Chapter 29 - Volunteer Emergency Medical Technician Pension Fund
CHAPTER 29 - VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN PENSIONFUND
35-29-101. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Board" means the volunteer emergency medicaltechnician (EMT) pension board established by this article;
(ii) "Children" means all natural children and adoptedchildren of the participating member, born or conceived at the time of hisdeath or retirement;
(iii) "Emergency medical technician" or "EMT"means as defined by W.S. 33-36-102(a)(x), and who performs EMT services as anattendant with a state licensed ambulance service and who devotes less than hisentire time of employment to, but is carried on the rolls of, a regularlyconstituted Wyoming ambulance service, excluding industrial ambulance servicesas defined in W.S. 33-36-102(a)(vi), the members of which may be partly paidand partly volunteer. Payment of compensation for services actually renderedby enrolled volunteers does not take them out of this classification. Anyindividual who volunteers assistance but is not regularly enrolled as an EMT isnot a volunteer within the meaning of this chapter;
(iv) "Entry age" means the earliest date from whichcontributions have been received by the fund for the participating member;
(v) "Fund" means the volunteer emergency medicaltechnician (EMT) pension account within the trust and agency fund establishedby W.S. 35-29-102;
(vi) "Participating member" means any volunteer EMTfor whom payments are received by the volunteer emergency medical technicianpension fund as prescribed in W.S. 35-29-106(e);
(vii) "Spouse" means the lawful spouse of aparticipating member who was married to the volunteer EMT at the time of thevolunteer EMT's entry into the fund, or who although married after the date ofentry, is recognized as the spouse covered by the benefits of the fund as aresult of special action of the board;
(viii) "Eligible retirement plan" means as defined inW.S. 9-3-402(a)(xxvii);
(ix) "Rollover contribution" means as defined in W.S.9-3-402(a)(xxviii).
35-29-102. Fund account created; administration; disbursements fromaccount.
(a) The volunteer emergency medical technician pension accountwithin the trust and agency fund is created. All awards, benefits and pensionsestablished under this article shall be paid from the fund account.
(b) The fund account established under subsection (a) of thissection shall be controlled by the board and administered by the director ofthe Wyoming retirement system. All expenses of administration shall be paid bythe fund. Disbursements from the fund shall be made only upon warrants drawn bythe state auditor upon certification by authorized system employees.
35-29-103. Biennial audit; state's liability.
(a) The director of the Wyoming retirement system shall hire anindependent audit firm for an annual audit of the fund account establishedunder W.S. 35-29-102 and shall report audit findings to the board and thegovernor.
(b) The fund account created by W.S. 35-29-102 shall beadministered without liability on the part of the state beyond the amount ofthe funds available to the fund account.
35-29-104. Authority to receive donations; investment of monies;employment of actuary; actuarial reports.
(a) In addition to contributions from the state and licensedambulance services, the board may receive and credit to the fund any gifts,donations and other contributions made by individuals, organizations andcities, towns and counties for the benefit of the fund. The board may investmonies within the fund not immediately necessary to pay benefits, awards orpensions under this article, in investments authorized under W.S. 9-3-408(b).
(b) The board shall employ a consulting actuary to review thefund annually to determine its solvency and to make recommendations as torevisions and modifications of the plan. The board may employ legal and otherconsultants as necessary. Actuarial reports are public records and availablefor inspection by all participating members of the fund.
35-29-105. Contributions by volunteer EMTs; collection; dualparticipation prohibited.
(a) Following initial funding of the fund by legislativeappropriation, the county, city, town or licensed ambulance service for whom aparticipating volunteer emergency medical technician performs EMT servicesshall pay to the fund the amount required under W.S. 35-29-106(e). Paymentsshall be collected upon terms and conditions established by the board underW.S. 35-29-106(e) and shall be forwarded by each collecting officer to thestate retirement director for deposit in the fund.
(b) No active member of the volunteer firemen's pension fundestablished under W.S. 35-9-601 through 35-9-615 shall be eligible formembership in the fund created by this article.
35-29-106. Benefits enumerated; death of participant or spouse; amountand payment of contributions; withdrawal from plan.
