(a) All member contributions and state appropriations shall be held in a separate retirement fund by the Treasurer, who may invest and reinvest as much of the fund as is not required for current disbursements in accordance with the provisions of part I of chapter 32.

(b) All participant contributions and state appropriations therefor shall be held in a separate account by the Treasurer and upon certification by the Comptroller shall be forwarded to the company underwriting an alternate retirement program in equal monthly installments. Expenditures from this account may exceed the appropriation to such account if such deficiency is due to anticipated reimbursements to the account and if such reimbursements are anticipated to be made within six months of such expenditures.

(c) The contribution of participants in an alternate retirement program shall be five per cent of salary. The employer contribution for such participants shall be determined from the table below and shall be paid to the separate retirement fund for alternate retirement programs for higher education personnel.

Fiscal Year             Beginning

Percentage To Be PaidOn Contributing Salaries

7-1-75

4.0%

7-1-76

4.4

7-1-77

4.8

7-1-78

5.2

7-1-79

5.6

7-1-80

6.0

7-1-81

6.4

7-1-82

6.8

7-1-83

7.2

7-1-84

7.6

7-1-85 and each year thereafter

8.0

(d) Transfer of appropriated amounts from the General Fund and the applicable special funds to the separate retirement fund for alternate retirement programs for higher education personnel shall be made in the month following the employee contribution.

(e) Any employee who elects or has elected to participate in an alternate retirement program, as defined in subsection (u) of section 5-154, may elect to receive a refund of all contributions made by him into the state employees retirement system in lieu of any pension benefits under said retirement system.

(1949 Rev., S. 387; 1953, S. 176d; 1957, P.A. 315; 349; 595, S. 6; 1958 Rev., S. 5-109, 5-115; 1961, P.A. 234, S. 5; 1967, P.A. 581, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 191, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 51; 662, S. 1; 666, S. 3; P.A. 75-636, S. 3; P.A. 78-341; P.A. 81-343, S. 3, 7; P.A. 83-533, S. 49, 54; P.A. 84-544, S. 3, 8; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-10, S. 2, 20.)

History: 1961 act “restated” state employees retirement act “in a simpler, clearer and more orderly form”; 1967 act provided graduated reductions in payments from fund from 50% of all payments in 1967 to 25% for biennium ending June 30, 1975; 1969 act permitted investment of fund in accordance with law governing trust fund investments; 1971 acts replaced “biennium” with “fiscal year” to reflect change to annual sessions and reduced maximum surplus transferable to retirement fund from $1,500,000 to $750,000 in Subsec. (b), deleted provision concerning investments in accordance with law governing investment of savings bank funds, deleted provisions concerning limits on payments out of fund and deleted Subsec. (b) concerning transfer of surplus into fund; P.A. 75-636 added new Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive, re alternate retirement program for higher education personnel; P.A. 78-341 added provisions in Subsec. (a) concerning contracts with life insurance companies; P.A. 81-343 repealed provision authorizing treasurer to contract with life insurance companies doing business in state re use of retirement fund to purchase pension funding contracts and contracts providing for participation in separate accounts or under which funds become part of company's general account; P.A. 83-533 added Subsec. (e) allowing refund of contributions to participants in alternate retirement programs; P.A. 84-544 amended section to refer to more than one alternate retirement program; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-10 added provision to Subsec. (b) authorizing expenditures from account to exceed appropriation if deficiency is due to reimbursements anticipated to be made within six months of such expenditures.

See Sec. 3-13c re definition of “trust fund”.