Title 38 — Public Officers and Employees

A. If more than the correct amount of employer or member contributions is paid into the system by an employer through a mistake of fact, the board shall return those contributions to the employer if the employer requests return of the contributions within one year after the date …

A. A member shall be eligible for a normal pension on retirement on or after the member's normal retirement date. Payment of a normal pension shall commence as of the first day of the month following the date of retirement, and the last payment shall be made as of the last day of…

A member of the system does not have vested rights to benefits under the system, except as provided in section 38-854, until he files an application for benefits and is found eligible for those benefits as provided in this article. An eligible claimant's rights to benefits vest o…

A. A deferred retirement option plan is established for those employees who become members of the system before January 1, 2012. The purpose of the deferred retirement option plan is to add flexibility to the system and to provide members who elect to participate in the deferred …

A. Any member who is eligible for a normal pension pursuant to section 38-844, subsection A, who becomes a member of the system before January 1, 2012 and who has at least twenty years of credited service is eligible to participate for not more than sixty consecutive months in th…

A. A member may terminate participation in the deferred retirement option plan by voluntarily terminating employment at any time before the completion of the deferred retirement option plan participation period designated by the member on the appropriate deferred retirement optio…

A. A deferred retirement option plan participation account is an account established within the system on behalf of each deferred retirement option plan participant. All benefits accrued pursuant to this article shall be accounted for in the deferred retirement option plan partic…

A. Beginning on the day after the date the member elects to participate in the deferred retirement option plan, employee and employer contributions pursuant to section 38-843 cease with respect to that member. B. A member who elects to participate in the deferred retirement optio…

A. A member who elects to participate in the deferred retirement option plan shall designate a beneficiary. A member's beneficiary designation applies to all amounts in the member's deferred retirement option plan participation account. B. If a designated beneficiary predeceases …

A. On the simultaneous termination of deferred retirement option plan participation and employment, a member is entitled to receive all of the following: 1. The monthly retirement allowance in the amount determined pursuant to section 38-845 that was credited monthly to the membe…

The deferred retirement plan option shall not jeopardize in any way the tax qualified status of the system under the rules of the internal revenue service. The board may adopt additional provisions to the extent necessary or appropriate for the deferred retirement option plan to …

(Rpld. 1/1/28) Notwithstanding the age and service requirements prescribed in section 38-844.03, an employer may approve, for a member of the public safety personnel retirement system who is participating in the deferred retirement option plan on the effective date of this sectio…

A. A member who meets the requirements for a normal pension, who becomes a member of the system before January 1, 2012 and who has twenty years of credited service shall receive a monthly amount that equals fifty percent of the member's average monthly benefit compensation. If th…

A. The maximum annual pension for a limitation year shall not exceed the following: 1. For limitation years beginning before 1995, the lesser of ninety thousand dollars, as indexed for inflation, or one hundred per cent of the member's average monthly benefit compensation. 2. For…

The board shall not make a retroactive payment of a pension to a person that is more than one hundred eighty days before the date of the person's application for benefits.

Members who are hired on or after July 1, 2017 and who have earned at least fifteen years of credited service may retire at fifty-two and one-half years of age and will receive an actuarially equivalent retirement benefit to the benefit amount prescribed in section 38-845, subsec…

A. The surviving spouse of a deceased retired member shall be paid a surviving spouse's pension if the spouse was married to the member for a period of at least two consecutive years at the time of the member's death. Payment of a surviving spouse's pension shall commence as of t…

A. If any member who has at least ten years of credited service terminates employment for reasons other than retirement or disability, the member may elect to receive a deferred annuity, except that if the annuitant withdraws all or part of the annuitant's accumulated contributio…

A. On termination of employment for any reason other than death or retirement, within twenty days after filing a completed application with the board, a member who becomes a member of the system before January 1, 2012 is entitled to receive the following amounts, less any benefit…

A. A surviving spouse whose pension was terminated by reason of remarriage is entitled to reinstatement of the surviving spouse's pension if the surviving spouse is otherwise qualified for a surviving spouse's pension and applies for reinstatement with the public safety personnel…

A. A member who received a severance refund on termination of employment as provided in section 38-846.02, who is subsequently reemployed by an employer and who may have redeposited the amount withdrawn with interest as provided in section 38-849 or a member who redeems prior ser…

B. For members who are determined eligible for a normal retirement benefit pursuant to section 38-844, an amount equal to the actuarial present value of future benefit payments, calculated as of the member's retirement date, shall be transferred from the employer's account to the…

B. A member's beneficiary who is not the member's spouse may elect to directly roll over all or part of an eligible rollover distribution from the system on the death of the member under the same terms and conditions as apply to a member or the member's surviving spouse beneficia…

A. To the extent outlined in this section, the administration of the system and responsibility for making the provisions of the system effective for each employer are vested in a local board. The department of public safety, the Arizona game and fish department, the department of…

A. Each employee of an eligible group shall participate in the plan on proper determination of eligibility for membership by the local board pursuant to section 38-847, subsection D. B. The employer shall provide to the local board all necessary information to render a decision o…

B. The consolidated local board shall work with the board of trustees to ensure that the new board is duly empaneled consistent with the representation outlined in section 38-847, subsection A and that all appointments or elections for local board members are completed in a timel…

B. After a local board has made a determination on the application, or the application is deemed granted pursuant to section 38-847, subsection D, paragraph 3 or section 38-893, subsection D, paragraph 2 for disability benefits or in the line of duty death benefits, the administr…

B. For the purposes of this section, "employer" and "member" have the same meanings prescribed in section 38-842 or 38-881.

