In AS 39.35.700 - 39.35.990, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) “administrator” means the commissioner of administration or the commissioner's designee;

(2) “alternate payee” means the person for whom an amount has been separated into an account under a qualified domestic relations order;

(3) “annuitant” means a member, beneficiary, or alternate payee who is receiving a benefit under this plan;

(4) “beneficiary” means the person or persons entitled under the provisions of this plan to receive benefits after the death of a member or alternate payee;

(5) “board” has the meaning given in AS 39.35.680;

(6) “calendar year” has the meaning given in AS 39.35.680;

(7) “compensation”

(A) means

(i) the total remuneration earned by an employee for personal services rendered, including cost-of-living differentials, as reported on the employee's Federal Income Tax Withholding Statement (Form W-2) from the employer for the calendar year;

(ii) the member contribution to the public employees' retirement system under AS 39.35.730, employee deferrals under AS 39.45.010, the wage reduction amount contributed to the Alaska Supplemental Annuity Plan under AS 39.30.150(a), and the wage reduction amount contributed to the Alaska Supplemental Benefit Plan under AS 39.30.150(c), as those statutes may be amended from time to time;

(B) does not include retirement benefits, severance pay or other separation bonuses, welfare benefits, per diem, expense allowances, workers' compensation payments, payments for leave not used whether those leave payments are scheduled payments, lump-sum payments, donations, or cash-ins, any remuneration contributed by the employer for or on account of the employee under this plan or under any other qualified or nonqualified employee benefit plan, or any remuneration not specifically included above which would have been excluded under 26 U.S.C. 3121(a) (Internal Revenue Code) if the employer had remained in the Federal Social Security System;

(C) notwithstanding (B) of this paragraph, includes any amount that is contributed by the employer under a salary reduction agreement and that is not includible in the gross income of the employee under 26 U.S.C. 125, 132(f)(4), 402(e)(3), 402(h)(1)(B), or 403(b) (Internal Revenue Code); the annual compensation limitation for the member, which is so taken into account for those purposes, may not exceed $200,000, as adjusted for the cost of living in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(17)(B) (Internal Revenue Code), with the limitation for a fiscal year being the limitation in effect for the calendar year within which the fiscal year begins;

(8) “dependent child” has the meaning given in AS 39.35.680;

(9) “distribution commencement date” has the meaning given in AS 39.35.840(a);

(10) “employer” means

(A) the State of Alaska; or

(B) a political subdivision or public organization of the state that participates in the plan;

(11) “fund” means the assets of the plan;

(12) “individual account” means the total maintained by the plan in an investment account within the trust fund, established for each member for the purposes of allocation of the member's contributions, the employer's contributions on behalf of the member, and earnings credited to each of those contributions, investment gains and losses, and expenses; as well as reporting of the member's benefit under the plan;

(13) “Internal Revenue Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

(14) “investment funds” means those separate funds that are provided within and that make up the trust fund and that are established for the purpose of directing investment through the exercise of the sole control of a member, beneficiary, or alternate payee under the terms of the plan and trust agreement;

(15) “limitation year” means the year for which contributions are made to a member's individual account as reported to the Internal Revenue Service and as meets the limits described in 26 U.S.C. 415(c);

(16) “member” or “employee” means a person who is eligible to participate in the plan and who is covered by the plan, including the governor, the lieutenant governor, and a member of the legislature, but does not include

(A) a full-time or part-time instructor of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development or the Department of Education and Early Development in a position that requires a teaching certificate; or

(B) a person who is compensated on a contractual or fee basis;

(17) “membership service” means full-time or part-time employment of a member or employee with an employer in the plan;

(18) “normal retirement age” means the age set for Medicare eligibility at the time the member retires;

(19) “participant” means the person who has a vested right to an individual account, such as a member, an alternate payee if the account is subject to a qualified domestic relations order, the member's beneficiary if the member is deceased, or an alternate payee's beneficiary if the alternate payee is deceased;

(20) “peace officer” or “firefighter” means an employee occupying a position as a peace officer, chief of police, regional public safety officer, correctional officer, correctional superintendent, firefighter, fire chief, or probation officer, but does not include a village public safety officer employed by a village public safety officer program established under AS 18.65.670;

(21) “plan” means the retirement plan established in AS 39.35.700 - 39.35.990;

(22) “prudent investment standard” means the degree of care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims;

(23) “qualified domestic relations order” means a divorce or dissolution judgment under AS 25.24, including an order approving a property settlement, that

(A) creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to, or assigns to an alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of an individual account or the benefits payable with respect to a member;

(B) sets out the name and last known mailing address, if any, of the member and of each alternate payee covered by the order;

(C) sets out the amount or percentage of the member's benefit, or of any survivor's benefit, to be paid to the alternate payee, or sets out the manner in which that amount or percentage is to be determined;

(D) sets out the number of payments or period to which the order applies;

(E) sets out the retirement plan to which the order applies;

(F) does not require any type or form of benefit or any option not otherwise provided by AS 39.35.700 - 39.35.990;

(G) does not require an increase of benefits in excess of the amount provided by AS 39.35.700 - 39.35.990; and

(H) does not require the payment to an alternate payee of benefits that are required to be paid to another alternate payee under another order previously determined to be a qualified domestic relations order;

(24) “retiree” means an eligible person who has elected to receive medical benefits under AS 39.35.880;

(25) “surviving spouse” means the spouse of an employee who has been married to the employee for at least one year at the time of the employee's death;

(26) “system” has the meaning given in AS 39.35.680;

(27) “year of service” means the equivalent of 52 weeks of permanent full-time employment, which may consist of a combination of permanent full-time or permanent part-time membership service; in this paragraph, “permanent full-time” and “permanent part-time” have the meanings given in AS 39.35.680.