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A.  The system shall establish a Deferred Retirement Option Plan Account which shall be a part of the system fund.  This account shall not be subject to any fees, costs, or expenses of any kind.

B.(1)  The system shall maintain subaccounts within this account reflecting the credits attributed to each participant in the plan, but the monies in the account shall remain a part of the fund until disbursed to a participant in accordance with the plan provisions.

(2)  Any retiree who received a qualified hurricane distribution prior to January 1, 2007, pursuant to the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 or the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, may contribute all or part of such qualified hurricane distribution within three years from the date on which such qualified hurricane distribution was received, but only to the extent that such qualified hurricane distribution was eligible for tax-free rollover treatment.

(3)  Repealed by Acts 2007, No. 50, §2, eff. June 18, 2007.

C.  Interest shall not be credited to a participant’s subaccount during the period of participation.  With respect to any individual who was eligible to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan prior to January 1, 2004, all amounts which remain credited to the individual’s subaccount after termination of participation in the plan shall be credited with interest after the end of each fiscal year at a rate equal to the realized return on the system’s portfolio for that fiscal year as certified by the system actuary in his actuarial report, less one-half of one percent.  With respect to any individual who becomes eligible to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan on or after January 1, 2004, all amounts which remain credited to the individual’s subaccount after termination of participation in the plan shall be placed in liquid asset money market investments at the discretion of the board of trustees. Such subaccounts may be credited with interest at the actual rate of return earned on such subaccount investments less one-fourth of one percent per annum; or at the option of the system, the funds may be credited to subaccounts as herein established:

(1)  The contributing period shall mean that time period when funds are being credited to the participant’s subaccount which is maintained by the system.

(2)  After the contributing period ends the balance of the subaccount then may be transferred to a self-directed subaccount, which shall be known as the investment period. Both subaccounts shall be within the Deferred Retirement Option Plan established herein. Management of the funds shall be by the system during the contributing period. When the funds are transferred to the self-directed subaccount for the investment period, the system is authorized to hire a third party provider.  The third party provider shall act as an agent of the system for purposes of investing balances in the self-directed subaccounts of the participant as directed by the participant.  The participant shall be given such options that comply with federal law for self-directed plans.

(3)  The participant in the self-directed portion of this plan agrees that the benefits payable to the participant are not the obligations of the state or the system, and that any returns and other rights of the plan are the sole liability and responsibility of the participant and the designated provider to which contributions have been made.  Furthermore, each participant, in accordance with this provision, shall expressly waive his rights as set forth in Article X, Section 29(A) and (B) of thethe Louisiana Constitution as it relates to his subaccount in the self-directed portion of the plan.  By participating in the self-directed portion of the plan, the participant agrees that he and the provider shall be responsible for complying with all applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.  The participant also agrees that if any violation of the Internal Revenue Code occurs as a result of the participant’s participation in the self-directed portion of the plan, it shall be the sole responsibility and liability of the participant and the provider, not the state or the system.  There shall be no liability on the part of and no cause of action of any nature shall arise against the state, the system, or its agents or employees, for any action taken by the participant for choices the participant makes in relationship to the funds in which he chooses to place his subaccount balance.

Acts 1991, No. 62, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 17:645.2 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §5, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1993, No. 973, §1, eff. Jan.  1, 1994; Acts 2001, No. 959, §1, eff. June 27, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 1172, §1, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 962, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004; Acts 2007, No. 50, §§1, 2, eff. June 18, 2007; Acts 2008, No. 714, §1, eff. July 1, 2009, or sixty days after a final judgment, whichever is later; Acts 2013, No. 220, §28, eff. June 11, 2013.

NOTE:  See Acts 2001, No. 959, §2 and Acts 2001, No. 1172, §2 (1st) relative to implementation of these Acts.

NOTE:  See Acts 1999, No. 943, §2, relative to remedial nature of Act and retroactive application to July 1, 1995.

NOTE:  See Acts 2001, No. 1172, §2 (2nd) relative to funding and accountability and see Acts 2001, No. 1172, §3 relative to nonseverability.