A. The board of trustees shall consist of nine members and shall have the rights, powers and duties that are set forth in this section. The term of office of members shall be five years to expire on the third Monday in January of the appropriate year. The board shall select a cha…

A. The board may establish a qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement for the sole purpose of enabling the board to continue to apply the same formula for determining benefits payable to all employees covered by the system whose benefits under the system are limited by s…

A. On or before December 1 of each year, the board of trustees shall provide to the legislature and the joint legislative budget committee and shall post on its website the shared cost structure of employees and employers, the funding status and the rate of return. The report to …

A. The board may appoint investment management. Investment management shall have: 1. The highest professional and fiduciary recommendations. 2. Not less than three years' experience at handling institutional investments of at least two hundred fifty million dollars. This paragrap…

A. The board and any other fiduciary of the system shall discharge their duties: 1. Solely in the interest of the members and beneficiaries. 2. For the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to members and beneficiaries and paying reasonable expenses in administering the plans a…

A. If a member is convicted of, or discharged because of, theft, embezzlement, fraud or misappropriation of an employer's property or property under the control of the employer, the member shall be subject to restitution and fines imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction. The…

A. Nothing contained in the system shall be construed as a contract of employment between an employer and any employee, or as a right of any employee to be continued in the employment of an employer, or as a limitation of the rights of an employer to discharge any of its employee…

A. This state, any municipality, county or other political subdivision of the state, any Indian tribe or any public or quasi-public organization created wholly or partly by, or deriving its powers from, the legislature, may request to become a participating employer in the system…

The employer contributions and the securities in the several funds provided for in this article shall be exempt from state, county and municipal taxes. Employee and employer contributions that are withdrawn from the system after December 31, 1974 by a public officer or employee f…

From and after the effective date of this section, all benefits now or hereafter received pursuant to this article or prior retirement systems shall not be reduced because of any payment received as benefits under the federal old age and survivors insurance system.

A member who terminates employment with an employer and accepts a position with the same or another employer participating in the system, after completing an application that is acceptable to the board, shall have the member's credited service transferred to the member's record w…

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, an active member of the system who has at least five years of service with the system may elect to redeem up to sixty months of any part of the following prior service or employment by paying into the system any amounts requi…

A member who purchases service pursuant to this article or section 38-922 or 38-924 shall make payments directly to the system in whole or in part by any one or a combination of the following methods: 1. In lump sum payments. 2. Through an arrangement with the system that the pay…

A. An employee covered under the prior systems set forth in sections 9-912 to 9-934, inclusive, and in sections 9-951 to 9-971, inclusive, or prior statutes amended thereby and antecedent thereto, and covered under such prior systems on June 30, 1968, and who becomes a member of …

A member who changes employment or transfers or is assigned to a position in which such member is no longer eligible to be a member of this system, because of a change in duties or otherwise, with the same or another public employer of this state maintaining a retirement program …

A. For members hired on or before June 30, 2017, each retired member or survivor of a retired member is eligible to receive a compounding cost-of-living adjustment in the base benefit as provided in this section. The first payment under this section shall be made immediately foll…

A. For members who are hired on or after July 1, 2017, each eligible retired member or survivor of a retired member may receive a compounding cost-of-living adjustment in the base benefit as provided in this section. B. A retired member or survivor of a retired member is eligible…

A. On notification, the board shall pay from the assets of the separate account established pursuant to subsection G of this section part of the single coverage premium of any group health and accident insurance for each retired member or survivor of the system who receives a pen…

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, a member of the system who has at least five years of service with the system may receive credited service for periods of active military service performed before employment with the member's current employer if: 1. The membe…

A. The purposes of a medical board are to: 1. Identify a physical or mental condition or injury that existed or occurred prior to the member's date of membership in the system and for which benefits may otherwise be limited by section 38-844, subsection D. 2. Evaluate a member's …

A. Notwithstanding any other law, in a judicial proceeding for annulment, dissolution of marriage or legal separation that provides for the distribution of community property, or in any judicial proceeding to amend or enforce such a property distribution, a court in this state ma…

A. Any future benefit increase adopted by the legislature or any participating employer for any member of the system shall be fully paid in the year of enactment of the benefit and may not be amortized over any period of years. A benefit for members hired before July 1, 2017 shal…