Chapter 135

(a) No employing unit may enter into any settlement agreement with an employee or former employee regarding health benefits covered under the Plan unless the employing unit has received written authorization from the Plan's Executive Administrator. (b) No settlement agreement bet…

(a) Eligibility. - The employees and dependents of employees of local government units are eligible to participate in the State Health Plan, as provided in this section. This section does not apply to employees of a charter school operated by a municipality. Employees and depende…

The Plan shall be responsible for reporting coverage for retirees and coverage for direct bill members, except for individuals participating in Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) coverage, as required by Section 6055 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Plan shal…

(a) There are hereby established two health benefit trust funds, to be known as the Public Employee Health Benefit Fund and the Health Benefit Reserve Fund for the payment of hospital and medical benefits. As used in this section, the term "health benefit trust funds" refers to t…

The Plan shall provide coverage subject to the following coverage mandates: (1) Abortion coverage. - The Plan shall not provide coverage for abortions for which State funds could not be used under G.S. 143C-6-5.5. The Plan shall, however, provide coverage for subsequent complicat…

The following provisions of Chapter 58 of the General Statutes apply to the State Health Plan: (1) G.S. 58-3-191, Managed care reporting and disclosure requirements. (2) G.S. 58-3-221, Access to nonformulary and restricted access prescription drugs. (3) G.S. 58-3-223, Managed car…

The Plan shall not provide coverage for or pay any benefits for any of the following: (1) Charges to the extent paid, or which the individual is entitled to have paid, or to obtain without cost, in accordance with any government laws or regulations except Medicare. If a charge is…

(a) Repealed by Session Laws 2018-84, s. 11(a), effective June 25, 2018. (b) The board of directors of a charter school operated by a private nonprofit corporation or a charter school operated by a municipality may elect to become a participating employer in the Plan. The followi…

(1981 (Reg. Sess., 1982), c. 1398, s. 6; 1985, c. 732, s. 52; 1991, c. 427, s. 5; 1997-468, s. 4; 1998-1, s. 4(e); 1999-237, s. 28.29(h); 2003-69, s. 2; 2004-124, s. 31.21(c); 2005-276, s. 29.31(e); 2007-323, s. 28.22A(m), (m1), (o); 2007-345, ss. 11, 12; 2008-107, s. 10.13(a); 2…

It is the intent of the General Assembly that active employees and retired employees covered under the Plan and its successor Plan shall have several opportunities in each fiscal year to attend presentations conducted by Plan management staff providing detailed information about …

Allowable payments for services provided by a county or city ambulance service shall be paid directly or shall be co-payable to the county or city ambulance service provider. As used in this subsection, "county or city ambulance service" means ambulance services provided by a cou…

In setting premiums for firefighters, rescue squad workers, and members of the National Guard, and their eligible dependents, the Plan shall establish rates separate from those affecting other members of the Plan. These separate premium rates shall include rate factors for incurr…

(a) The State of North Carolina deems it to be in the public interest for individual North Carolina firefighters, rescue squad workers, and members of the National Guard, and certain of their dependents, who are not eligible for any other type of comprehensive health insurance or…

(a) Service Retirement Benefits. (1) Any member may retire upon electronic submission or written application to the Board of Trustees setting forth at what time, as of the first day of a calendar month, not less than one day nor more than 120 days subsequent to the execution of a…

(a) An Optional Retirement Program provided for in this section is authorized and established and shall be implemented by the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina. The Optional Retirement Program shall be underwritten by the purchase of annuity contracts, which …

(a), (b) Repealed by Session Laws 2015-168, s. 1, effective January 1, 2016. (b1) The board of directors of a charter school operated by a private nonprofit corporation or a charter school operated by a municipality that has received approval under Article 14A of Chapter 115C of …

(a) An Optional Retirement Program provided for in this section is authorized and established and shall be implemented by the North Carolina Community Colleges System, ("System"). The Optional Retirement Program shall be underwritten by the purchase of annuity contracts, which ma…

(a) An employer shall be considered an inactive employer if all of the following criteria are met: (1) The employer has no employees that qualify for membership in any System under this Chapter. (2) The employer has made no employer contributions for at least one month. (3) The e…

(a) All employees of the University of North Carolina Health Care System who (i) are employed before January 1, 2024, and (ii) are members of either the Retirement System or the Optional Retirement Program before January 1, 2024, shall retain membership in that Retirement System …

(a) As used in this section, the terms "Medical Faculty Practice Plan" and "ECU Dental School Clinical Operations" have the same meaning as in G.S. 116-360.5. (b) All employees of the Medical Faculty Practice Plan and the ECU Dental School Clinical Operations who (i) are employed…

(a) This Article shall be known and may be cited as the "Consolidated Judicial Retirement Act." (b) The purpose of this Article is to improve the administration of justice by attracting and retaining the most highly qualified talent available within the State to the positions of …

(a) This Article provides consolidated retirement benefits for all justices and judges, district attorneys, and solicitors who are serving on January 1, 1974, and who become such thereafter; and for all clerks of superior court who are so serving on January 1, 1975, and who becom…

(a) References in Article 1 of this Chapter to the provisions of "this Chapter" shall not necessarily apply to this Article. However, except as otherwise provided in this Article, the provisions of Article 1 are applicable and shall apply to and govern the administration of the R…

The following words and phrases as used in this Article, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings: (1) "Accumulated contributions" with respect to any member shall mean the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensati…

