Title 24, Retirement and Pensions

(a) All obligations purchased or received shall be held in trust for the use and benefit of the system, which trust shall be subject only to the right of the board of trustees to sell or otherwise dispose of the obligations as provided in the various plans. (b) No purchase or rec…

(a) (1) The various retirement system funds, as established in the State Treasury, are created and constituted trust funds.(2) All assets of the various funds, both cash and securities, shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the respective boards of trustees and shall be he…

All assets and income of any retirement system of a city or other political subdivision of the State of Arkansas shall be held, invested, or disbursed for the exclusive purpose of providing for benefits, investment management, and administrative expenses and shall not be encumber…

(1) As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Eligible retirement system” means the retirement system in which the employee is eligible for membership;(2) “Employer” means an employing state agency or an employing school district; and(3) “Retirement s…

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this subchapter, all employees of the State of Arkansas or any of its political subdivisions who are members or become members of a state retirement system shall be members of the retirement system indicated in this section as foll…

(a) Any employee who was erroneously enrolled in a state retirement system before January 1, 1979, and whose contributions have not been refunded prior to March 26, 1979, shall continue to be a member of the retirement system of record. (b) The member shall receive service credit…

(a) (1) When it is discovered by an employee, employer, or a state retirement system that an employee became erroneously enrolled in a state retirement system on or after January 1, 1979, the employee may elect to remain a member of the retirement system of record or may become a…

Other provisions of this subchapter to the contrary notwithstanding, a school janitor, bus driver, or cafeteria worker who is enrolled in one (1) of those positions as a member of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System and later is promoted to a position as school maint…

(1) Any member of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System who is erroneously enrolled in the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System because of concurrent enrollment in another state-funded or state-authorized retirement system, other than Social Security, due to se…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Deferred retirement option plan” means an option for retirement under a reciprocal system whereby the retirement system members, in lieu of terminating employment, can continue with employment with covered employers and can accept a service ret…

(a) (1) A member who maintains deferred service credit in one (1) or more reciprocal systems may combine the deferred service credit with service credit earned under a reciprocal system to meet the separate eligibility requirements for receiving a monthly retirement benefit under…

(a) The date a member's annuity, if any, becomes payable by each reciprocal system shall be determined by those provisions in force for each reciprocal system. (b) In no case shall any annuity become payable nor be paid prior to the date the member retires from, and ceases to be,…

(a) The boards of trustees of the reciprocal systems may enter into an agreement whereby the reciprocal system from which a member retires shall be the disbursing system for his or her annuities payable, as provided in this subchapter, by the other reciprocal systems. (b) The agr…

(a) A member of a reciprocal system with five (5) or more years of credited service in two (2) or more reciprocal systems shall be eligible to apply for disability benefits from each reciprocal system in which he or she has credited service. (b) Each reciprocal system shall make …

(a) No benefit enhancement provided for by this subchapter shall be implemented if it would cause the publicly supported retirement system's unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities to exceed a thirty-year amortization. (b) No benefit enhancement provided for by this subchapter sha…

In establishing credited service under this subchapter, persons who receive credited service pursuant to § 24-4-101(18)(B)(xiii) for dual full-time employment in the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System and the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System under the pr…

(a) (1) Any member of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System established by § 24-8-201 et seq. shall be entitled to receive free credited service in the system for a period of not to exceed two (2) years for service rendered by him or her in the United States Armed Forces during…

(a) Any person who is or was a member of a state-supported retirement system in this state and who was not receiving benefits under the system on July 9, 1975, shall be entitled to purchase credited service in the system for a period not to exceed five (5) years for service rende…

(a) As used in this section, “armed forces reserve” means a reserve component of the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States Marine Corps, United States Space Force, or United States Coast Guard. (b) (1) A member of the Arkansas Public Emplo…

(a) An active member of the state retirement system who is called to active military duty or state active military duty shall be afforded all employment protections as provided in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq., as in effec…

(a) (1) In the case of a member who dies while performing qualified military service, including state active military duty, on or after January 1, 2011, and who otherwise would have been entitled to reemployment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Righ…

(a) All investments of the retirement systems covered by this subchapter shall be in strict compliance with the provisions of this subchapter. (b) The term “trust” as used in this subchapter refers to the following Arkansas retirement systems:(1) The State Police Retirement Syste…

