rights Under Pension and Retirement Plans: Constitutional and Statutory Provisions

• Library: Local Government Deskbook (2017 Ed.)

VII. (§2.23) Rights Under Pension and Retirement Plans: Constitutional and Statutory Provisions

The authority for government retirement and pensioning lies in article VI, § 25, of the Missouri Constitution, which states:

[T]he general assembly may authorize any county, city or other political corporation or subdivision to provide for the retirement or pensioning of its officers and employees and the surviving spouses and children of deceased officers and employees and may also authorize payments from any public funds into a fund or funds for paying benefits upon retirement, disability or death to persons employed and paid out of any public fund for educational services and to their beneficiaries or estates.

The General Assembly has enacted myriad statutes pertaining to government retirement and pensioning. See, e.g.:

· §§ 70.600 et seq., RSMo 2016 (retirement and pensioning of officers and employees of political subdivisions)

· §§ 50.1000 et seq., RSMo 2016 (county employee retirement system)

· §§ 104.010 et seq., RSMo 2016 (retirement system of state officers and employees)

· §§ 57.949 et seq., RSMo 2016 (sheriffs’ retirement system)

· §§ 86.010 et seq., RSMo 2016 (police pension and retirement systems)

· §§ 87.005 et seq., RSMo 2016 (firefighters’

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