JUDICIAL SURVIVORS’ ANNUITIES AMENDMENTS.

SEC. 201. JUDICIAL SURVIVORS’ ANNUITIES AMENDMENTS. (a) Election.— Section 376(a)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is amended in the matter following subparagraph (G)— (1) by striking “or” at the end of clause (v); and (2) by inserting before the semicolon at the end of clause (vi) “, or (vii) the date of the enactment of the Federal Courts Administration Act of 1992”. (b) Contributions.— Section 376(b) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) by inserting “(1)” after “(b)”; (2) in the first sentence by striking “including any ‘retirement salary’, a sum equal to 5 percent of that salary.” and inserting “a sum equal to 2.2 percent of that salary, and a sum equal to 3.5 percent of his or her retirement salary. The deduction from any retirement salary— “(A) of a justice or judge of the United States retired from regular active service who is described in section 371(b)(1)of this title, “(B) of a justice or judge of the United States retired under section 372(a) of this title who is willing and able to perform judicial duties in accordance with section 294 of this title, “(C) of a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims retired under section 178 (a) or (b) of this title who meets the requirements of section 178(d) of this title, or “(D) of a judicial official on recall under section 155(b), 797, 373(c)(4), 375, or 636(h) of this title, shall be an amount equal to 2.2 percent of retirement salary.”; (3) by redesignating all that follows the first sentence (as amended by paragraph (2) of this subsection) as paragraph (3) and inserting before such paragraph (3) the following new paragraph: “(2) A judicial official who is not entitled to receive an immediate retirement salary upon leaving office but who is eligible to receive a deferred retirement salary on a later date shall file, within 90 days before leaving office, a written notification of his or her intention to remain within the purview of this section under such conditions and procedures as may be determined by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Every judicial official who files a written notification in accordance with this paragraph shall be deemed to consent to contribute, during the period before such a judicial official begins to receive his or her retirement salary, a sum equal to 3.5 percent of the deferred retirement salary which that judicial official is entitled to receive. Any judicial official who fails to file a written notification under this paragraph shall be deemed to have revoked his or her election under subsection (a) of this section.”; and 106 STAT. 4509 (4) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by paragraph (3) of this subsection, by striking “so deducted and withheld from the salary of each such judicial official” and inserting “deducted and withheld from the salary of each judicial official under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection”. (c) Deposits.— Section 376(d) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (1) by striking “5 percent” and inserting “3.5 percent”; and (2) in paragraph (2) by striking “5 percent” and inserting “3.5 percent”. (d) Refund of Deposits.— Section 376(g) of title 28, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “(g) If any judicial official leaves office and is ineligible to receive a retirement salary or leaves office and is entitled to a deferred retirement salary but fails to make an election under subsection (b)(2) of this section, all amounts credited to his or her account established under subsection (e), together with interest at 4 percent per annum to December 31, 1947, and at 3 percent per annum thereafter, compounded on December 31 of each year, to the date of his or her relinquishment of office, minus a sum equal to 2.2 percent of salary for service while deductions were withheld under subsection (b) or for which a deposit was made by the judicial official under subsection (d), shall be returned to that judicial official in a lump-sum payment within a reasonable period of time following the date of his or her relinquishment of office. For the purposes of this section, a ‘reasonable period of time’ shall be presumed to be no longer than 1 year following the date upon which such judicial official relinquishes his or her office.”. (e) Payment of Annuities.— Section 376(h)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking “or while receiving ‘retirement salary,’ ” and inserting “while receiving retirement salary, or after filing an election and otherwise complying with the conditions under subsection (b)(2) of this section”. (f) Creditable Service.— Section 376(k) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (3) by striking “and” at the end; (2) in paragraph (4) by striking the period and inserting (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(5) those years during which such judicial official had deductions withheld from his or her retirement salary in accordance with subsection (b) (1) or (2) of this section.”. (g) Computation of Annuity.— Section 376(1) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (1) by striking “(i) during those three years of such service in which his or her annual salary” and inserting “(i) during those three years of such service, or during those three years while receiving a retirement salary, in which his or her annual salary or retirement salary”; and (2) in paragraph (1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E) and inserting after subparagraph (C) the following: “(D) the number of years during which the judicial official had deductions withheld from his or her retirement salary under subsection (b) (1) or (2) of this section; plus”. 106 STAT. 4510 (h) Termination.— Section 376 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end of that section the following new subsection: “(v) Subject to the terms of a decree, court order, or agreement described in subsection (t)(1) if any judicial official ceases to be married after making the election under subsection (a), he or she may revoke such election in writing by notifying the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The judicial official shall also notify any spouse or former spouse of the application for revocation in accordance with such requirements as the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall by regulation prescribe. The Director may provide under such regulations that the notification requirement may be waived with respect to a spouse or former spouse if the judicial official establishes to the satisfaction of the Director that the whereabouts of such spouse or former spouse cannot be determined.”. (i) Adjustment of Contribution Rate.— Section 376 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end of that section the following new subsection: “(w) The Comptroller General of the United States shall, at the end of each 3-fiscal year period, determine whether the contributions by judicial officials under subsection (b) during that 3-year period accounted for 50 percent of the costs of the Judicial Survivors’ Annuities Fund and if not, then what adjustments in the contribution rates under subsection (b) should be made to achieve that 50 percent figure. The Comptroller General shall report the results of each determination under this subsection to the Congress.”. (j) Credit for Prior Contributions at Higher Rate.— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the contribution under section 376(b) (1) or (2) of title 28, United States Code (as amended by this section), of any judicial official who is within the purview of such section 376 on the effective date of this title shall be reduced by 0.5 percent for a period of time equal to the number of years of service for which the judicial official has made contributions or deposits before the enactment of this Act to the credit of the Judicial Survivors’ Annuities Fund or for 18 months, which-ever is less, if such contributions or deposits were never returned to the judicial official. For purposes of this subsection, the term “years” shall mean full years and twelfth parts thereof. (k) Redeposit of Prior Contributions.— Any judicial official as defined in section 376(a)(1) of title 28, United States Code, who makes an election under section 376(b) of title 28, United States Code, may make a redeposit, as required by section 7 of Public Law 94–554 and section 2(c)(2) of Public Law 99–336, to the credit of the Judicial Survivors’ Annuities Fund in installments, in such amounts and under such conditions as may be determined in each instance by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. If a judicial official elects to make a redeposit in installments— (1) the Director shall require that the first installment payment made shall be in an amount no smaller than the last 18 months of salary deductions or deposits previously returned to that judicial official in a lump-sum payment; and (2) the election under section 376(b) of title 28, United States Code, shall be effective upon payment of the first such installment. 106 STAT. 4511 (1) Audit by GAO.— The Comptroller General shall— (1) conduct an audit of the judicial survivors annuities program under section 376 of title 28, United States Code, for the 3-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act; and (2) report to the Congress, not later than 60 days after the end of that 3-year period, on the results of such audit, comparing such program to other survivors annuities programs within the Federal Government.