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A.  The membership of the retirement system shall be composed as follows:

(1)(a)(i)  Except as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 11:2252(12), and except as provided further in this Paragraph, any person who becomes an employee as defined in La. Rev. Stat. 11:2252 on and after January 1, 1980, shall become a member as a condition of his employment.

(ii)  However, no person who has attained age fifty or over shall become a member of the system, unless the person becomes a member by reason of a merger or unless the retirement system received his application for membership before he attained the age of fifty.  No person who has not attained the age of eighteen years shall become a member of the system.

(b)(i)  Except as otherwise provided in Item (ii) of this Subparagraph, the mandatory membership provisions of this Paragraph shall be inapplicable with respect to any municipality, parish, or fire protection district which on or before January 1, 1980, enacts an ordinance exempting the municipality, parish, or fire protection district from the provisions of this Paragraph, which ordinance is hereby authorized.

(ii)  Subject to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:2260(A)(11)(h), the mandatory membership provisions of this Paragraph shall apply to the municipality, parish, and fire protection districts in and for the parish of East Baton Rouge with respect to firefighter employees meeting the definition of “employee” under the provisions of this Chapter when the boards of trustees of this retirement system and of the Baton Rouge City Parish Employees’ Retirement System enter into an agreement to merge any members of the latter system, who qualify as employees under the provisions of this Chapter, into this system.  However, any such agreement shall only be effective upon ratification by ordinance of the Metropolitan Council of the city of Baton Rouge and the parish of East Baton Rouge, with the approval of the mayor-president, and subsequent approval by the Joint Legislative Committee on Retirement.

(2)(a)  Any person who has retired from service under any retirement system or pension fund maintained basically for public officers and employees of the state, its agencies or political subdivisions, and who is receiving retirement benefits therefrom may become a member of this system, provided he meets all other requirements for membership.  Service credit from the retirement system or pension plan from which the member is retired shall not be used for reciprocal recognition of service with this retirement system, or for any other purpose in order to attain eligibility or increase the amount of service credit in this retirement system.

(b)  Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, any person who has retired from service with a disability pension from any retirement system or pension fund maintained basically for public officers and employees of the state, its agencies or political subdivisions, and who is receiving disability retirement benefits therefrom shall not be eligible for membership in this system.

(3)(a)  Any person who is an employee as the term is defined in La. Rev. Stat. 11:2252 on the date that the retirement system is established, except those specifically excluded under Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, may become a member at any time, provided he files with the board of trustees on a form prescribed by such board, a notice of his election to be covered in the membership of the system and completes the necessary forms which may be required by the board.  The board shall not approve any credit for prior service.

(b)  Any person who is an employee as the term is defined in La. Rev. Stat. 11:2252, who is also a member of any other retirement system in Louisiana when this Chapter takes effect, may elect to cease to be a member in such fund after the effective date of this Chapter and then become a member of the new system, and have credit in each system recognized under the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:142.

B.  Should any member, after becoming a member, be absent from service for more than eighteen months and not be entitled to a deferred annuity as provided in this Chapter, or should he withdraw his accumulated contributions, or should he become a beneficiary or die, he shall thereupon cease to be a member.

C.(1)(a)  Notwithstanding the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:2252(10) and (11), any full-time firefighter or any person in a position as defined in the municipal fire and police civil service system who is employed by one of the following fire protection districts may, with the approval of the Metropolitan Council and the City-Parish Employees’ Retirement Board, become members of the Firefighters’ Retirement System:

(i)  St. George Fire Protection District No. 2.

(ii)  Brownsfield Fire Protection District No. 3.

(iii)  Central Fire Protection District No. 4.

(iv)  Eastside Fire Protection District No. 5.

(v)  East Baton Rouge Fire Protection District No. 6.

(vi)  Chaneyville Fire Protection District No. 7.

(vii)  Pride Fire Protection District No. 8.

(viii)  Alsen-St. Irma Lee Fire Protection District No. 9.

(b)(i)  The reassignment of membership provided in this Paragraph shall be treated as a merger subject to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:2260(A)(11)(b), except that the transaction shall be subject to the approval of the House and Senate committees on retirement meeting jointly.

(ii)  Such merger shall be accomplished by having the transferring system transfer funds to the Firefighters’ Retirement System in accordance with the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:143(C) and the aggregate amount of funds transferred to the Firefighters’ Retirement System shall not be less than sixty percent of the accrued liability assumed.

(iii)  The difference between the total accrued liability assumed and the actual funds transferred shall be allocated to the Firefighters’ Retirement System from the fund established in La. Rev. Stat. 22:1476(A) for the merger of retirement systems and funds with this system.

(iv)  The benefit accrual rate applicable to all service transferred pursuant to this Subsection shall be three and one-third percent.

(2)  Any person who becomes employed on or after January 31, 2002, by any fire protection district set forth in Subparagraph (1)(a) of this Subsection shall become a member of this system.  The reassignment of the membership of any person who became employed on or before January 30, 2002, and whose membership is reassigned on or after January 31, 2002, pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall not be treated as a merger, but shall be executed on an actuarial basis and shall be subject to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 11:143, unless such a person’s written application for such reassignment was received by the system on or before January 30, 2002.

D.  In any case of doubt, the board of trustees shall be the sole judge as to eligibility for membership.

Acts 1979, No. 434, §1; Acts 1980, No. 178, §1; Acts 1982, No. 169, §1; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 33:2153 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Amended by Acts 1992, No. 455, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 757, §1; Acts 1995, No. 830, §1; Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 76, §1, eff. July 1, 1996; Acts 1997, No. 1218, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 1997, No. 1220, §1; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 15, §1, eff. April 24, 1998; Acts 1999, No. 1320, §1, eff. July 12, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 719, §1, eff. June 27, 2003; Acts 2006, No. 492, §1, eff. July 1, 2006; Acts 2006, No. 562, §1, eff. June 23, 2006; Acts 2008, No. 415, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.