Title 24 — Retirement and Pensions

(a) For purposes of determining benefits under this chapter, all credited service, whenever earned, of persons employed as wildlife officers of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission on July 4, 1983, and of persons thereafter employed in such positions prior to July 1, 1997,…

(a) The right of a person to an annuity, to the return of accumulated contributions, the annuity itself, any annuity option, any other right accrued or accruing under the provisions of § 24-4-101 et seq., and all moneys belonging to a plan shall not be subject to execution, garni…

All records kept by an Arkansas public retirement system, whether required to be kept by law or board policy, shall be open to public inspection as provided in § 25-19-105, except that individual member's records which are kept for the purpose of compiling information for the mem…

(a) For purposes of determining benefits under this chapter, all credited service, whenever earned, of persons employed as civilian firefighters of the State Military Department or Department of the Military as of July 1, 1997, and of persons thereafter employed in those position…

(1) As used in this act:(1) “Accumulated contributions” means the sum of all amounts deducted from the compensations of a member and credited to his or her individual account in the member's deposit account, together with regular interest as may have been credited thereon;(2) “Ac…

A person who knowingly makes a material false statement or who materially falsifies or permits to be materially falsified any record in an attempt to defraud the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System as the result of such an act upon conviction is guilty of a Class D felon…

(a) There is created and established a retirement system for the employees of the State of Arkansas and participating public employers to be known as the “Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System”. (b) All business of the system shall be transacted through a board of trustees…

(a) The administration and control of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall be vested in a board called the “Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System”. (b) The board shall consist of the following members:(1) The Auditor of State, the…

(a) (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall hold meetings regularly, at least one (1) meeting in each quarter year, and shall designate the time and place of the meeting.(2) Special meetings may be held in accordance with such rules as …

(a) (1) (A) Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, it is considered sound public policy to limit contributions by public employers to one (1) state-authorized retirement plan. Accordingly, effective July 1, 1999, employers participating in the Arkansas Public Employees' …

The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall present to the Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs information concerning the statutory authority and actuarial appropriateness of proposed board actions to establish or …

(a) (1) It shall be considered sound public policy to encourage public employees in the State of Arkansas to participate in the development and growth of their individual retirement benefits.(2) In order that the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System continues to maintain …

(a) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall promulgate rules as it deems necessary from time to time in order to fully comply with federal requirements that may affect the members or the members' benefits under this subchapter. (b) In meeti…

A.C.A. § 24-4-110Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) A public employee, as defined in § 24-4-101(18), first hired on or after July 1, 2005, is subject to the benefit provisions of this subchapter. (b) (1) (A) A public employee who remains an active member of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System may elect coverage un…

(a) (1) The contributions of a member shall be five percent (5%) of the member's annual compensation and shall be placed in the member's deposit account as provided in § 24-4-401.(2) Interest shall be paid on accumulated member contributions at the rate of two percent (2%) per an…

(a) (1) Upon retirement under this subchapter, a member shall receive a straight life pension equal to two and three-hundredths percent (2.03%) of the member's final average compensation multiplied by the number of years and any fraction of a year of the member's service for each…

Before the date the first payment of a member's annuity is due, a member may elect to receive the annuity as a straight life annuity or as one (1) of the reduced annuity options provided in § 24-4-606.

(a) Any member or former member with sufficient years of actual service to qualify for a vested termination annuity who has not attained normal retirement age may retire with an early annuity provided in § 24-4-510(a). (b) In the event a member with five (5) or more years of actu…

(a) In the event a retirant receiving a straight life pension dies before the retirant has received an aggregate amount of straight life pension payments equal to the accumulated contributions credited in the retirant's deposit account at the time of retirement, the difference be…

(a) Each July 1 the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall redetermine the amount of each monthly benefit that has been payable by the system for at least twelve (12) calendar months. The redetermined amount is payable for the following twelve (12) calendar months. (b…

(a) (1) If an active member or former member with less than five (5) years of actual service dies while employed by a covered employer, the member's accumulated contributions and interest are refundable to the named beneficiary.(2) If no designated person survives the member, the…

(a) Benefits paid under this chapter shall not exceed the limitations of 26 U.S.C. § 415 of the Internal Revenue Code that are applicable to governmental retirement plans. (b) (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System is authorized to promulgat…

