Title 24, Retirement and Pensions

(a) As used in this section, “private school service” means service rendered in a private school or agency that would have been covered by the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System if the service had been:(1) Rendered in a public school; and(2) The private school or agency:(A) Has p…

(a) A benefit enhancement provided for by this act shall not be implemented if it would cause the publicly supported retirement system's unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities to exceed an eighteen-year amortization. (b) A benefit enhancement provided for by this act shall not be…

(a) As used in this section, “armed forces reserve” means one (1) of the reserve components 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 Arkansa…

(a) As used in this section, “domestic federal service” means service rendered as a teacher or administrator in any school or similar institution located on a military base or installation that is administered by the United States Department of Defense. (b) On and after January 1…

(a) A member who purchases service credit in the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System shall pay the actuarial equivalent of both the employee and employer contributions, as calculated by the system. (b) (1) If a member has an existing service purchase account with the system before…

(a) A member of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System may purchase permissive service credit for one (1) or more gap periods if the member:(1) Has five (5) years of actual service in the system;(2) Has left his or her position as a classroom teacher immediately before each nonco…

(a) (1) (A) Except as provided under subdivision (a)(2) of this section, an active member who either attains sixty (60) years of age and has five (5) or more years of actual and reciprocal service or who has twenty-eight (28) or more years of credited service regardless of age ma…

(a) (1) (A) Except as provided under subdivision (a)(2) of this section, an active or inactive member who has a combined total of twenty-five (25) or more years of actual and reciprocal service, including purchased or free credited service, but has not attained sixty (60) years o…

(a) (1) (A) An active member in employer service with five (5) or more years of actual and reciprocal service who becomes totally and permanently physically or mentally incapacitated for his or her job duties as a result of a personal injury or disease may be retired by the Board…

(a) (1) (A) (i) For a member who is retired or who is in the Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan as of June 30, 2013, the multipliers used at the time of retirement or entry into the Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan shall remain the multipliers used to calculate the me…

(a) (1) Before the date the first payment of his or her annuity becomes due, a member may elect to receive his or her annuity as a straight life annuity, or he or she may elect to receive the actuarial equivalent, at that time, of his or her straight life annuity in a reduced ann…

(a) (1) (A) If an active member becomes inactive before the member reaches sixty (60) years of age and completes five (5) years of actual and reciprocal service or if the member has not obtained a refund or participated in a buyout plan of the member's rights to benefits in the A…

(a) Effective July 1, 2009, after terminating employment under § 24-7-502 or reaching the normal retirement age, a retiree may:(1) Accept employment with an employer covered by the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System without a limitation of his or her retirement annuity; and(2) Co…

(a) (1) If a retiree and his or her option annuitants, if any, die before receiving annuity payments equal to the retiree's residue, then the residue shall be paid to one (1) or more beneficiaries nominated by the retiree in a written designation that is executed and filed with t…

(a) (1) If an active member with five (5) or more years of actual and reciprocal service, including credited service for the year immediately preceding his or her death, dies before the receipt of retirement benefits from the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, then the benefits …

(a) (1) If a member discontinues covered employment and does not plan to be rehired by a covered employer, the member may elect to be paid a refund of his or her contributions and regular interest credited to the member's deposit account within six (6) months following the date t…

Any member last terminating teacher service before July 1, 1973, shall receive, or shall have paid on his or her behalf, benefits in accordance with the benefit program in effect at the time of retirement.

(a) (1) July 1 of each year, retirees, survivors, participants in the Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan, and annuity beneficiaries who have been receiving monthly benefits for the previous twelve (12) months shall receive a simple cost of living adjustment.(2) The cost of l…

(a) The monthly retirement benefit payable to retirees and beneficiaries of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System who were retired on or before July 1, 1978, and who were receiving benefits on July 1, 1979, shall be increased as follows:(1) For all benefits to retirees and benef…

(a) As used in this section, “pension assignee” means an individual or entity that is not a designated beneficiary and:(1) Is assigned some or all of a benefit participant’s pension benefits by the benefit participant; or(2) Claims an interest in, or control over, a benefit parti…

(a) For an increase in benefit formulas to be effective, the regular annual actuarial valuation for the calendar year immediately preceding the effective date of the increase shall be based upon an investment rate assumption as recommended by the system's actuary as financially s…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Direct rollover” means a payment by the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System to the eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee;(2) (A) “Distributee” includes a member or former member.(B) The member's or former member's surviving spouse a…

