§ 143-166.30. Retirement benefits for State law-enforcement officers.
Article 12C.
Retirement Benefits forState Law‑Enforcement Officers.
§ 143‑166.30. Retirement benefits for State law‑enforcement officers.
(a) Definitions. Thefollowing words and phrases as used in this Article, unless a different meaningis plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Beneficiary"means any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit from aRetirement System.
(2) "Creditableservice" means membership service plus prior service plus military serviceallowable with a Retirement System.
(3) "Employer"means the State of North Carolina and its departments, agencies andinstitutions.
(4) "Law‑enforcementofficer" means a full‑time paid employee of an employer who isactively serving in a position with assigned primary duties andresponsibilities for prevention and detection of crime or the generalenforcement of the criminal laws of the State or serving civil processes, andwho possesses the power of arrest by virtue of an oath administered under theauthority of the State.
(5) "Member"means an officer included in the membership of a retirement system includingformer officers no longer employed who also elected to leave their accumulatedcontributions on deposit with a Retirement System.
(6) "Officer"means a "law‑enforcement officer."
(7) "Participant"means an officer with an individual account with the Supplemental RetirementIncome Plan.
(8) "Regularaccumulated contributions" means the sum of all contributions of a membermade to the Retirement System, together with regular interest thereon, pursuantto G.S. 143‑166 as the same appeared prior to January 1, 1985.
(9) "Retirementallowance" means annual payments for life payable in monthly installmentscontinuing until the death of a beneficiary.
(10) "Law‑EnforcementOfficers' Retirement System" means the system provided for under G.S. 143‑166.
(11) "Special annuityaccount accumulated contributions" means the sum of all contributions of amember or an employer made to the Special Annuity Accounts for Members of theLaw‑Enforcement Officers' Retirement System, together with regularinterest thereon, pursuant to G.S. 143‑166.03 as the same appeared priorto January 1, 1985.
(12) "Special AnnuityAccounts" means the supplemental defined contribution provisions of theLaw‑Enforcement Officers' Retirement System, provided for under G.S. 143‑166.03as the same appeared prior to January 1, 1985.
(13) "State"means the State of North Carolina.
(14) "StateRetirement System" means the Teachers' and State Employees' RetirementSystem of North Carolina provided for under Article 1 of Chapter 135 of theGeneral Statutes.
(15) "SupplementalRetirement Income Plan" means a plan created in conformance with Section401(a), 401(k), or any other section of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 asamended.
(b) Basic RetirementSystem. On and after January 1, 1985, law‑enforcement officers employedby the State shall be members of the Teachers' and State Employees' RetirementSystem and beneficiaries who were last employed as officers by the State, orwho are surviving beneficiaries of officers last employed by the State, shallbe beneficiaries of the State Retirement System and paid in benefit amountsthen in effect. All members of the Law‑Enforcement Officers' RetirementSystem last employed and paid by the State shall be members of the StateRetirement System.
(c) Transfers of Assetsand Liabilities to Other Retirement Systems. As of January 1, 1985, certainassets and liabilities of the Law‑Enforcement Officers' Retirement Systemshall be transferred to the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement Systemand the Supplemental Retirement Income Plan in the amounts calculated and inthe order of precedence enumerated as follows:
(1) The regularaccumulated contributions of members of the Law‑Enforcement Officers'Retirement System employed by the State or last employed by the State shall betransferred from the annuity savings fund of the Law‑EnforcementOfficers' Retirement System to the annuity savings fund of the State RetirementSystem to the credit of each individual officer.
(2) An amount equal tothe present value of the liabilities on account of the retirement allowancespayable to beneficiaries last employed as officers by the State and thesurviving beneficiaries of officers last employed by the State, as calculatedby the Retirement System's consulting actuary, shall be transferred from thepension accumulation fund of the Law‑Enforcement Officers' RetirementSystem to the pension accumulation fund of the State Retirement System.
(3) After the transfersprovided for above, additional assets in the pension accumulation fund of theLaw‑Enforcement Officers' Retirement System shall be transferred to thepension accumulation fund of the State Retirement System, in an amount equal tothe ratio of the accrued liabilities on account of members of the Law‑EnforcementOfficers' Retirement System employed by the State or last employed by the Stateto the total accrued liabilities on account of all members of the Law‑EnforcementOfficers' Retirement System.
(4) The special annuityaccount accumulated contributions shall be transferred from the special annuitysavings fund of the Law‑Enforcement Officers' Retirement System to theSupplemental Retirement Income Plan pursuant to subsection (d) of this sectionto the credit of individual officers.
