Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 9 > Chapter 20 - State Optional Retirement Program

• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Ballot measure: means a referendum, proposition, or measure submitted to voters for their approval. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Candidate: means : (a) a person who seeks appointment, nomination for election, or election to a statewide or local office, or authorizes or knowingly permits the collection or disbursement of money for the promotion of his candidacy or election; (b) a person who is exploring whether or not to seek election at the state or local level; or (c) a person on whose behalf write-in votes are solicited if the person has knowledge of such solicitation. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Committee: includes a party committee, a legislative caucus committee, a noncandidate committee, or a committee that is not a campaign committee for a candidate but that is organized for the purpose of influencing an election. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• communication: means (i) any paid advertisement or purchased program time broadcast over television or radio; (ii) any paid message conveyed through telephone banks, direct mail, or electronic mail; or (iii) any paid advertisement that costs more than five thousand dollars that is conveyed through a communication medium other than those set forth in subsections (i) or (ii) of this paragraph. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contribution: means a gift, subscription, loan, guarantee upon which collection is made, forgiveness of a loan, an advance, in-kind contribution or expenditure, a deposit of money, or anything of value made to a candidate or committee to influence an election; or payment or compensation for the personal service of another person which is rendered for any purpose to a candidate or committee without charge, whether any of the above are made or offered directly or indirectly. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Election: means :
  
  (a) a general, special, primary, or runoff election;
  
  (b) a convention or caucus of a political party held to nominate a candidate; or
  
  (c) the election of delegates to a constitutional convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of this State. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Elective office: includes the office of probate judge. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Eligible employee: means :
  
  (a) a person hired on or after July 1, 2001, by an employer as defined in § 9-20-10(1)(a) to fill a permanent full-time position;
  
  (b) a person hired on or after July 1, 2002, by an employer as defined in § 9-20-10(1)(b), (c), or (d) to fill a permanent full-time position;
  
  (c) a person hired on or after July 1, 2003, by an employer as defined in § 9-20-10(1) to fill a temporary position or a part-time permanent position;
  
  (d) a person employed by an employer as defined in § 9-20-10(1) who, as of June 30, 2001, was a participant of the Optional Retirement Program for Teachers and School Administrators or who, as of June 30, 2002, was a participant of the Optional Retirement Program for Publicly Supported Four-Year and Postgraduate Institutions of Higher Education; or
  
  (e) an employee, hired on or after January 1, 2003, by the State or any of its departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions, or institutions who is not covered by the State Employee Grievance Procedure but who is eligible to participate in either the South Carolina Retirement System or the Police Officers Retirement System. See South Carolina Code 9-20-10
• Employer: means :
  
  (a) a school district that receives funding from the State from the annual appropriation to the Department of Education for Aid to School Districts-Employer Contributions in the annual general appropriations act;
  
  (b) a four-year and postgraduate institution of higher education supported and under the control of the State;
  
  (c) a technical college supported and under the control of the State;
  
  (d) the State or any of its departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions, and institutions, provided that such entity does not meet the definition of item (1)(a), (b), or (c) of this section. See South Carolina Code 9-20-10
• Expenditure: means a purchase, payment, loan, forgiveness of a loan, an advance, in-kind contribution or expenditure, a deposit, transfer of funds, gift of money, or anything of value for any purpose. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Immediate family: means :
  
  (a) a child residing in a candidate's, public official's, public member's, or public employee's household;
  
  (b) a spouse of a candidate, public official, public member, or public employee; or
  
  (c) an individual claimed by the candidate, public official, public member, or public employee or the candidate's, public official's, public member's, or public employee's spouse as a dependent for income tax purposes. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Individual: means one human being. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Legislative caucus committee: means :
  
  (a) a committee of either house of the General Assembly controlled by the caucus of a political party or a caucus based upon racial or ethnic affinity, or gender; however, each house may establish only one committee for each political, racial, ethnic, or gender-based affinity;
  
  (b) a party or group of either house of the General Assembly based upon racial or ethnic affinity, or gender;
  
  (c) "legislative caucus committee" does not include a "legislative special interest caucus" as defined in § 2-17-10(21). See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Open enrollment period: means the period from January first to March first of each year. See South Carolina Code 9-20-10
• Participant: means an eligible employee who participates in the optional retirement program provided by this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-20-10
• Party committee: means a committee established by a political party. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Person: means an individual, a proprietorship, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, syndicate, business trust, an estate, a company, committee, an association, a corporation, club, labor organization, or any other organization or group of persons acting in concert. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Political party: means an association, a committee, or an organization which nominates a candidate whose name appears on the election ballot as the candidate of that association, committee, or organization. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Public employee: means a person employed by the State, a county, a municipality, or a political subdivision thereof. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Public official: means an elected or appointed official of the State, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision thereof, including candidates for the office. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Transfer: means the movement or exchange of funds or anything of value between committees and candidates except the disposition of surplus funds or material assets by a candidate to a party committee, as provided in this article. See South Carolina Code 8-13-1300
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.