2020 Georgia Code
Title 47 - Retirement and Pensions
Chapter 7 - Georgia Firefighters' Pension Fund
Article 2 - Administration and Management of the Assets of the Fund
§ 47-7-23. Powers and Duties of the Board Generally

1. The board shall have the following powers and duties:
   1. To provide for the payment of administrative expenses;
   2. To rule upon all applications for pensions;
   3. To provide for the payment of pensions;
   4. To provide for the collection of all revenue under this chapter;
   5. To make all necessary rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of this state for the governing of this retirement fund;
   6. To prescribe rules and regulations of eligibility of persons to receive pensions under this chapter;
   7. To expend funds in accordance with this chapter; and
   8. To exercise all other powers necessary for the administration of the fund.
2. The board shall have the full power to invest and reinvest such funds subject to all the terms, conditions, limitations, and restrictions imposed by Article 7 of Chapter 20 of this title, the "Public Retirement Systems Investment Authority Law." Subject to such terms, conditions, limitations, and restrictions, the board shall have full power to hold, purchase, sell, assign, transfer, and dispose of any of the securities and investments in which any of the funds are invested, including the proceeds of any investments and money belonging to the fund.
3. The board is authorized to employ agents, including, but not limited to, banks or trust departments thereof, and to contract for the services of such agents as investment advisers and counselors, in making recommendations for investments, and in making investments, if the board so authorizes.
4. The board of trustees may invest, in certified or uncertified form, in securities of any open-end management type investment company or investment trust registered with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as now or hereafter amended, if such investment company or investment trust has been organized for not less than ten years or has assets of not less than $200 million at the date of investment; provided, however, that the board shall not be authorized to pay any such investment company or investment trust a management fee in excess of 0.05 percent of the funds invested.

(Ga. L. 1955, p. 339, § 4; Ga. L. 1963, p. 266, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 241, § 3; Ga. L. 1997, p. 966, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 2, § 8; Ga. L. 2001, p. 899, § 1; Ga. L. 2010, p. 1207, § 65/SB 436.)

The 2010 amendment, effective July 1, 2010, substituted "advisers" for "advisors" in the middle of subsection (c).

- Ga. L. 2010, p. 1207, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "The intent of this Act is to repeal obsolete and inoperative provisions and to make certain stylistic corrections in Title 47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Nothing in this Act shall deny, abridge, increase, renew, revive, or on any way affect any right, benefit, option, credit, or election to which any person was entitled pursuant to such title on June 30, 2010, and the board of trustees of each public retirement system is authorized and directed to provide by regulation for the continuation of any such right, benefit, option, credit, or election not otherwise covered in this Act; provided, however, that any such right, benefit, option, credit, or election shall be subject to the statutory provisions in effect on June 30, 2010."

- The Investment Company Act of 1940, referred to in subsection (d) of this Code section, is codified as 15 U.S.C. § 80a-1 et seq.

- Rules of General Applicability, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Fireman's Pension Fund, Chapter 513-7-1.

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Determination of membership.

- Board of Trustees of the Georgia Firemen's Pension Fund is duly empowered to make factual determination of whether an applicant is employed by and working for a fire department or whether applicant is merely working out of a fire department. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U82-17.

- Board of trustees can prescribe, by rule and regulation, the manner and method of reports from fire departments and proof of creditable service by members of the fund. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U74-12.

Fund can invest in any investment legal for insurance company, and this includes a loan to a private owner of a waterworks system. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 600.

Trustees have power to invest funds in land and buildings used for principal home office. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-377.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 62 C.J.S., Municipal Corporations, § 573 et seq. 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 313.