9-3-434. Definitions.

(a) As used in this act:

(i) "Administrator" means the director of the Wyoming retirement system;

(ii) "Agent group of programs" means a group of retirement programs which shares administrative and investment functions but maintains a separate account for each retirement program so that assets accumulated for a particular program may be used to pay benefits only for that program's participants and beneficiaries;

(iii) "Appropriate grouping of programs" means:

(A) For defined benefit plans, a cost-sharing program or an agent group of programs; and

(B) For defined contribution plans, a group of retirement programs which shares administrative and investment functions.

(iv) "Beneficiary" means a person, other than the participant, who is designated by a participant or by a retirement program to receive a benefit under the program;

(v) "Code" means the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

(vi) "Cost-sharing program" means a retirement program for the employees of more than one (1) public employer in which all assets accumulated for the payment of benefits may be used to pay benefits to any participants or beneficiaries of the program;

(vii) "Defined benefit plan" means a retirement program other than a defined contribution plan;

(viii) "Defined contribution plan" means a retirement program that provides for an individual account for each participant and for benefits based solely upon the amount contributed to the participant's account, and any income, expenses, gains and losses credited or charged to the account and any forfeitures of accounts of other participants that may be allocated to the participant's account;

(ix) "Employee" includes an officer of a public employer;

(x) "Fair value" means the amount that a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for an asset in a current sale, as determined in good faith by a fiduciary;

(xi) "Fiduciary" means a person who:

(A) Exercises any discretionary authority to manage a retirement system;

(B) Exercises any authority to invest or manage assets of a system;

(C) Provides investment advice for a fee or other direct or indirect compensation with respect to assets of a system or has any authority or responsibility to do so; or

(D) Is a trustee or a member of a trustee board.

(xii) "Furnish" means:

(A) To deliver personally, to mail to the last known place of employment or home address of the intended recipient, or, if reasonable grounds exist to believe that the intended recipient would receive it in ordinary course, to transmit by any other usual means of communication;

(B) To provide to the intended recipient's public employer if reasonable grounds exist to believe that the employer will make a good faith effort to deliver personally, by mail, or by other usual means of communication; or

(C) To make available in an electronic format to be sent electronically to the intended recipient or to make available in an electronic format at a designated website.

(xiii) "Governing law" means state and local laws establishing or authorizing the creation of a retirement program or system and the principal state and local laws and regulations governing the management of a retirement program or system or assets of either;

(xiv) "Guaranteed benefit policy" means an insurance policy or contract to the extent the policy or contract provides for benefits in a guaranteed amount. The term includes any surplus in a separate account, but excludes any other portion of a separate account;

(xv) "Insurer" means a company, service, or organization qualified to engage in the business of insurance in this state;

(xvi) "Nonforfeitable benefit" means an immediate or deferred benefit that arises from a participant's service, is unconditional, and is enforceable against the retirement system;

(xvii) "Participant" means an individual who is or has been an employee enrolled in a retirement program and who is or may become eligible to receive or is currently receiving a benefit under the program, or whose beneficiaries are or may become eligible to receive a benefit. The term does not include an individual who is no longer an employee of a public employer and has not accrued any nonforfeitable benefits under that employer's retirement program;

(xviii) "Public employer" means this state or any political subdivision, or any agency or instrumentality of this state or any political subdivision, whose employees are participants in a retirement program;

(xix) "Qualified public accountant" means:

(A) An auditing agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state which has no direct relationship with the functions or activities of a retirement system or its fiduciaries other than:

(I) Functions relating to this act; or

(II) A relationship between the system and the agency's employees as participants or beneficiaries on the same basis as other participants and beneficiaries; or

(B) A person who is an independent certified public accountant, certified or licensed by a regulatory authority of a state.

(xx) "Related person" of an individual means:

(A) The individual's spouse or a parent or sibling of the spouse;

(B) The individual's descendant, sibling or parent, or the spouse of the individual's descendant, sibling or parent;

(C) Another individual residing in the same household as the individual;

(D) A trust or estate in which an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C) has a substantial interest;

(E) A trust or estate for which the individual has fiduciary responsibilities; or

(F) An incompetent, ward or minor for whom the individual has fiduciary responsibilities.

(xxi) "Retirement program" means a program of rights and obligations which a public employer establishes or maintains and which, by its express terms or as a result of surrounding circumstances:

(A) Provides retirement income to employees; or

(B) Results in a deferral of income by employees for periods extending to the termination of covered employment or beyond.

(xxii) "Retirement system" means an entity established or maintained by a public employer to manage one (1) or more retirement programs, or to invest or manage the assets of one (1) or more retirement programs;

(xxiii) "Trustee" means a person who has ultimate authority to manage a retirement system or to invest or manage its assets;

(xxiv) "This act" means W.S. 9-3-433 through 9-3-452.