Question 1 Why
is the annuity of a law enforcement officer (LEO) greater than the annuity of
an AUSA under current law?
Answer The main reason is depicted in the table below
for CSRS employees. A larger percentage
of a law enforcement officers pay is included in the annuity computations.
Assistant
Attorney Officer
Annuity computations based
on
the highest three years of pay first
5 yrs: 1.5% first 20 yrs: 2.5%
5 thru 10 yrs: 1.75%
over 20 yrs
2%
over 10 yrs: 2%
Question 2 When will the House and Senate vote on H.R. 2878 and S.
1749?
Answer Before the full House or Senate vote on the
legislation, the committees that the bill has been referred to must “mark-up”
or vote to send the bill to the full House or Senate for action. In the House there are two committees that
must consider H.R. 2878: the Committee
on the Judiciary and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The members of those
committee are listed on the website. In
the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary must consider S. 1749. In addition to committee action, the
Congressional Budget Office must make an estimate of the cost of the bill. Finally, the number of
cosponsors of the bills need to be increased substantially, which
requires action by AUSAs to ask their Senators and Representative to cosponsor
H.R. 2878 and S. 1749.
Question 3 How
much of a make-up contribution will be required of an individual AUSA to pay
the difference between the individual’s retirement contribution already made
and the increased contribution that is required of law enforcement officers?
Answer The make-up
contributions depend on the amount of pay and years of service and there is a
large variance in those two variables with the AUSA community. However, the difference between the current AUSA
contribution and the LEO contribution is .5%.
The retroactive period is limited to 20 years.
Question 4 Will AUSAs who meet the age requirement and the years of
service who retired before the legislation is signed into law be eligible for
the enhanced benefit?
Answer No. Only AUSAs employed by the Department of
Justice at the time the President signs the bill will receive the increased
benefit.
Question 5 Who else in government gets this or a similar enhanced
retirement plan?
Answer Law enforcement officers, firefighters, air-traffic
controllers, every employee in the Bureau of Prisons, pre-trial services
officers and probation officers.