(a) The boards of trustees of the State Police Retirement System, the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System, and the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall have full power t…

(a) In the event of default in payment of the principal or interest of any investment obligation held by any state retirement system where the issuer of the obligation receives moneys from the state, the default shall be certified by the board of the respective system to the Trea…

Except as to the rights of a member, retirant, or beneficiary, no trustee and no officer or employee of the board of any state retirement system shall have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the gains or profits of any investment made by the respective board. Nor shall any …

(a) The boards of trustees of the respective retirement systems shall provide for a blanket fidelity bond of one million dollars ($1,000,000) covering the employees of the systems or such others as may be responsible for administering the funds. (b) The boards may pay the premium…

(a) The Treasurer of State shall be the legal custodian of the securities of the respective retirement systems. However, the systems may deposit with the Treasurer of State, in lieu of securities, safekeeping receipts or evidence of federal bookkeeping entries. (b) The financial …

(a) In addition to the various retirement systems funds established as trust funds in the State Treasury, a bank trust fund or funds may be established and maintained in such depository bank or banks as may be designated by the boards of trustees of the respective retirement syst…

(a) In acquiring, investing, reinvesting, exchanging, retaining, selling, and managing funds held by each of the trusts, fiduciaries administering the systems shall manage the funds so as to favorably impact the economic condition of and maximize capital investment in the State o…

(a) The boards of trustees of the various state retirement systems are authorized to register stocks, bonds, notes, and other securities held by and for the systems in the name of a designated nominee. (b) Such action as is necessary to establish a nominee and a nominee agreement…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, trustees who invest and manage trust assets owe a duty to the beneficiaries of the trust to comply with the prudent investor rule set forth in §§ 24-2-610 — 24-2-619. (b) (1) The prudent investor rule, a default …

(a) Trustees shall invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would, by considering the purposes, terms, distribution requirements, and other circumstances of the trust. In satisfying this standard, the trustees shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution. (b) Th…

Trustees shall diversify the investments of the trust unless the trustees reasonably determine that, because of special circumstances, the purposes of the trust are better served without diversifying.

(a) Within a reasonable time after accepting a trusteeship or receiving trust assets, trustees shall review the trust assets and make and implement decisions concerning the retention and disposition of assets in order to bring the trust portfolio into compliance with the purposes…

Trustees shall invest and manage the trust assets solely in the interest of the members and benefit recipients of the trust.

If a trust has two (2) or more beneficiaries, the trustees shall act impartially in investing and managing the trust assets, taking into account any differing interests of the beneficiaries.

(a) In investing and managing trust assets, trustees may only incur costs that are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the assets, the purposes of the trust, and the skills of the trustee. (b) Trustees may delegate investment functions to an agent that a prudent trustee of …

Compliance with the prudent investor rule is determined in light of the facts and circumstances existing at the time of the trustees' decisions or actions and is not determined by hindsight.

(a) Trustees may delegate investment and management functions that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances. The trustees shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution in:(1) Selecting an agent;(2) Establishing the scope and term…

(1) The following terms or comparable language in the provisions of a trust, unless otherwise limited or modified, authorizes any investment or strategy permitted under this subchapter:(1) “Investments permissible by law for investment of trust funds”;(2) “Legal investments”;(3) …

(a) The general financial objective of each Arkansas public employee retirement plan shall be to establish and receive contributions that, expressed as percentages of active member payroll, will remain approximately level from generation to generation of state citizens. More spec…

(a) Each Arkansas public employees' retirement system shall have an annual financial audit performed by Arkansas Legislative Audit and prepared in accordance with the financial accounting and reporting standards set forth for public pension plans by the Governmental Accounting St…

(a) The assets of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, the State Police Retirement System, the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System, the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System, and the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System are exempt from taxes by the state …

(a) In the event of any structural reorganization of state government operations, all current employees, appointees, trustees, and commissioners of any affected agency, board, or commission shall remain associated with the state-supported retirement system that existed for them a…

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “State Government Employee Retirement Protection Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Fiduciary” means a person who, with respect to a pension benefit plan:(A) Exercises any discretionary authority or discretionary control regarding the management of the pension benefit plan or exercises any authority or control regarding the ma…