(1) An optional retirement plan is hereby authorized for designated employees of public postsecondary education institutions who are also eligible for membership in the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System under KRS § 161.220(4)(b) and 161.470(1). The purpose of the optional retirement plan shall be to provide suitable retirement and death benefits, while affording the maximum portability of these benefits to the eligible employees as an alternative to membership in the retirement system. Benefits shall be provided by the purchase of annuity contracts, mutual fund accounts, or similar investment products, or a combination thereof, collectively referred to as contracts or annuity contracts, at the option of the participant and offered by the selected provider for plans established under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. The specific provisions of provider contracts with respect to the benefits payable to members and their beneficiaries shall prevail over specific provisions relating to the same subjects found in KRS § 161.220 to KRS § 161.716, other than this section.
(2) The boards of regents of those institutions identified in KRS § 161.220(4)(b) shall select no less than two (2) but no more than four (4) companies from which to purchase contracts under the optional retirement plan. As criteria for this selection, the boards of regents shall consider, among other things, and as appropriate for the type of contract provider, the following:

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 161.567

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Company: may extend and be applied to any corporation, company, person, partnership, joint stock company, or association. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(a) The portability of the contracts offered or to be offered by a company, based on the number of states in which the company provides contracts under similar plans;
(b) The efficacy of the contracts in the recruitment and retention of employees for the various state public postsecondary education institutions;
(c) The nature and extent of the rights and benefits to be provided by the contracts for participating employees and their beneficiaries;
(d) The relation of the rights and benefits to the amount of contributions required; (e) The suitability of the rights and benefits to the needs and interests of eligible
employees and the various state public postsecondary education institutions;
and
(f) The ability of the designated companies to provide the rights and benefits under those contracts.
Effective: July 1, 2008
History: Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 78, sec. 25, effective July 1, 2008. — Amended
1997 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 69, effective May 30, 1997. — Amended
1996 Ky. Acts ch. 253, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1996. — Created 1994 Ky. Acts ch.
290, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994.