Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 9 > Chapter 9 - Retirement System for Members of General Assembly

• Accumulated contributions: shall mean the member's aggregate contributions, together with regular interest thereon. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Actuarial equivalent: shall mean a benefit of equal value when computed on the basis of the tables and regular interest rate last adopted by the Board, as provided in § 9-9-30. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Aggregate contributions: shall mean the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member of the System, or directly remitted by him to the System, and credited to his individual account in the System. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Beneficiary: shall mean any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided by the System. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contingent beneficiary: Receiver of property or benefits if the first named beneficiary fails to receive any or all of the property or benefits in question before his (her) death.
• Credited service: shall mean service for which credit is allowable as provided in § 9-9-50. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Date of establishment: shall mean January 1, 1966. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Division: means the Human Resource Management Division of the Department of Administration. See South Carolina Code 8-11-700
• Earnable compensation: means forty times the daily rate of renumeration, plus twelve thousand dollars, of a member of the General Assembly, as from time to time in effect. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Employee annuity: shall mean annual payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of a member. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Employer annuity: shall mean annual payments for life derived from money provided by the State. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Employing agency: means the agency in which the leave recipient is employed. See South Carolina Code 8-11-700
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Leave recipient: means an employee of an employing agency who has a personal emergency and is selected to receive annual or sick leave from the pool leave account of his employing agency. See South Carolina Code 8-11-700
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Member of the System: shall mean any person included in the membership of the System, as set forth in § 9-9-40. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Personal emergency: means a catastrophic and debilitating medical situations, severely complicated disabilities, severe accident cases, family medical emergencies or other hardship situations that are likely to require an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and to result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the unavailability of paid leave. See South Carolina Code 8-11-700
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Regular interest: shall mean interest compounded annually at such rate as shall be determined by the Board in accordance with § 9-9-30. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Retirement allowance: shall mean monthly payments for life under the System payable as provided in § 9-9-80. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
• State: shall mean the State of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• System: shall mean the Retirement System for members of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 9-9-10
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.