(1) An eligible employer may join the System in January of any year. Application for affiliation shall be in the form of a resolution approved by the governing or legislative body of the eligible employer or by any other body or officer authorized by the law or recognized by the Board to approve such resolution or action; provided, that no county hospital, city or town, circuit engineering district or any public or private trust in which a county, city or town participates and is the primary beneficiary shall become a participating employer except by the adoption of a resolution therefor, unless otherwise provided in this act. Upon the filing of a certified copy of such resolution with the Board, the employer shall become a participating employer on January 1 of the year immediately following the filing of such election with the Board. Such election shall be final and irrevocable and any employer now or hereafter participating in the System shall not be permitted to withdraw from the System under any circumstances, including a change in legal identity of such employer, where the purpose and functions of such employer remain essentially the same as at the time of filing of entry into the System. Provided, however, any hospital joining the System during the period commencing December 1, 1989, and ending January 31, 1990, or during the period commencing December 1, 1971, and ending January 31, 1972, shall be permitted to withdraw from the System by the adoption of resolution therefor by the hospital board of control. However, no member hospital of the System shall be allowed to withdraw from the System until such hospital has satisfied all current obligations to the System. Upon the filing of a certified copy of such resolution with the Board and upon the Board's determining that arrangements have been made for the payment of all financial obligations, if any, due the System by such withdrawing hospital, such hospital shall cease to be a participating employer on the first day of the month immediately following such determination and the filing of such resolution with the Board. The employees of any such hospital withdrawing from the System shall have such rights as are provided by Section 912.1 of this title. Any hospital that withdraws under the provisions of this act shall be responsible for the payment of any actuarial cost required as a result of such withdrawal. Provided, however, any county having a population of less than four hundred thousand (400,000), according to the latest Federal Decennial Census, shall become a participating employer on January 1, 1974, notwithstanding any other provision of statute.

(2) The State of Oklahoma, in its capacity as an eligible employer shall become a participating employer on the first entry date and thereafter on the entry date immediately following the creation of any state agency not now in existence.

(3) From and after the passage of this act no county hospital, or county or state governmental agency, shall institute a retirement system other than as provided for in this act, except as to any other supplemental retirement plans otherwise expressly provided for by law.

Added by Laws 1963, c. 50, § 10, emerg. eff. May 6, 1963. Amended by Laws 1967, c. 394, § 1, emerg. eff. May 23, 1967; Laws 1968, c. 219, § 1, emerg. eff. April 23, 1968; Laws 1968, c. 400, § 5, emerg. eff. May 17, 1968; Laws 1970, c. 296, § 2, emerg. eff. April 28, 1970; Laws 1973, c. 279, § 3, emerg. eff. May 30, 1973; Laws 1976, c. 207, § 2, emerg. eff. June 7, 1976; Laws 1979, c. 285, § 4, eff. July 1, 1979; Laws 1980, c. 317, § 3, eff. July 1, 1980; Laws 1982, c. 319, § 2, operative July 1, 1982; Laws 1985, c. 300, § 3, emerg. eff. July 24, 1985; Laws 1986, c. 238, § 4, operative July 1, 1986; Laws 1988, c. 284, § 8, operative July 1, 1988; Laws 1989, c. 199, § 1, eff. July 1, 1989; Laws 1990, c. 340, § 33, eff. July 1, 1990; Laws 1992, c. 376, § 14, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1996, c. 96, § 1, eff. July 1, 1996; Laws 1997, c. 315, § 1, eff. July 1, 1997; Laws 2004, c. 325, § 2, eff. July 1, 2004.