(d) SupplementalRetirement Income Plan for State Law‑Enforcement Officers. As ofJanuary 1, 1985, there shall be created a Supplemental Retirement Income Plan,hereinafter called the "Plan," established for the benefit of all law‑enforcementofficers employed by the State, who shall be participants. The Board ofTrustees of the State Retirement System shall administer the Plan and shall,under the terms and conditions otherwise appearing herein, provide Planbenefits either (i) by establishing a separate trust fund in conformance withSection 401(a), Section 401(k) or other sections of the Internal Revenue Codeof 1954 as amended or, (ii) by causing the Plan to affiliate with some mastertrust fund providing the same benefits for participants. The Plan shall beseparate and apart from any retirement systems.
In addition to thecontributions transferred from the Law‑Enforcement Officers' RetirementSystem and the contributions otherwise provided for in this Article,participants may make voluntary contributions to the Plan to be credited to thedesignated individual accounts of participants; provided, in no instance shallthe total contributions by a participant exceed ten percent (10%) of aparticipant's compensation within any calendar year.
All contributions to the Planshall be credited to the individual accounts of participants, and shall befully and immediately vested in the name of the participant, and shall beinvested according to each participant's election, as provided by the Board ofTrustees, including but not limited to time deposits, and both fixed andvariable investments. The Plan may provide for loans to participants, atreasonable rates of interest to be charged, from participants' individualaccounts, and may provide for withdrawal of contributions on account ofhardship.
The benefit to a participantin the Plan shall be either a lump‑sum distribution or a distribution inperiodic installments of the participant's account payable under retirement,disability, or termination of employment. Upon the death of a participant thereshall be paid the same lump‑sum distribution or periodic installments tothe surviving spouse of the participant or otherwise to the participant's estate;provided, should a participant instruct the Board of Trustees in writing thathe does not wish these benefits to be paid to his spouse or estate, then thebenefits shall be paid to the person or persons as the participant may name forthis purpose.
Upon retirement, a participantin the Plan may elect to transfer his eligible accumulated contributions, notincluding any Roth after‑tax contributions and the earnings thereon, tothe Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System and receive, in additionto his basic service, early or disability retirement allowance a specialretirement allowance which shall be based on his eligible accumulated accountbalance at the date of the transfer of the assets.
(e) State Contributionsto the Supplemental Retirement Income Plan. Under all other restrictions asare herein provided, the State shall contribute monthly to the individualaccounts of participants who are employed by the State an amount equal to fivepercent (5%) of the compensation of each participant. The contributions so paidshall be in addition to the contributions on account of court cost assessmentsas hereinafter provided.
Contributions shall be made tothe individual accounts of all participants in the Plan on a per capita basisin equal shares, equal to the sum of the one‑half dollar ($0.50) for eachcost of court assessed and collected under G.S. 7A‑304.
(e1) Rights ofParticipants under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment RightsAct. A participant whose employment is interrupted by reason of service inthe Uniformed Services, as that term is defined in section 4303(16) of theUniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Public Law 103‑353,hereafter referred to as "USERRA", shall be entitled to all rightsand benefits that the participant would have been entitled to under thissection had the participant's employment not been interrupted, provided thatthe participant returns to service as a law enforcement officer while theparticipant's reemployment rights are protected under the provisions of USERRA.
(f) Administration. Theprovisions of the State Retirement System pertaining to administration andmanagement of funds under G.S. 135‑6 and 7 are made applicable to thePlan.
(g) Exemption fromGarnishment and Attachment. The right of a participant in the SupplementalRetirement Income Plan to the benefits provided under this Article isnonforfeitable and exempt from levy, sale, and garnishment.
(h) Notwithstanding anyother provisions of law, any pending or inchoate rights of a member of the Law‑EnforcementOfficers' Retirement System as of their transfer to the State Retirement Systemon January 1, 1985, including the rights to a vested deferred retirementallowance and to commence retirement at certain ages with required years ofservice as a law‑enforcement officer, shall in no way be diminished;provided, however, in no event may a member commence retirement and continuemembership service with the same Retirement System.
No eligible officer shall beprecluded from exercising that officer's pending or inchoate rights under thissection, should the officer elect to make Roth after‑tax contributions tothe Supplemental Retirement Income Plan, except that these Roth after‑taxcontributions and the earnings thereon shall not be subsequently transferred tothe Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System. (1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c.1034, s. 248; 1985, c. 479, s. 196(s); 1989, c. 792, s. 2.7; 1995, c. 361, s.5; 2006‑141, s. 1; 2007‑384, s. 10.5.)