Tennessee Code 8-620 – Membership – Contributions – Retirement fund – Benefits
Provided further, that beginning with the period July 1, 1968, any attorney general who is presently not a member of said retirement system and who desires to become a member thereof, may become eligible for membership and receive credit for such service toward his retirement in said system for which he may be eligible, or for any subsequent period he may have become attorney general. Upon electing to become a member, such person shall notify the state treasurer in writing of his intention to become a member, and he shall pay to the state treasurer in a lump sum the total amount of the contributions he would have paid into said retirement system plus interest at the rate of four per cent (4%) per annum, compounded annually, as though he had been a member of said retirement system since he first became eligible, or for any subsequent period he may have become attorney general. Upon joinder, he shall make the required monthly contribution.
From and after April 1, 1963, it shall be mandatory that each person appointed or elected as attorney general become a member of this retirement system, except, the mandatory requirement of this section shall not apply to any assistant attorney general or criminal investigator.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-620
- Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed at regular interest upon the basis of the mortality tables last adopted for such purpose by the board of trustees. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Attorney general: means the attorney general and reporter and any assistant thereto by whatever name known, any district attorney general and any assistant thereto by whatever name called, and any officer or full-time employee of the general assembly or any committee thereof established by statute, who is duly licensed to practice law in Tennessee, whose duty it is to provide facilities for drafting bills or to assist individual legislators in drafting bills or who renders legal advice and services to the members of the general assembly or committees thereof. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Creditable service: means prior service plus membership service, as provided in part 6 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- disabled: means the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve (12) months. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Retirement allowance: means the sum of the member annuity and the state annuity. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
The treasurer shall employ an actuary who shall be the technicial adviser on matters regarding the operation of the fund created by this section and shall perform such other duties as are required by the state treasurer in connection therewith. The fee for his services shall be paid from income received on the investments of the fund.
The retirement system created by §§ 8-618 – 8-622 shall be maintained on an acutarially sound basis with the cost of contributions that would have been made had an acutarially sound contributory system been in effect prior to September 1, 1958, being liquidated by the state over a period of forty (40) years.
On or before the first day of January, next preceding each regular meeting of the general assembly beginning on or after January 1, 1959, the treasurer, on the advice of the actuary, shall certify to the state budget director the amount needed, over and above the amount contributed by the members and the amount received from the litigation tax levied by § 8-622, to make the system actuarially sound as of that date.
The state budget director shall include in the budget an appropriation equal to the amount certified to him by the treasurer to be paid into said retirement fund.
Any member of said retirement system who has reached the age of fifty-four (54) years with ten (10) years creditable service shall be eligible for early retirement. Each member retiring under the early retirement provisions of this section shall receive a monthly retirement benefit payable on the date of a member’s retirement and on the first day of each month thereafter during his lifetime equal to the number of years of service multiplied by three and seventy-five hundredths per cent (3.75%) of his benefit base. The surviving spouse of any member of said retirement system who has met the early retirement provisions of this section and who dies before retirement, shall be entitled to a pre-retirement death benefit. The amount of the death benefit to said surviving spouse shall be a monthly income payable in the same amount as she would have received had the member retired on the day prior to his death and chosen option 2 as set out in subsection I of this section. Any member of said retirement system who has reached the age of seventy (70) years with five (5) years creditable service shall be eligible for retirement.
The surviving spouse of any member of said retirement system who had eighteen (18) years or more of creditable service but died in office subsequent to January 1, 1969, prior to attaining the age of fifty-four (54) years shall be entitled to the same benefit as if the deceased member had attained the age of fifty-four (54) years and had accepted early retirement.
The surviving spouse of any district attorney general who retired from service prior to the establishement of the attorney general retirement system, having served as many as thirty (30) years and who was at least fifty-four (54) years of age at the time of his retirement, shall be paid a benefit equal to one-half (1/2) the monthly retirement allowance that such district attorney general would have been entitled to if he had continued in service and retired under the provisions of this system.
Option 1. Upon his death such reduced benefits shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to such person as he shall have nominated by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the treasurer of the state at the time of his retirement; or
Option 2. Upon his death one-half (1/2) of such reduced benefits shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to such person as he shall have nominated by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the treasurer of the state at the time of his retirement.
Option 3. A joint and survivor benefit in the amount of the normal retirement allowance shall be payable for the life of the retired attorney general and thereafter one-half (1/2) of such amount shall be payable to his widow for life or until her remarriage.
Any attorney general having retired under §§ 8-618 – 8-622, as amended, prior to September 1, 1958, may elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of the retirement allowance now payable to him in the form of a reduced allowance, under the provisions of Option 3, provided such election is made within ninety (90) days after April 24, 1972.
The election of an option shall be null and void if the contingent annuitant dies before benefits commence. If an attorney general has duly designated a contingent annuitant and is eligible to retire at the time of his death, a benefit will be payable to the contingent annuitant as though the attorney general had retired the day before his death.
If an attorney general has not duly designated a contingent annuitant and is eligible at the time of his death to have retired under this attorney general’s retirement system, the benefit will be an amount payable monthly to his widow, if she is then living, for the remainder of her unremarried lifetime, determined in the same way as an Option 1 (joint and survivor) benefit, or the benefit may be a refund of his contributions to the attorney general’s retirement system if the widow so elects.