161.569 Effect of election to participate -- Payment of benefits -- Taxation and attachment of benefits -- Employer contributions. (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. (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 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.