40.80 State deferred compensation plan.

(1) The deferred compensation board shall select and contract with deferred compensation plan providers to be used by state agencies for providing deferred compensation plans to state employees.

(2) The deferred compensation board shall:

(a) Determine the requirements for and the qualifications of the deferred compensation plan providers.

(b) Approve the terms and conditions of the proposed contracts for administrative and investment services.

(c) Determine the procedure for the selection of the deferred compensation plan providers.

(d) Approve the terms and conditions of model salary reduction agreements which shall be used by each state agency.

(e) Require as a condition of the contractual agreements entered into under this section that approved deferred compensation plan providers shall provide service to state agencies only as approved by the deferred compensation board.

(f) Require as a condition of the contractual agreements entered into under this section that the deferred compensation plan providers shall reimburse the department, to be credited to the administrative account of the public employee trust fund in s. 40.04 (2), for any costs incurred directly or indirectly by the department in soliciting, evaluating, monitoring and servicing deferred compensation plans.

(g) Serve as trustee of any deferred compensation plan established under this section, hold the assets and income of the plan in trust for the exclusive benefit of the employees who participate in the plan and their beneficiaries, and maintain the plan as an eligible deferred compensation plan, as defined in section 457 (b) of the Internal Revenue Code, and as a governmental plan for eligible employers, as defined in section 457 (e) (1) (A) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(2g) The deferred compensation board may accept timely appeals of determinations made by the department affecting any right or benefit under any deferred compensation plan provided for under this section.

(2m) The deferred compensation board shall promulgate rules establishing procedures, requirements and qualifications for offering deferred compensation plans to state employees in addition to the deferred compensation plans offered by deferred compensation providers selected and contracted with under sub. (2).

(2r)

(a) In this subsection, “domestic relations order" means a judgment, decree, or order issued by a court pursuant to a domestic relations law of any state or territory of the United States that does all of the following:

1. Relates to a marriage that terminated after December 1, 2001.

2. Assigns all or part of a participant's accumulated assets held in a deferred compensation plan under this subchapter to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent to satisfy a family support or marital property obligation.

3. Names the deferred compensation plan established under this subchapter and is submitted to the deferred compensation plan provider selected under sub. (1).

4. Satisfies the requirements established by the deferred compensation board under par. (c).

(c) The deferred compensation board shall prescribe the requirements for a domestic relations order and the administrative procedure for dividing an account in the deferred compensation plan established under this subchapter. The requirements shall be included in any deferred compensation plan and trust document approved by the deferred compensation board.

(d) The deferred compensation board and any member or agent thereof, the department and any employee or agent thereof, and the deferred compensation plan provider selected under sub. (1) are immune from civil liability for all of the following:

1. Any act or omission while performing official duties relating to implementing a domestic relations order under this subsection.

2. Any act or omission of a participant with respect to the participant's account under a deferred compensation plan, including specifically any deferral or investment election or distribution, during the period that begins on the day on which the participant's marriage is terminated by a court and ends on the day on which his or her account is divided pursuant to a domestic relations order.

(2t) The deferred compensation board may require a deferred compensation plan under this subchapter, upon election by a participant who is an eligible retired public safety officer, to allow for the deduction of insurance premiums for health or long-term care insurance coverage from an amount distributed from a participant's account and for the payment of the premiums directly to an insurer.

(3) Any action taken under this section shall apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement under subch. V of ch. 111.

History: 1981 c. 187; 1989 a. 13, 31, 336; 1991 a. 152; 1995 a. 27; 2003 a. 160; 2005 a. 150; 2007 a. 131, 226; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 10; 2013 a. 20; 2017 a. 59.

Sub. (2m) requires the establishment of rules for alternative or supplemental deferred compensation plans, but does not require that any such plans be offered. 79 Atty. Gen. 168.