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A.(1)(a)  The state of Louisiana, through the Office of Group Benefits, and each of its governmental and administrative subdivisions, departments, or agencies of the executive, legislative, or judicial branches, and the governing boards and authorities of each state university, college, or each public elementary and secondary school system in this state are authorized to:

(i)  Procure private contracts of group life and group accidental death and dismemberment insurance covering their respective employees, officials, and department heads or any class or classes thereof, and the dependents of such employees, officials, or department heads; or

(ii)  Adopt, administer, or operate or contract for all or a portion of the administration, operation, or both, of a self-funded program for that purpose.

(b)  Each such private contract or self-funded program, the premiums of which are paid in whole or in part with state funds, shall be approved by the Office of Group Benefits; except that any city or parish school board may enter into such private contract or self-funded program without approval.  The employee or retiree eligibility provided in such private contract or self-funded program must be identical to the eligibility provided in the Office of Group Benefits programs.

(c)  The contribution by the state or any other entity herein enumerated in all cases shall not be less than fifty percent of the total premium out of funds contributed by the state.

(2)  The contributions of employees, officials, or department heads to the premiums for such benefits may be deducted by the employer from the salaries of the employees, officials, or department heads when authorized in writing by the respective persons.  However, the amount paid toward the premium by the state or any of its governmental and administrative subdivisions, departments, or agencies and the governing boards and authorities of each state university, college, or public elementary and secondary school system, or of any other agency or subdivision of the public school system of the state, shall be subject to the approval of the office.

(3)  No reductions of state contributions shall be made on contracts heretofore written and continued in force, and, in addition, the premiums shall be paid out of funds appropriated for the purpose and included in the respective budgets of the state or other entity.

(4)(a)  Nothing herein shall be construed as limiting the authority of the office to adopt, administer, or operate or to contract for all or a portion of the administration, operation, or both of a self-funded program.

(b)  Under any such self-funded program the board, for purposes of establishing rates and premiums, may group risks into one or more classifications.  The rates and premiums adopted for each classification shall take into consideration the loss experience in the classification as well as other relevant factors.  The rates so fixed shall not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory and shall be uniform within each classification.

(5)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, nothing herein shall be construed to exclude city and parish school board members from eligibility for participation as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 17:1223.

(6)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any eligible entity which elects to participate in the health and accident insurance coverage as provided in Part III of Chapter 12 of Title 42 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 shall also participate in the group life insurance coverage as provided in this Part.

B.(1)  For the purposes of this Section, teachers and all other school board employees and those former employees now retired shall be considered state employees and shall be entitled to participate in the Office of Group Benefits programs if no local group policy or program is in effect for school board employees.  If a local group policy is in effect for school board employees, those employees may participate in a state employee group policy or program only if a majority of the insured group vote to dissolve their local group policy participation and participate in a state employee group plan; however, any school board desirous of participating in said group policy or program shall meet the participation requirements established by the office.

(2)  School boards may pay from local funds any portion of the cost of the group policy.

(3)  Nothing in this Section shall be construed to require any school board to use local funds to pay all or any portion of the cost of the group policy for participating former employees now retired.

C.  Each retiree who was a member of the Office of  Group Benefits programs or its predecessor prior to retirement and who had life insurance coverage for a dependent spouse prior to retirement shall be allowed to retain dependent life insurance coverage for the dependent spouse after retirement in the amount of one thousand, two thousand, or four thousand dollars at the option of the employee, without regard to age.

Acts 2001, No. 767, §1, eff. June 26, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 1178, §5, eff. June 29, 2001.

NOTE:  See Acts 2001, No. 767, §3.