(a) No person employed or reemployed by Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut Institute for the Blind on or after January 1, 1993, shall become a member of the state employees retirement system. Persons actively employed by Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut Institute for the Blind on December 31, 1992, who were members of the state employees retirement system on that date, shall continue to be members of such system. Service with Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut Institute for the Blind performed on and after January 1, 1993, shall be credited under the state employees retirement system for only those individuals who are both members of the state employees retirement system and employed on a continuous basis by each such institution on and after December 31, 1992.

(b) Any individual employed by Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut School for the Blind on or before December 31, 1992, who subsequently retires and receives benefits from the state employees retirement system shall be eligible for coverage under the group hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plans procured by the Comptroller pursuant to section 5-259. When an individual who qualifies for coverage under this subsection dies, his contingent annuitant and the dependents of his contingent annuitant shall each be entitled to coverage under the state's group hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plans, provided each was a dependent for health insurance purposes of the retiree on his date of death.

(c) Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 66 or subsection (f) of section 5-278, any member of the state employees retirement system who was a permanent full-time employee on April 1, 1992, of Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut Institute for the Blind shall be eligible to receive the incentive years set forth in subsection (d) of this section, provided: (1) He retires on an early or normal retirement on July 1, 1992, following his submission of a retirement application to the Retirement Commission; and (2) he has completed at least ten years of service for retirement purposes, composed of employment at a state-aided institution specified in subsection (a) of section 5-175 or actual state service or any combination thereof, prior to the effective date of his retirement, exclusive of the incentive years described in subsection (b) of this section, and has attained age fifty-two on or before July 1, 1992. In no event shall the early retirement incentive program be available to: (A) Applicants for disability retirement; or (B) members whose employment at Newington Children's Hospital, the American School for the Deaf or the Connecticut Institute for the Blind terminated earlier than June 30, 1992.

(d) A member who meets the eligibility requirements of subsection (c) of this section shall have three incentive years added to his service credit for retirement purposes, provided if the applicant on the date of either early or normal retirement has not attained age fifty-five, the portion of the three years necessary to reach age fifty-five will be added to the member's age with the remainder applied to his service credit. The additional service credit shall be considered actual full-time state service for all purposes under chapter 66 except for the calculation of the salary used to compute the retirement benefit.

(June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-10, S. 4, 20; P.A. 92-226, S. 22, 28.)

History: P.A. 92-226 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision prohibiting membership in state employees retirement system for persons employed or reemployed by Newington Children's Hospital on or after July 1, 1991, to delete provision that employees who were members on July 1, 1991, shall continue membership until establishment by hospital of qualified defined pension plan, but not later than September 1, 1991, to add provision prohibiting membership in system for persons employed or reemployed by Newington Children's Hospital, American School for the Deaf or Connecticut Institute for the Blind on or after January 1, 1993, to add provision that persons employed by such institutions on December 31, 1992, who were members of retirement system on such date shall continue to be members and to add provision that service with such institutions performed on and after January 1, 1993, shall be credited under retirement system for only those individuals who are both members of system and employed on a continuous basis by such institution on and after December 31, 1992, deleted former Subsecs. (b) and (c) re state contribution to qualified plan, payout of accumulated benefit obligation and payment of accrued benefits and added new Subsec. (b) re insurance coverage and new Subsecs. (c) and (d) re early retirement incentive program.