Federal Employees' Retirement System; Present Value Conversion Factors for Spouses of Deceased Separated Employees

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Part 843

RIN 3206-AN82

Federal Employees' Retirement System; Present Value Conversion Factors for Spouses of Deceased Separated Employees

AGENCY:

Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to revise the table of reduction factors for early commencing dates of survivor annuities for spouses of separated employees who die before the date on which they would be eligible for unreduced deferred annuities, and to revise the annuity factor for spouses of deceased employees who die in service when those spouses elect to receive the basic employee death benefit in 36 installments under the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) Act of 1986. These rules are necessary to ensure that the tables conform to the economic and demographic assumptions adopted by the Board of Actuaries and published in the

Federal Register

on May 20, 2019.

DATES:

Send comments on or before July 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by docket number and/or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) and title, by the following method:

•

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number or RIN for this document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing at

http://www.regulations.gov

as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karla Yeakle, (202) 606-0299.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On May 20, 2019, OPM published notice 84 FR 22915 in the

Federal Register

to revise the normal cost percentages under the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) Act of 1986, Public Law 99-335, 100 Stat. 514, as amended, based on economic assumptions and demographic factors adopted by the Board of Actuaries of the Civil Service Retirement System. By statute under 5 U.S.C. 8461(i), the revisions to the actuarial assumptions require corresponding changes in factors used to produce actuarially equivalent benefits when required by the FERS Act.

Section 843.309 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, regulates the payment of the basic employee death benefit. Under 5 U.S.C. 8442(b), the basic employee death benefit may be paid to a surviving spouse as a lump sum or as an equivalent benefit in 36 installments. These rules amend 5 CFR 843.309(b)(2) to conform the factor used to convert the lump sum to 36-installment payments with the revised economic assumptions.

Section 843.311 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, regulates the benefits for the survivors of separated employees under 5 U.S.C. 8442(c). This section provides a choice of benefits for eligible current and former spouses. If the current or former spouse is the person entitled to the unexpended balance under the order of precedence under 5 U.S.C. 8424, he or she may elect to receive the unexpended balance instead of an annuity.

Alternatively, an eligible current or former spouse may elect to receive an annuity commencing on the day after the employee's death or on the deceased separated employee's 62nd birthday. If the annuity commences on the deceased separated employee's 62nd birthday, the annuity will equal 50 percent of the annuity that the separated employee would have received had he or she attained age 62. If the current or former spouse elects an earlier commencing date, the annuity is reduced using the factors in Appendix A to subpart C of part 843 to make the annuity actuarially equivalent to the present value of the annuity that the spouse or former spouse would have received if the annuity had commenced on the deceased separated employee's 62nd birthday. These rules amend Appendix A to subpart C of part 843 to conform the factors to the revised actuarial assumptions.

Regulatory Impact Analysis

OPM has examined the impact of this rule as required by Executive Order 12866 and Executive Order 13563, which directs agencies to assess all costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public, health, and safety effects, distributive impacts, and equity). A regulatory impact analysis must be prepared for major rules with economically significant effects of $100 million or more in any one year. This rule was not designated as a “significant regulatory action,” under Executive Order 12866.

Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs

This proposed rule is not expected to be a E.O. 13771 regulatory action because this proposed rule is not significant under E.O. 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Office of Personnel Management certifies that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Federalism

We have examined this rule in accordance with Executive Order 13132, Federalism, and have determined that this rule will not have any negative impact on the rights, roles and responsibilities of State, local, or tribal governments.

Civil Justice Reform

This regulation meets the applicable standard set forth in Executive Order 12988.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

This rule will not result in the expenditure by state, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 million or more in any year and it will not significantly or uniquely affect small governments. Therefore, no actions were deemed

necessary under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.

Congressional Review Act

This action pertains to agency management, personnel, and organization and does not substantially affect the rights or obligations of nonagency parties and, accordingly, is not a “rule” as that term is used by the Congressional Review Act (Subtitle E of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA)). Therefore, the reporting requirement of 5 U.S.C. 801 does not apply.

Paperwork Reduction Act

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501

et seq.

) (PRA), unless that collection of information displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number.

This rule involves an OMB approved collection of information subject to the PRA Application for Death Benefits (FERS)/Documentation and Elections in Support of Application for Death Benefits when Deceased was an Employee at the Time of Death (FERS), 3206-0172. The public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The total burden hour estimate for this form is 16,751 hours. The systems of record notice for this collection is: OPM SORN CENTRAL-1-Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 843

Air traffic controllers, Disability benefits, Firefighters, Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Pensions, Retirement.

Alexys Stanley,

Regulatory Affairs Analyst, Office of Personnel Management.

For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Office of Personnel Management proposes to amend 5 CFR part 843 as follows:

PART 843—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM—DEATH BENEFITS AND EMPLOYEE REFUNDS

1. The authority citation for part 843 continues to read as follows:

Authority:

5 U.S.C. 8461; §§ 843.205, 843.208, and 843.209 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8424; § 843.309 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8442; § 843.406 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8441.

Subpart C—Current and Former Spouse Benefits

2. In § 843.309, revise paragraph (b)(2) to read as follows:

§ 843.309

Basic employee death benefit.

(b) * * *

(2) For deaths occurring on or after October 1, 2019, 36 equal monthly installments of 2.96358 percent of the amount of the basic employee death benefit.

3. Revise Appendix A to subpart C of part 843 to read as follows:

Appendix A to Subpart C of Part 843—Present Value Conversion Factors for Earlier Commencing Date of Annuities of Current and Former Spouses of Deceased Separated Employees

With at least 10 but less than 20 years of creditable service—

Age of separated employee at birthday before death

Multiplier

26

.0998

27

.1068

28

.1138

29

.1214

30

.1291

31

.1375

32

.1463

33

.1555

34

.1651

35

.1755

36

.1867

37

.1986

38

.2113

39

.2247

40

.2390

41

.2540

42

.2701

43

.2875

44

.3057

45

.3252

46

.3460

47

.3680

48

.3917

49

.4171

50

.4445

51

.4739

52

.5055

53

.5393

54

.5758

55

.6151

56

.6578

57

.7037

58

.7536

59

.8076

60

.8663

61

.9302

With at least 20, but less than 30 years of creditable service—

Age of separated employee at birthday before death

Multiplier

36

.2153

37

.2291

38

.2436

39

.2592

40

.2756

41

.2930

42

.3116

43

.3316

44

.3527

45

.3752

46

.3992

47

.4247

48

.4521

49

.4814

50

.5131

51

.5470

52

.5834

53

.6225

54

.6646

55

.7100

56

.7592

57

.8123

58

.8698

59

.9322

With at least 30 years of creditable service—

Age of separated

employee at birthday

before death

Multiplier by

separated

employee's year of birth

After

1966

From

1950

through

1966

46

.4912

.5254

47

.5226

.5591

48

.5564

.5953

49

.5926

.6340

50

.6316

.6757

51

.6733

.7203

52

.7181

.7683

53

.7663

.8199

54

.8182

.8754

55

.8741

.9353

56

.9346

1.0000

[FR Doc. 2019-10849 Filed 5-24-19; 8:45 am]

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