Section 38.2733 - Irrevocable trust; authorization; creation; establishment; governing board of each retirement system as grantor; members of retirement system board as trustees; deposits; distributio
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT HEALTH CARE FUNDING ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 77 of 2010
38.2733 Irrevocable trust; authorization; creation; establishment; governing board of each retirement system as grantor; members of retirement system board as trustees; deposits; distributions; funding account; preparation of annual financial statements.
Sec. 3.
(1) One irrevocable trust is authorized and created by this act for each retirement system. An irrevocable trust established under this subsection shall at all times be established and administered in accordance with section 115 of the internal revenue code, 26 USC 115.
(2) The governing board of each retirement system shall be the grantor and shall administer the irrevocable trust created for that retirement system in order to pay retirement health care benefits to its past members and their funding account dependents. The members of the retirement system board shall act as the trustees of the irrevocable trust for that retirement system. The trustees shall adopt a written trust agreement that meets all of the requirements set forth in section 9. The trustees of the irrevocable trust may establish and adopt policies and procedures for administering the irrevocable trust.
(3) Each trust shall be managed and operated separately and independent of the other retirement system trusts. The trustees may contract with public and private entities for the provision of bookkeeping, benefit payments, and other plan functions. The department, the department of treasury, and the department of the attorney general shall provide services to the trust as requested by the trustees.
(4) The assets in the irrevocable trusts shall be invested in accord with the public employee retirement system investment act, 1965 PA 314, MCL 38.1132 to 38.1140m. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the state treasurer shall be the investment fiduciary of the irrevocable trusts and shall have exclusive authority and responsibility to employ or contract with personnel and for services that the state treasurer determines necessary for the proper investment of the assets in the irrevocable trusts. The governing board of the legislative retirement system may elect, or revoke an election, to be the investment fiduciary of the funding account assets within its irrevocable trust and retain the exclusive authority to employ or contract with personnel and for services that are necessary for the proper investment of those assets.
(5) Each trust shall receive state appropriations, employer contributions, employee contributions, investment earnings, refunds and reimbursements, and other permitted deposits, and shall make distributions for the payment of retirement health care benefits authorized by the trustees for the administration of such trust. However, an amount in excess of twice the annual current obligations of the trust shall not be deposited in or received by the trust unless the state treasurer certifies that the proposed deposit will not materially reduce the amount of federal funds received by the state to support payments made under the social welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.1 to 400.119b. The trustees are authorized to establish an administrative and investment fee structure to be charged against the funding account within the trust to defray the costs of administering the trust. An irrevocable trust established under this section shall be kept separate from the pension assets of retirement systems.
(6) A funding account shall be established by the trustees for the funding and prefunding of payments of retirement health care benefit obligations under the applicable retirement act, and the trustees may create accounts that the trustees determine are necessary for the administration of the trust. For each retirement system, past members shall have contractual rights only in the aggregate to the payment of health care benefits provided by the applicable retirement act to the extent assets exist in the funding account for that retirement system. This act shall not be construed to define or otherwise assure, deny, diminish, increase, or grant any right or privilege to health care benefits or other postemployment benefits to any person or to assure, deny, diminish, increase, or grant health care benefits or other postemployment benefits, rights, and privileges previously or already granted to members or past members and their dependents by the applicable retirement act.
(7) The governing board of a retirement system may from time to time authorize the deposit into the funding account of any eligible funds on deposit in an account within its retirement system for the purpose of payment of eligible retirement health care benefits. Distributions from the funding account may be made to satisfy the requirements of the retirement system for all retirement health care benefits provided by the retirement system.
(8) The trustees shall cause the annual financial statements of the trust to be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and an audit to be conducted of those financial statements by a qualified independent certified accounting firm for each fiscal year in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.
History: 2010, Act 77, Imd. Eff. May 19, 2010