2006 Kentucky Revised Statutes - .569   Effect of election to participate -- Payment of benefits -- Taxation and attachment of benefits -- Employer and employee contributions.

161.569 Effect of election to participate -- Payment of benefits -- Taxation and attachment of benefits -- Employer and employee contributions. (1) Any person electing to participate in the optional retirement plan shall be ineligible for membership in the regular retirement plan of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System for as long as he is employed in a position for which the optional retirement plan is available, except as provided in KRS 161.568(1). (2) Any person electing to participate in the optional retirement plan shall acknowledge in writing that the benefits payable to participants are not the obligation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky or the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, and that these benefits and other rights of the optional retirement plan are the liability and responsibility solely of the designated companies to which contributions have been made. (3) Benefits shall be payable to optional retirement plan participants or their beneficiaries by the designated companies in accordance with the contracts issued by each company and the retirement plan provisions adopted by each public institution. (4) Annuity contracts issued under the optional retirement plan and all rights of a participant in the optional retirement plan shall be exempt from any state, local, or municipal tax; assessment for the insolvency of any life, health, or casualty insurance company; any levy or sale, garnishment, or attachment; or any process whatsoever, and shall be unassignable except as otherwise specifically provided by the contracts offered under the optional retirement plan adopted by the respective public institutions of higher education. Except contracts issued and rights accrued in the optional retirement plan on or after January 1, 1998, shall be subject to the tax imposed by KRS 141.020, to the extent provided in KRS 141.010 and 141.0215. (5) (a)  Each institution shall contribute on behalf of each participant in its optional retirement program the following: 1. To the designated company or companies, an amount equal to the amount that would have been payable to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System if the member had elected to participate in that plan instead of the optional retirement plan, less the amount contributed to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System pursuant to subparagraph 2. of this paragraph; and 2. To the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, an amount equal to the contribution which would have been payable to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System on account of the unfunded liability if the member had elected to participate in that plan instead of the optional retirement plan. The rate of contribution shall be determined annually by the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System actuary. This payment shall continue to be made on behalf of all participants in the optional retirement plan until July 1, 2018, the current amortization period of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System. Page 1 of 2 (b) Each participant shall contribute an amount equal to the present member contribution to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System. Employee contributions to the optional retirement plan shall be made by salary reduction under either Section 403(b) or 414(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Effective: July 1, 2004 History: Amended 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 121, sec. 26, effective July 1, 2004. -- Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 253, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1996. -- Amended 1995 (2d Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 8, effective April 28, 1995. -- Created 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 290, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1994. Page 2 of 2