A Retirement System is hereby established and placed under the management of the Board of Trustees for the purpose of providing retirement allowances and other benefits under the provisions of this Article for justices and judges, district attorneys, public defenders, the Directo…

(a) The membership of the Retirement System shall consist of: (1) All judges and district attorneys in office on January 1, 1974; (2) All persons who become judges and district attorneys or reenter service as judges and district attorneys after January 1, 1974; (3) All clerks of …

(a) Subject to such rules and regulations as the Board of Trustees shall adopt with regard to the verification of a judge's prior service, the prior service of a judge shall consist of his service rendered prior to January 1, 1974, as a justice of the Supreme Court, judge of the …

(a) Only for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits accruing under this Article, creditable service standing to the credit of a member of the Legislative Retirement System, Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, or the Local Governmental Employees' Retirem…

(a) General Purchases of Service Credit. - Any member in service with five or more years of membership service may purchase creditable service authorized under this subsection by paying a lump sum amount to the Annuity Savings Fund. The amount payable shall be equal to the full l…

(a) Any member on or after January 1, 1974, who has attained his fiftieth birthday and five years of membership service may retire upon electronic submission or written application to the board of trustees setting forth at what time, as of the first day of a calendar month, not l…

(a) Any member who retires under the provisions of subsection (a) or subsection (c) of G.S. 135-57 before July 1, 1990, after he either has attained his sixty-fifth birthday or has completed 24 years or more of creditable service shall receive an annual retirement allowance, paya…

(a) Upon application by or on behalf of the member, any member in service who has completed five or more years of creditable service and who has not attained his sixty-fifth birthday may be retired by the Board of Trustees, on the first day of any calendar month, not less than on…

(a) Administration by Board of Trustees; Corporate Name; Rights and Powers; Tax Exemption. - The general administration and responsibility for the proper operation of the Retirement System and for making effective the provisions of the Chapter are vested in a Board of Trustees. T…

(a) The following definitions apply in this section: (1) Employment-related information. - As defined in G.S. 126-22(b)(3). (2) Personal information. - As defined in G.S. 126-22(b)(3). (3) Retirement file. - Any employment-related, retirement-related, or personal information of m…

(a) Upon retirement for disability in accordance with G.S. 135-59, a member shall receive a disability retirement allowance computed and payable as provided for service retirement in subsection (a6) of G.S. 135-58, except that the member's creditable service shall be taken as the…

Any member who retires under the provisions of this Article shall have the right to elect to have his allowance payable under any one of the optional forms provided for in G.S. 135-5(g), subject to the conditions therein contained, in lieu of the allowance that would otherwise be…

(a) Should a member cease membership service otherwise than by death or retirement under the provisions of this Article, he shall, upon submission of an application, be paid, not earlier than 60 days from the date of termination of service, his contributions and the accumulated r…

(a) In-Service Benefit. - If a member dies while in service, then, upon receipt of proof of the death that is satisfactory to the Board of Trustees, a lump sum death benefit shall be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries that the member designated by electronic submission in a…

(a) If a former member dies after a service retirement under G.S. 135-57 or after the former member's sixty-fifth birthday after a disability retirement under G.S. 135-59, then there shall be paid to the former member's surviving spouse, if any, an annual retirement allowance, pa…

(a) Commencing with the post-retirement adjustment, effective July 1, 1974, all retirement allowances payable under the provisions of this Article shall be adjusted annually in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 135-5(o). (b) Increases in Benefits Paid to Members Retired prio…

(a) The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of the assets of this Retirement System and shall invest them in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 147-69.2 and G.S. 147-69.3. (b) The assets of this Retirement System shall include employers' contributions held with the Pension…

(a) All of the assets of the Retirement System shall be credited according to the purpose for which they are held to one of two funds, namely, the annuity savings fund and the pension accumulation fund. (b) The annuity savings fund shall be the fund to which all members' contribu…

(a) Each member shall contribute by payroll deduction for each pay period for which he receives compensation six percent (6%) of his compensation for such period. (b) Anything within this Article to the contrary notwithstanding, the State, pursuant to the provisions of section 41…

(a) The State shall contribute annually an amount equal to the sum of the "normal contribution" and the "accrued liability contribution." (b) The normal contribution for any period shall be determined as a percentage, equal to the normal contribution rate, of the total compensati…

(a) Vested in Board of Trustees. - The Board of Trustees shall be the trustee of the several funds created by this Chapter as provided in this section and in G.S. 135-8. (b) Regular Interest Allowance. - The Board of Trustees annually shall allow regular interest on the mean amou…

(a) Any member whose membership service is terminated other than by retirement or death and, who, while still a member of this Retirement System becomes a member of either the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System or the North Carolina Local Governmental Employees' Ret…

(a) The accumulated contributions, creditable service, and reserves, if any, of a former teacher or employee, as defined in G.S. 135-1(25), 135-1(10), and 128-21(10), respectively, or a former member of the General Assembly who is a member of the Consolidated Judicial Retirement …

(a) In the event that a retired former member should at any time return to membership service, his retirement allowance shall thereupon cease and he shall be restored as a member of the Retirement System. (b) Upon his subsequent retirement, he shall be paid a retirement allowance…

In the event of the termination or partial termination of the Retirement System or in the event of complete discontinuance of contributions under the Retirement System, the rights of all affected members to benefits accrued to the date of such termination, partial termination, or…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, compensation for any calendar year after 1988 in which employee or employer contributions are made and for which annual compensation is used for computing any benefit under this Article shall not exceed the higher o…