(a) For any participating member attaining the retirement agecorresponding to his entry age as specified under subsection (d) of thissection, the board shall authorize a monthly payment to the member during hisremaining lifetime of an amount equal to fifteen dollars ($15.00) per year ofservice for the first ten (10) years and eighteen dollars ($18.00) per year ofservice over ten (10) years.
(b) Upon the death of any participating member, the board shallauthorize a monthly payment to the surviving spouse of the member during thespouse's remaining lifetime of an amount equal to fifty percent (50%) of theamount calculated under subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Upon the death of the last survivor of any participatingmember and his spouse, with children who have not attained the age oftwenty-one (21) years at the time of death, the board shall authorize a monthlypayment of fifty percent (50%) of the amount calculated under subsection (b) ofthis section.
(d) For all members whose entry age is less than age forty-six(46), retirement age shall be age sixty (60). For members whose entry age isage forty-six (46) or greater, the following prescribes the member's retirementage:
Ageat
Entry
Into Retirement
Plan Age
46 61
47 61
48 62
49 62
50 63
51 63
52 64
53 64
54 65
55 65
56 66
57 66
58 67
59 68
60 68
61 68
62 69
63 69
64 70
65 70
(e) A volunteer emergency medical technician is a participatingmember under this article for each month a contribution of twelve dollars andfifty cents ($12.50) is made by or on behalf of the member. For purposes ofeligibility for benefits under subsections (b) and (c) of this section, a volunteeremergency medical technician is a participating member beginning the firstmonth following the month in which the required monthly payment and anyrequired application for participation is actually received by the Wyomingretirement system. To continue as a participating member, subsequent monthlypayments shall be received by the Wyoming retirement system not later thanthree (3) months following the close of the calendar month for which thepayments are applicable. With the consent of and upon any terms and conditionsestablished by the board, payments may be accepted at an earlier or later date.The board shall maintain full and complete records of the contributions made onbehalf of each participating member and on request, shall furnish any participatingmember a statement of the contribution amounts and the dates for whichcontributions were received. On the death or retirement of any participatingmember, his entry age shall be determined by the board to be the earliest datefrom which contributions for the member have been received by the board. Ifcontributions have varied in amount, the board may make appropriate adjustmentsin the benefits awarded. In making any adjustment, the board shall be guided byactuarial practice to afford substantial equity to members of the plan. Nopenalty shall be imposed upon any participating member transferring employmentin Wyoming if required payments are made on a timely basis.
(f) A participating member may withdraw from the plan and uponwithdrawal, if the member has been a participating member for at least five (5)years, shall be paid an amount equal to the amount contributed into his accounttogether with interest at the rate of two percent (2%) per annum compoundedannually.
(g) Effective July 1, 2008 and each July 1 thereafter, anyretirement or survivor benefit received by eligible individuals under thisarticle shall be adjusted as follows:
(i) Not later than July 1, the board shall determine thepercentage increase in the cost of living for the preceding calendar year. Thepercentage increase in the cost of living for a calendar year shall be equal tothe annual percentage increase in the cost of living as of the immediatelypreceding calendar year, as shown by the Wyoming cost of living indexestablished by the division of economic analysis of the department ofadministration and information;
(ii) Subject to the limitation imposed under paragraphs (v) and(vi) of this subsection, the benefits existing on each July 1 for each eligibleindividual may be increased by an amount not to exceed the greater of thepercentage increase in the cost of living as determined by the board underparagraph (i) of this subsection or a percentage adjustment to a level thesystem's actuary determines to be actuarially sound pursuant to paragraph (v)of this subsection;
(iii) The amount of any percentage increase in the cost of livingwhich exceeds the percentage adjustment under paragraph (ii) of this subsectionshall, to the extent determined actuarially sound by the system's actuary, beaccumulated and added to the percentage increases in the cost of living forfuture years;
(iv) Individuals who have been receiving applicable benefits forat least two (2) years, including survivors who received benefits during thisperiod either alone or in combination with a member, are eligible for thebenefit adjustment under this subsection;
(v) An increase in benefits under this subsection shall beimplemented only upon a determination by the actuary for the Wyoming retirementsystem that the increase is actuarially sound. As required under W.S.9-3-419(b)(v), the system actuary shall annually report its determination underthis paragraph to the governor and the joint appropriations interim committee;and
(vi) The total benefit adjustment under this subsection shallnot exceed two percent (2%) in any one (1) year.
