Oklahoma Senator James Lankford introduces legislation aimed at clarifying federal retirement pensions for federal law enforcement.

 

The Oklahoma Republican is joined in the legislation called the Retirement Annuity Supplement Clarity Act by Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman. The bill aims to fix how the Office of Personnel Management calculates retirement annuity supplements for federal employees, especially law enforcement officers dealing with settlement agreements that split those benefits.

 

The Retirement Annuity Supplement Clarity Act confirms that the Office of Personnel Management can follow court orders that divide a federal retiree’s annuity supplement. It also restores payments to retirees who left service on or before June 30, 2016, if their supplement was later reduced or recalculated—even when the original court order didn’t mention splitting the supplement or explicitly said it shouldn’t be divided. In other words, affected retirees get back money they lost due to those retroactive changes. The bill also forgives any overpayments that may have been made to former spouses as a result of those recalculations, so they don’t have to repay the funds.

 

Lankford stated that Law enforcement officers are protecting Americans at the southern border and around the country, adding that they should be able to focus on their mission instead of bureaucratic decisions complicating their retirement calculations.