Title 38 — Public Officers and Employees

A. Beginning January 1, 2014, employers shall contribute the percentage of the gross compensation of all of the members under their employment so that the total employer contributions equals the amount that the board determines is necessary to pay one-half of all benefits under a…

A. Employer contributions shall be a percentage of gross compensation for each member, as the system actuary determines pursuant to this section. The actuary shall make this determination in an annual valuation performed as of June 30. The valuation as of June 30 of a calendar ye…

A. In determining eligibility for and continuation of a disability benefit and computing the amount available to a member, the board shall follow the same procedures and methods as prescribed in section 38-806, except that an elected official who no longer holds office must apply…

If any change or error in the records results in any member receiving from the EODC disability program more or less than the member would have been entitled to receive if the records had been correct, the board shall correct the error and shall adjust the payments in a manner so …

[Repealed or reserved.]

1. A contract of employment between an employer and any employee. 2. A right of any member to continue in the employment of an employer. 3. A limitation of the rights of an employer to discharge any of its employees, with or without cause. B. A member does not have any right to, …

B. Interest, earnings and all other credits on monies in the EODC disability program trust fund are not subject to execution or attachment and are nonassignable.

[Repealed or reserved.]

[Repealed or reserved.]

If the legislature determines that the EODC disability program is no longer to be operated for the purposes set forth in this article, any monies remaining in the EODC disability program trust fund after paying all liabilities of the program or after making adequate provision for…

A. Before the establishment of the public safety personnel retirement system, municipal firemen and policemen, employees of the Arizona highway patrol and other public safety personnel in the state of Arizona were covered under various local, municipal and state retirement progra…

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Accidental disability" means a physical or mental condition that the local board finds totally and permanently prevents an employee from performing a reasonable range of duties within the employee's job classification an…

A. An employee who is hired on or after July 1, 2017 and who was not an active, an inactive or a retired member of the system or a member of the system with a disability on June 30, 2017 is eligible to participate in the system or the public safety personnel defined contribution …

A. The public safety employer risk pool is established for members hired on or after July 1, 2017 and consists of, for actuarial purposes in the system and to determine contribution rates pursuant to section 38-843, any employer of an eligible group that has on May 1, 2017 two hu…

1. Has entered into a written agreement with the employee's employer before July 1, 2031 to work part-time for a period of not more than three years due to a specified qualifying event. 2. Has not worked as a part-time employee for the purposes of this section for more than six y…

A. Each employer that participates in the system on behalf of a group of employees who were covered under a prior public retirement system, other than the federal social security act, shall transfer all securities and monies attributable to the taxes and contributions of this sta…

Each employer shall pick up the contributions required of members on account of compensation paid after the effective date specified in the resolution of the board activating the provisions of this section. The picked up contributions shall be treated as employer contributions fo…

The legislature intends that the system is a qualified pension plan under section 401 of the internal revenue code, as amended, or successor provisions of law, and that the trust is exempt from taxation under section 501 of the internal revenue code, as amended. The assets of the…

Because the system as enacted at a particular time is a unique amalgam of rights and obligations having a critical impact on the actuarial integrity of the system, the legislature intends that the system as enacted at a particular time be construed and applied as a coherent whole…

A. The annual compensation of each member taken into account for purposes of the system shall not exceed the following: 1. Beginning January 1, 1996 through December 31, 2001, $150,000. 2. Except for members who are hired on or after July 1, 2017, beginning January 1, 2002, $200,…

A. An employer shall pay contributions at an alternate contribution rate on behalf of a retired member who returns to work in any capacity in a position ordinarily filled by an employee of the employer of an eligible group, unless the retired member is required to participate in …

All distributions required under this article shall be determined and made pursuant to section 401(a)(9) of the internal revenue code and the regulations that are issued under that section by the United States secretary of the treasury.

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.