35-1320. Service award benefit program; summary; information to participants; statement required; public records.

(1) Any city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district conducting a service award benefit program shall, within thirty days after the adoption of a program, provide all volunteers providing its local political subdivision with emergency response services with a summary of the program's provisions, including the program's provisions relating to participation and the applicable standard criteria for qualified active service, the manner in which nonforfeitable interests in annual accounts are obtained, the amount of all contributions to the annual account, and any other information relating to participation in the program. The city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district shall provide copies of the summary to all new volunteer members and to any applicant for membership to the volunteer department.

(2) Any summary of a program's provisions provided pursuant to this section shall include the following statement and such additional explanation as is deemed appropriate by the sponsoring city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district: Due to definitive interpretations of the relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, in order to insure that funds deposited on behalf of a participant are not taxable to the participant in that or any subsequent year in which they are nonforfeitable, any funds held by a city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district on behalf of qualifying program participants will be subject to the claims of creditors of the city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district conducting the program in the event of the insolvency or bankruptcy of that city, village, or district.

(3) Any material modification to the program shall be provided in writing to all participants within thirty days after its adoption by the city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district.

(4) No later than December 1 of each year following the end of the first full year of service after the adoption of a service award benefit program, the city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district shall provide to each participant listed in the certification list for that year of service a summary and copy of the relevant documents relating to the contributions to the annual account for such year of service. By December 1 of each subsequent year, the city, village, or rural or suburban fire protection district shall provide each participant who appears for the first time in the certification list for the immediately preceding year of service with the same information.

(5) All documents relating to any program, the certification lists, the annual accounts, the investment of the funds of the annual accounts, the contributions to the account and the income derived therefrom, and the identity of the administrator of the annual accounts shall be public records within the meaning of section 84-712.01.

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