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Alaska Statutes.

Title 14. Education, Libraries, and Museums

Chapter 25. Teachers' Retirement

Section 590. Definitions.

AS 14.25.590. Definitions.

In AS 14.25.310 - 14.25.590, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) "administrator" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(2) "alternate payee" means a person entitled to a portion of the distribution from an individual account under a qualified domestic relations order;

(3) "annuitant" means a member, beneficiary, or alternate payee who is receiving a benefit under this plan;

(4) "beneficiary" means the person or persons entitled to receive benefits that may be due from the plan upon the death of the member or alternate payee;

(5) "board" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(6) "calendar year" has the meaning given in AS 39.35.680 ;

(7) "compensation"

(A) means

(i) the total remuneration earned by an employee for personal services rendered, including cost-of-living differentials, as reported on the employee's Federal Income Tax Withholding Statement (Form W-2) from the employer for the calendar year;

(ii) the member contribution to the teachers' retirement system under AS 14.25.340 ;

(B) does not include retirement benefits, severance pay or other separation bonuses, welfare benefits, per diem, expense allowances, workers' compensation payments, payments for leave not used whether those leave payments are scheduled payments, lump-sum payments, donations, or cash-ins, any remuneration contributed by the employer for or on account of the employee under this plan or under any other qualified or nonqualified employee benefit plan, or any remuneration not specifically included above that would have been excluded under 26 U.S.C. 3121(a) (Internal Revenue Code) if the employer had remained in the Federal Social Security System;

(C) notwithstanding (B) of this paragraph, includes any amount that is contributed by the employer under a salary reduction agreement and that is not includible in the gross income of the employee under 26 U.S.C. 125, 132(f)(4), 402(e)(3), 402(h)(1)(B), or 403(b) (Internal Revenue Code); the annual compensation limitation for the member, which is so taken into account for those purposes, may not exceed $200,000, as adjusted for the cost of living in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(17)(B) (Internal Revenue Code), with the limitation for a fiscal year being the limitation in effect for the calendar year within which the fiscal year begins;

(8) "dependent child" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(9) "distribution commencement date" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.440(a);

(10) "employer" means a public school district, the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska, the Department of Education and Early Development, or the regional resource centers;

(11) "fund" means the assets of the plan;

(12) "individual account" means the total maintained by the plan in an investment account within the trust fund, established for each member for the purposes of allocation of the member's contributions, employer contributions on behalf of the member, and earnings credited to each of those contributions, investment gains and losses, and expenses, as well as reporting of the member's benefit under the plan;

(13) "Internal Revenue Code" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(14) "investment funds" means those separate funds that are provided within and that make up the trust fund and that are established for the purpose of directing investment through the exercise of the sole control of a member, beneficiary, or alternate payee under the terms of the plan and trust agreement;

(15) "limitation year" means the year for which contributions are made to a member's individual account as reported to the Internal Revenue Service under the limits described in 26 U.S.C. 415(c);

(16) "member" means an employee of an employer or a former employee of an employer who retains a right to benefits under the plan;

(17) "membership service" means full-time or part-time employment with an employer in the plan;

(18) "normal retirement age" means the age set for Medicare eligibility at the time the member retires;

(19) "participant" means the person who has a vested right to an individual account, such as a member, an alternate payee if the account is subject to a qualified domestic relations order, the member's beneficiary if the member is deceased, or an alternate payee's beneficiary if the alternate payee is deceased;

(20) "plan" means the retirement benefit plan established under AS 14.25.310 - 14.25.590;

(21) "prudent investment standard" means the degree of care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims;

(22) "qualified domestic relations order" means a divorce or dissolution judgment under AS 25.24, including an order approving a property settlement, that

(A) creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to, or assigns to an alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of the individual account, or the benefits payable with respect to a member;

(B) sets out the name and last known mailing address, if any, of the member and of each alternate payee covered by the order;

(C) sets out the amount or percentage of the member's benefit, or of any survivor's benefit, to be paid to the alternate payee, or sets out the manner in which that amount or percentage is to be determined;

(D) sets out the number of payments or period to which the order applies;

(E) sets out the retirement plan to which the order applies;

(F) does not require any type or form of benefit or any option not otherwise provided by AS 14.25.310 - 14.25.590;

(G) does not require an increase of benefits in excess of the amount provided by AS 14.25.310 - 14.25.590; and

(H) does not require the payment, to an alternate payee, of benefits that are required to be paid to another alternate payee under another order previously determined to be a qualified domestic relations order;

(23) "retiree" means an eligible person who has elected to receive the medical benefits under AS 14.25.480 ;

(24) "retirement fund" or "fund" means the fund in which the assets of the plan, including income and interest derived from the investment of money, are deposited and held;

(25) "school year" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(26) "system" has the meaning given in AS 14.25.220 ;

(27) "teacher" and "member" are used interchangeably under AS 14.25.310 - 14.25.590 and mean a person eligible to participate in the plan and who is covered by the plan, limited to

(A) a certificated full-time or part-time elementary or secondary teacher, a certificated school nurse, or a certificated person in a position requiring a teaching certificate as a condition of employment in a public school of the state, the Department of Education and Early Development, or the Department of Labor and Workforce Development;

(B) a full-time or part-time teacher of the University of Alaska or a person occupying a full-time administrative position at the University of Alaska that requires academic standing; the approval of the administrator must be obtained before an administrative position qualifies for membership in the plan; however, a teacher or administrative person at the university who is participating in a university retirement program under AS 14.40.661 - 14.40.799 is not a member under this plan;

(C) a full-time or part-time instructor of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development;

(28) "year of service" means service during the dates set for the school year; partial-year service credit is given for membership service as follows:

(A) during any school year,

(i) less than nine days, no credit;

(ii) nine days or more but less than 27 days, 0.1 years;

(iii) 27 days or more but less than 45 days, 0.2 years;

(iv) 45 days or more but less than 63 days, 0.3 years;

(v) 63 days or more but less than 81 days, 0.4 years;

(vi) 81 days or more but less than 100 days, 0.5 years;

(vii) 100 days or more but less than 118 days, 0.6 years;

(viii) 118 days or more but less than 136 days, 0.7 years;

(ix) 136 days or more but less than 154 days, 0.8 years;

(x) 154 days or more but less than 172 days, 0.9 years;

(xi) 172 days or more, 1.0 years;

(B) service performed on a part-time basis of half time or more shall be credited in proportion to the amount of credit that would have been received for service performed on a full-time basis.