The State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan shall be administered by the Department of Central Management Services subject to the general supervision of the Illinois State Board of Investment. Participation in such plan shall be by a specific written agreement between each such employee and the State which agreement shall provide for the deferral of such amount of compensation as requested by the employee. With each distribution of compensation to a participating employee, the employee shall receive a memorandum of the amount by which his gross compensation for the period involved is reduced by reason of the deferment of compensation, which amount shall not be included as a part of his gross compensation as to that period.
     Funds retained by the State as deferred compensation pursuant to a written deferred compensation agreement between the State and participating employees, may be invested in such investments as are deemed acceptable by the Illinois State Board of Investment including, but not limited to, life insurance or annuity contracts or mutual funds. All such insurance, annuities, mutual funds, or other such investments utilized under this Plan shall have been reviewed and selected by the Board based on a competitive bidding process as established by such specifications and considerations as are deemed appropriate by the Board. Nothing in this Section should be construed as requiring a limitation on the number and variety of insurance, annuity or mutual fund contracts which may be selected as a result of this bidding process. The State Board of Investment may also invest any funds retained by the State pursuant to a written deferred compensation agreement between the State and participating employees in share accounts or share certificate accounts of State or federal credit unions, the accounts of which are insured as required by The Illinois Credit Union Act or the Federal Credit Union Act, as applicable. If a participating employee fails to direct the investment of amounts deferred into the various investment options offered to the participant, the amounts deferred shall be invested in the Plan’s default investment fund and the investment shall be deemed to have been made at the participant’s investment direction. Any income and gain resulting from the investment of a deferred compensation account may be paid to the participant as additional compensation for continued service during the period of participation or be used in part for administrative expenses, all in accordance with the plan. Such investments and payments shall not be construed to be prohibited uses of the general assets of the State.