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

86 FR 34637Federal Employees' Retirement System; Present Value Conversion Factors for Spouses of Deceased Separated Employees

86 FR 34637Office of Personnel Management.

86 FR 34637The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed rule 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 March 29, 2021, as required by law.

86 FR 34637Send comments on or before August 30, 2021.

86 FR 34637You 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.

86 FR 34637On March 29, 2021, OPM published a notice at 86 FR 16401 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.

86 FR 34637Section 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. If the separated employee died before having attained the minimum retirement age, the annuity commences on the day the deceased separated employee would have been eligible for an unreduced annuity as specified under this section. If the current or former spouse instead elects to receive an adjusted annuity beginning on the day after the death of the separated employee, 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 otherwise would have received. These rules amend appendix A to subpart C of part 843 to conform the factors to the revised actuarial assumptions.

86 FR 34637OPM 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.

86 FR 34637The Office of Personnel Management certifies that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

86 FR 34637We 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.

86 FR 34637This regulation meets the applicable standard set forth in Executive Order 12988.

86 FR 34637This 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.

86 FR 34637The Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq. ) requires rules (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 804) to be submitted to Congress before taking effect. OPM will submit to Congress and the Comptroller General of the United States a report regarding the issuance of this action before its effective date, as required by 5 U.S.C. 801. OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has determined that this is not a “major rule” as defined by the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 804(2)).

86 FR 34638Notwithstanding 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.

86 FR 34638Air traffic controllers, Disability benefits, Firefighters, Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Pensions, Retirement. 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:

86 FR 346381. The authority citation for part 843 continues to read as follows:

86 FR 346385 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.

86 FR 346382. 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, 2021, 36 equal monthly installments of 2.94259 percent of the amount of the basic employee death benefit. 3. Revise appendix A to subpart C of part 843 to read as follows:

86 FR 34638With at least 10 but less than 20 years of creditable service— 26 .1096 27 .1162 28 .1232 29 .1305 30 .1382 31 .1464 32 .1550 33 .1643 34 .1742 35 .1845 36 .1958 37 .2074 38 .2198 39 .2327 40 .2459 41 .2609 42 .2770 43 .2936 44 .3119 45 .3308 46 .3518 47 .3735 48 .3969 49 .4220 50 .4490 51 .4781 52 .5094 53 .5430 54 .5792 55 .6178 56 .6601 57 .7059 58 .7555 59 .8092 60 .8674 61 .9308 With at least 20, but less than 30 years of creditable service— 36 .2254 37 .2389 38 .2532 39 .2682 40 .2836 41 .3010 42 .3195 43 .3388 44 .3599 45 .3818 46 .4059 47 .4311 48 .4581 49 .4871 50 .5182 51 .5518 52 .5878 53 .6265 54 .6682 55 .7128 56 .7615 57 .8142 58 .8712 59 .9329 With at least 30 years of creditable service— through 1966 46 .4988 .5332 47 .5298 .5664 48 .5631 .6019 49 .5987 .6401 50 .6370 .6810 51 .6781 .7249 52 .7224 .7722 53 .7698 .8229 54 .8209 .8775 55 .8759 .9363 56 .9355 1.0000