07 LC 21
9497
House
Bill 837
By:
Representatives Bridges of the
10th,
Mumford of the
95th,
and Maxwell of the
17th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 2 of Title 47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the Employees´ Retirement System of Georgia, so as to provide that no
person shall become or again become a member of such retirement system on or
after July 1, 2008; to provide a short title; to provide that such employees
shall have accounts in the state deferred compensation plan; to provide for an
employer contribution; to provide that such employees shall not be entitled to
participate in any other public retirement system; to provide for rules and
regulations; to provide conditions for an effective date and automatic repeal;
to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
2 of Title 47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
Employees´ Retirement System of Georgia, is amended by adding at the end of
Article 4 a new Code section as follows:
"47-2-74.
(a)
This Code section shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia State Employee
Savings Plan.'
(b)
As used in this Code section, the term 'deferred compensation plan' means the
deferred compensation plan offered by the state for public employees pursuant to
Article 2 of Chapter 18 of Title 45, as now or hereafter amended, utilizing
either Section 401(k) or Section 457(j) of the federal Internal Revenue Code or
a substantially similar savings plan.
(c)
Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, no person who again
becomes an employee of an employer on or after July 1, 2008, and who does not
have a vested right to reinstatement in this retirement system and no person who
first becomes such an employee on or after July 1, 2008, shall be a member of
this retirement system.
(d)
The board of trustees shall ensure that each employee subject to the provisions
of this Code section has an account in the deferred compensation plan. Each
employee shall be given the option of participating in the Section 401(k) plan
or the Section 457(j) plan, but if no option is made the employee shall be
deemed to have selected the Section 401(k) plan.
(e)
Each employer shall deposit into the employee´s account an employer
contribution in an amount not to exceed 9 percent of the employee´s salary.
Such amount shall be deposited on the last day of each month and shall be
calculated in the employee´s total compensation for the month in which the
contribution is made. Each participant shall have a vested right to employer
contributions immediately upon deposit.
(f)
Employees subject to the provisions of this Code section shall be entitled to
coverage by federal Social Security provisions in the same manner as members of
the Employees´ Social Security Coverage Group established by Code Section
47-2-71.
(g)
The board of trustees shall have the responsibility of administering the
provisions of this Code section and shall promulgate such rules and regulations
as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Code
section."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2008, only if it is determined to have
been concurrently funded as provided in Chapter 20 of Title 47 of the Official
Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Public Retirement Systems Standards Law";
otherwise, this Act shall not become effective and shall be automatically
repealed in its entirety on July 1, 2008, as required by subsection (a) of Code
Section 47-20-50.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.