A.C.A. § 24-4-111Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) There is established on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration a fund to be known as the “Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System Fund”.(2) This fund shall consist of trust funds as…

(a) (1) On or after July 1, 2017, the state employer contributions made by a state agency which employs each member provided for in § 24-2-701 shall be:(A) Reported electronically by the state agency through the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System portal; and(B) Paid by …

The promulgation of this chapter shall constitute an offer by the state to serve as trustee for the funds collected under the provisions of this chapter, as well as a guarantee that the disbursement thereof shall be in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and that none …

(a) (1) Whenever the General Assembly shall enact any laws which create additional eligibility or liabilities for county constitutional officers or for county employees or municipal employees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System and the Board of Trustees of the Ark…

(a) (1) The Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System and other employees shall make bonds to cover their liability for the faithful performance of their duties, from time to time as provided for by law.(2) The cost of the bonds shall be paid from mon…

(a) (1) If, at the end of any fiscal year, the total of the annuities paid during the fiscal year from the State Division of the retirement reserve account is more than twelve percent (12%) of the sum of the balances in the State Division of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirem…

(a) At the end of each fiscal year, the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System may allow the crediting of interest at an amount to be determined on the balance at the beginning of the fiscal year in the members' deposit account and the employers' ac…

(a) (1) On July 1, 1979, the actuary for the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall make a determination of the amount necessary to be collected on a monthly basis during the ensuing one hundred twenty (120) months to set up the Retirement Reserve Fund for all persons…

Any hospital excluding its employees from the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System and receiving a return of any funds as provided in § 24-4-302(3) shall immediately invest the funds in a retirement system or plan for the employees of the hospital.

Nothing in this chapter shall be taken or interpreted as a waiver of the state's sovereign immunity.

A decision on whether to invest, not invest, or withdraw from investment the funds of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall not be based on a consideration that the location of the investment, fund, company, or any other type of investment vehicle is in the State…

(a) (1) Beginning July 1, 2027, and thereafter, a sum shall be transferred each fiscal year from the Judges Retirement Fund to the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System as necessary for costs incurred by the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System in administering the…

(a) (1) Except as set forth in this subsection, all state employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(18) and (46), shall become members of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System as a condition of employment.(2) (A) (i) (a) A person who is first elected as a member of the Gener…

(1) All counties in this state shall be subject to the provisions of this act as participating public employers, and all counties shall, from and after July 30, 1959, include their employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(15), (18), and (28), in the membership of the Arkansas Public E…

(a) (1) (A) Any municipality may elect to become a participating public employer and to cover its employees under the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System either by a three-fifths (⅗) vote of its governing body or by a majority vote of the qualified voters of the municipa…

(a) (1) (A) When a member is no longer employed in a position covered by the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, he or she shall thereupon cease to be a member.(B) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, upon termination of his or her membership, a member's credit…

A.C.A. § 24-4-305Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) The members' deposit account shall be the account in which members' contributions shall be accumulated with interest as stipulated by § 24-4-209(a) and from which shall be made transfers and refunds of contributions or accumulated contributions as provided in this act.(2)…

(a) (1) The employers' accumulation account shall be the account in which shall be accumulated the contributions made by public employers to the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System.(2) Upon the retirement of a member, the difference between the member's annuity reserve a…

(a) (1) Any member of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System who became a member of the system on July 1, 1957, in the case of a state employee, or who became a member of the system on July 1, 1959, in the case of a county employee, and who was continuously employed by …

(a) (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall determine, by appropriate rules consistent with the provisions of this chapter, the amount of service to be credited any member for any fiscal year.(2) (A) For periods of time prior to July 1,…

(a) Any member may voluntarily retire upon his or her written application filed with the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System setting forth at what time, not less than thirty (30) days nor more than ninety (90) days subsequent to the execution and…

A.C.A. § 24-4-509Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) (A) Any member or former member with sufficient years of actual service to qualify for a vested termination annuity who has not attained his or her normal retirement age may retire with an early annuity provided for in subsection (b) of this section upon his or her writte…

(a) (1) (A) (i) Except for members of the General Assembly who need at least ten (10) years of actual service, any active member with five (5) or more years of actual service, including actual service for at least eighteen (18) of the twenty-four (24) calendar months immediately …

(1) Any member of the County Division of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System may, upon application and submission of proper proof to the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, receive credit for any service rendered a public employer, …