(a) (1) (A) If an active member, T-DROP participant, or a retired member with five (5) years of actual service, including actual service for the year immediately preceding the member's death, dies before July 1, 2007, then one (1) lump-sum death benefit of up to ten thousand doll…

(a) A benefit enhancement provided by § 24-7-702 shall not be implemented if it would cause unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System to exceed an eighteen-year amortization. (b) If the system's unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities exceed …

If a person employed in a public school district of this state has received an actual salary reduced below the contract salary due to military service or other government service, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System shall compute retirement benefits based upon the contract sal…

(a) (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System may compound the cost of living adjustment for all retirees and participants in the Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan who have received a monthly retirement benefit for the prior twelve-month period.(2)…

(a) (1) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System is authorized to raise the level of benefit to the current retirees and other beneficiaries of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.(2) The board may raise the level of benefit to a comparable level increas…

The base amount in § 24-7-713 will be adjusted at the same time a benefit increase is granted to active members under § 24-7-728.

(a) (1) (A) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter regarding the required dates of distribution of benefits under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System to former members, the distribution of a former member's benefits under the system shall in any event be made or beg…

Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter, any forfeitures arising from severance of employment, death, or for any other reason shall not be applied to increase the benefit any member would otherwise receive under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System at any time prior t…

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter, members' accrued benefits under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System shall be one hundred percent (100%) vested:(1) To the extent those benefits are then funded, in the event there is a partial or complete termination of th…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter, benefits paid under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System shall not exceed the limitations of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 415, that are applicable to governmental retirement plans, including without limitation…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subchapter, each member and each beneficiary of a deceased member shall file with the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System from time to time in writing the post office address and each change of post office add…

(a) A member shall not accumulate service credit in the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System during the time that payments under a contract buyout agreement, settlement, claim, judgment, arbitration award, decree, or court-ordered payment are paid to the member by the employer unle…

(a) Compensation in excess of the limitations set forth in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(17), as it existed on January 1, 2011, shall not be used for purposes of calculating final average salary on which benefits under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement Syste…

(a) If a member who has been on disability retirement with the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System returns to regular, covered employment and then returns to disability retirement with the system, the disability retirement benefit shall be the higher of the:(1) Amount that the mem…

(a) A member who designates a person or the parent or legal guardian of a person who is designated as a beneficiary of an annuity or benefit under § 24-7-706, § 24-7-709, § 24-7-711, or § 24-7-720 may elect to have the annuity or benefit paid to a special needs trust that is esta…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Alternate retirement plan” means a retirement plan based on the purchase of contracts providing retirement and death benefits for the employees of Arkansas State University, the Division of Higher Education employees, and employees of Arkansas'…

Insofar as the provisions of this subchapter are, or may be, inconsistent with the provisions of any other general or special act, the provisions of this subchapter shall be controlling.

(a) The board of any college and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board may establish and maintain an alternate retirement plan which shall authorize the purchase of contracts providing retirement and death benefits for staff members and employees of the Division of Hig…

(a) An alternate retirement plan may be a separate system or fund or may be one which participates in a larger system or fund with respect to some or all of the benefits provided thereunder. (b) The benefits to be provided for or on behalf of staff members and employees of the Di…

(a) The board of each college or university, or the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, shall designate the companies from which contracts are to be purchased under the alternate retirement plan and shall approve the form and contents of the contracts. (b) In making the…

(1) Participation in an alternate retirement plan established pursuant to this subchapter shall be as follows:(1) Any staff member employed or appointed by a college or university on or after the establishment of its alternate retirement plan shall participate in the plan or in t…

(a) (1) Any college or university which elects to establish and maintain an alternate retirement plan, and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board if it so elects, shall contribute to that plan on behalf of each staff member who elects to participate in the alternate ret…

(1) As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Alternate retirement plan” means a retirement plan, based on the purchase of contracts approved by the Career Education and Workforce Development Board before the effective date of Acts 2019, No. 910, whic…

Insofar as the provisions of this subchapter are, or may be, inconsistent with the provisions of any other general or special act, the provisions of this subchapter shall be controlling.