(h) The board shall authorize benefit payments from the fund inaccordance with qualified domestic relations orders pursuant to W.S. 9-3-426.
(j) If any participating member with at least five (5) years ofparticipation retires from active service within his department before reachingretirement age and does not withdraw from the plan as provided in subsection(h) of this section, upon reaching the retirement age specified in subsection(d) of this section, he shall receive a monthly pension payment equal tofifteen dollars ($15.00) per year of service for the first ten (10) years andeighteen dollars ($18.00) per year of service over ten (10) years for each yearof service during which contributions were made on behalf of the member. Amember after ten (10) years of active service as an EMT may choose to removehimself from active service and continue to contribute for up to five (5) yearsas provided in W.S. 35-29-106(e) and rules promulgated by the board.
(k) The board shall adopt rules to allow service for any periodof time, after commencement of participation under this article, which anemployee spends in active military or other emergency service of the UnitedStates as required by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment RightsAct, 38 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.
35-29-107. Death benefits in addition to other benefits.
Deathbenefits received under this article shall be in addition to and are payableafter the application of worker's compensation benefits which are payable tovolunteer emergency medical technicians under the Wyoming Worker's CompensationAct.
35-29-108. Board; established; nomination; appointment; terms andqualification of members.
(a) The volunteer emergency medical technician pension board iscreated. The board shall administer the fund.
(b) The board shall consist of six (6) members who shall beappointed by the governor for staggered terms of three (3) years. The membersshall be volunteer emergency medical technicians who have a minimum of five (5)years service as volunteer EMTs in the state. The governor may remove any boardmember as provided in W.S. 9-1-202.
35-29-109. Board; chairman; compensation of members; powers and duties.
(a) The director of the Wyoming retirement system shall act asan ex officio chairman of the board and shall have a vote.
(b) Members of the board shall serve without compensation, butactual and reasonable expenses incurred by members for attending meetings andrepresenting the board shall be reimbursed from the fund.
(c) The board may:
(i) Adjust claims made by participating members under thisarticle and may waive or alter specific requirements relating to benefits underthis article, but shall not have authority to make a general increase inbenefits;
(ii) Make rules and regulations governing its operation;
(iii) Investigate claim applications, conduct hearings, receiveevidence and otherwise act in a quasi-judicial capacity;
(iv) Permit the suspension of payments in certain cases deemedappropriate by the board, with a commensurate reduction in benefits paid underthis article.
35-29-110. Board; hearings; appeals.
(a) The board shall provide a written transcript of alltestimony received at any hearing conducted by the board and shall provideopportunity for hearing to any person petitioning the board for a hearing withor without counsel or witnesses. The board shall provide petitioners the powerto subpoena witnesses to testify in their behalf. The taking of evidence shallbe summary, giving a full opportunity to all parties to develop the factsfully.
(b) The decision of the board upon hearing is a finaladministrative decision and is subject to judicial review in accordance withthe Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act.
35-29-111. Adjustment of benefits in case of impairment of funds.
Ifat any time the net assets of the fund become actuarially impaired, the boardmay adjust the benefits provided pro rata until the impairment is removed.
35-29-112. Purchase of service credit.
Any member who has been a participatingmember for at least five (5) years may elect to make a one (1) time purchase ofup to five (5) years of service credit as authorized and limited by section415(c) and 415(n) of the Internal Revenue Code and as established in rulespromulgated by the board. Any member electing to purchase service credit shallpay into the account a single lump sum amount equal to the actuarial equivalentof the benefits to be derived from the service credit computed on the basis ofactuarial assumptions approved by the board, the individual's attained age andthe benefit structure at the time of purchase. A member may purchase servicecredit with personal funds or, subject to rules and regulations established bythe board, through rollover contributions. Unless received by the fund in theform of a direct rollover, the rollover contribution shall be paid to the fundon or before sixty (60) days after the date it was received by the member.