2012 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 9 - Retirement Systems
Chapter 16 - RETIREMENT SYSTEM FUNDS
Section 9-16-315 - Retirement System Investment Commission; membership; terms; qualifications; chief investment officer and administrative staff; costs and salary.

(A) There is established the "Retirement System Investment Commission" (RSIC) consisting of seven members as follows:

(1) one member appointed by the Governor;

(2) the State Treasurer, ex officio;

(3) one member appointed by the Comptroller General;

(4) one member appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee;

(5) one member appointed by the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives;

(6) one member who is a retired member of the retirement system. This representative member must be appointed by unanimous vote of the voting members of the commission; and

(7) the Executive Director of South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority, ex officio, without voting privileges.

(B) The State Treasurer may appoint a member to serve in his stead. A member appointed by the State Treasurer shall serve for a term coterminous with the State Treasurer and must possess at least one of the qualifications provided in subsection (E). Once appointed, this member may not be removed except as provided in subsection (C).

(C) Except as provided in subsection (B), members shall serve for terms of five years and until their successors are appointed and qualify, except that of those first appointed, the appointees of the Comptroller General and the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee shall serve for terms of three years and the appointee of the Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means and the representative appointee shall serve for terms of one year. Terms are deemed to expire after June thirtieth of the year in which the term is due to expire. Members are appointed for a term and may be removed before the term expires only by the Governor for the reasons provided in Section 1-3-240(C).

(D) The commission shall select one of the voting members to serve as chairman and shall select those other officers it determines necessary, but the State Treasurer may not serve as chairman.

(E) A person may not be appointed to the commission unless the person possesses at least one of the following qualifications:

(1) the Chartered Financial Analyst credential of the CFA Institute;

(2) the Certified Financial Planner credential of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards;

(3) reserved;

(4) at least twenty years professional actuarial experience, including at least ten as an Enrolled Actuary licensed by a Joint Board of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor, to perform a variety of actuarial tasks required of pension plans in the United States by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974;

(5) at least twenty years professional teaching experience in economics or finance, ten of which must have occurred at a doctorate-granting university, master's granting college or university, or a baccalaureate college as classified by the Carnegie Foundation;

(6) an earned Ph.D. in economics or finance from a doctorate-granting institution as classified by the Carnegie Foundation; or

(7) the Certified Internal Auditor credential of The Institute of Internal Auditors.

(F) Not including the State Treasurer, no person may be appointed or continue to serve who is an elected or appointed officer or employee of the State or any of its political subdivisions, including school districts.

(G) The Retirement System Investment Commission is established to invest the funds of the retirement system. All of the powers and duties of the State Budget and Control Board as investor in equity securities and the State Treasurer's function of investing in fixed income instruments are transferred to and devolved upon the Retirement System Investment Commission. To assist the commission in its investment function, it shall employ a chief investment officer, who under the direction and supervision of the commission, and as its agent, shall develop and maintain annual investment plans and invest and oversee the investment of retirement system funds. The chief investment officer serves at the pleasure of the commission and must receive the compensation the commission determines appropriate. The commission may employ the other professional, administrative, and clerical personnel it determines necessary and fix their compensation. All employees of the commission are employees at will. The compensation of the chief investment officer and other employees of the commission is not subject to the state compensation plan.

(H)(1) The administrative costs of the Retirement System Investment Commission must be paid from the earnings of the state retirement system in the manner provided in Section 9-1-1310.

(2) Effective beginning July 1, 2012, each commission member, not including the Executive Director of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority, must receive an annual salary of twenty thousand dollars plus mileage and subsistence as provided by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions paid as provided pursuant to item (1) of this subsection. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, membership on the commission does not make a member eligible to participate in a retirement system administered pursuant to this title and does not make a member eligible to participate in the employee insurance program administered pursuant to Article 5, Chapter 11, Title 1. Compensation paid on account of the member's service on the commission is not considered earnable compensation for purposes of any retirement system administered pursuant to this title.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 153, Pt IV, Section 3, eff July 1, 2005; 2012 Act No. 278, Pt IV, Subpt 3, Section 64.A, eff July 1, 2012.