2017 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 9 - Retirement Systems
CHAPTER 9 - RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Section 9-9-60. Retirement; amount of retirement allowance.
(1) A member of the system may retire upon written application to the board setting forth at what time, not more than ninety days before nor more than six months after the execution and filing of the application, the member desires to be retired, if at the time specified for retirement, the member is no longer in the service of the State, whether as a member of the General Assembly or otherwise, except as provided in Section 9-9-40(3), and has either attained the age of sixty years or completed thirty years of credited service.
(2) Effective July 1, 1989, a retired member shall receive a monthly retirement allowance which is equal to one-twelfth of four and eighty-two hundredths percent of earnable compensation multiplied by the number of years of his credited service prorated for periods less than a year.
(3) A member who has attained the age of seventy and one-half years and has twenty-five years of service or who has attained the age of 70 or has 30 years of service may retire and draw a retirement benefit while continuing to serve in the General Assembly upon written application to the board setting forth at what time, not more than ninety days before nor more than six months after the execution and filing of the application, the member desires to be retired. A member who has retired under this provision shall make no further contributions to the system, shall earn no further service credit, and may not reenter membership in the system.
The member must retire at the beginning of an annual session of the General Assembly and the election to receive the member's retirement allowance under this system is in lieu of receiving the constitutionally mandated per diem salary, currently established at ten thousand four hundred dollars for a regular session. This election if made is irrevocable and applies for as long as that person serves thereafter in the General Assembly including service in both regular and extra sessions.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 61-276; 1966 (54) 2081; 1968 (55) 2855; 1970 (56) 1936; 1972 (57) 2207; 1975 (59) 71; 1975 (59) 154; 1978 Act No. 428 Section 3; 1978 Act No. 644 Part II; 1979 Act No. 82 Section 3; 1989 Act No. 189, Part II, Section 60E, eff July 1, 1989 (became law without the Governor's signature); 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 61B, eff July 1, 1994; 2001 Act No. 1, Part II, Section 7A, eff January 1, 2001; 2001 Act No. 25, Section 3A, eff May 29, 2001; 2002 Act No. 334, Section 21, eff June 24, 2002.
Editor's Note
1988 Act No. 658, Part II, Section 6, provides as follows:
"Any member of the State Retirement System who retired during Fiscal Year 1985-86, who was a state employee serving under contract, and who was not given an option to extend the contract thereby resulting in his retirement within Fiscal Year 1985-86 must have his "average final compensation" and resulting retirement income computed by using the annual earnable compensation of the member during the twelve consecutive quarters of his creditable service on which regular contributions as a member were made to the System producing the highest such average. A quarter for purposes of this section means a period January through March, April through June, July through September, or October through December. An amount up to and including forty-five days' termination pay for unused annual leave at retirement may be added to the average final compensation. Application for the recomputation must be made before October 1, 1988, and any change in benefits must be prospective only."
Effect of Amendment
The 1989 amendment in subsection (2), replaced "January 1, 1976" with "July 1, 1989" and "one-half percent" with "eighty-two hundredths percent".
The 1994 amendment, in subsection (1), added "except as provided in Section 9-9-40(3)" and made grammatical changes.
The first 2001 amendment added subsection (3) and the undesignated paragraph at the end of the section.
The second 2001 amendment, in subsection (3), substituted "twenty-five" for "forty" and made language changes in subsections (1) and (3).
The 2002 amendment, in subsection (3), in the first undesignated paragraph, inserted "or who has attained the age of 70 or has 30 years of service".
