(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 the participant 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.

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 161.569

  • 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.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Company: may extend and be applied to any corporation, company, person, partnership, joint stock company, or association. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.

(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 KRS § 141.0215.
(5) Each institution shall contribute for each payroll period of each fiscal year to the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, an amount equal to five and one-tenth percent (5.1%) of the total salaries of all persons who elect or elected to participate in the optional retirement plan instead of the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System. This payment shall continue to be made until June 30, 2018. No contributions shall be payable on or after July 1, 2018, to the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System for all persons who elect or elected to participate in the optional retirement plan instead of the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System.
Effective: April 27, 2018
History: Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 171, sec. 23, effective April 14, 2018; and ch.
207, sec. 23, effective April 27, 2018. — Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 11, sec. 3, effective April 7, 2008. — 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.
Legislative Research Commission Note (4/27/2018). This statute was amended by 2018
Ky. Acts chs. 171 and 207, which do not appear to be in conflict and have been codified together.