Title 9, Retirement Systems

Any employer under the South Carolina Police Officers' Retirement System may pay into the Police Officers' Retirement System fund, on behalf of active member employees, an amount equal to the sum such members would be required to contribute to the fund for creditable prior servic…

(1) Each Class One member shall contribute to the system twenty-one dollars a month during his service after becoming a member. Each Class Two and Class Three member shall contribute to the system a percentage of the member's earnable compensation as provided pursuant to Section …

(1) Commencing as of July 1, 1974, each employer shall contribute to the system seven and one-half percent of the compensation of Class One members in its employ and a percentage of compensation for all other members in its employ as provided pursuant to Section 9-11-225. (2) In …

(A) As provided in Sections 9-11-210 and 9-11-220, the employer and employee contribution rates for the system beginning in Fiscal Year 2017-2018, expressed as a percentage of earnable compensation, are as follows: Fiscal Year Employer Contribution Employee Contribution 2017-2018…

(1) At the beginning of each year commencing on the first day of July, the Board shall certify to each employer other than the State the amount of employer contribution due the System. It is the duty of the chief fiscal officer of each employer to transmit funds to reach the Syst…

Probate judges may elect to participate in the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System or they may elect to remain under regular state retirement.

(1) All of the assets of the System shall be credited, according to the purpose for which they are held, to one of two accounts; namely, the members' account and the accumulation account. (2) The members' account shall be the account in which shall be held the contributions deduc…

(A) Interest must be credited to the account of each member once each year as of June thirtieth, on the basis of the balance in the account of each member as of the previous June thirtieth. Upon the death, retirement, or termination of a member, interest must be figured to the en…

(A) On and after January 1, 2001, any person who is a magistrate appointed pursuant to Section 22-1-10 shall participate in the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System for his service as a magistrate. (B) From July 1, 2000, to January 1, 2001, a magistrate who elects to …

Except as provided in Section 9-18-10 and related sections, Article 11, Chapter 17, Title 63 and Section 8-1-115 and subject to the doctrine of constructive trust ex maleficio, and subject to income tax levies imposed pursuant to state or federal law and distributions made pursua…

All agreements or contracts with the members of the System pursuant to any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed solely obligations of the System and the full faith and credit of the State and of its departments, institutions and political subdivisions and of any othe…

All property owned or acquired by the System for purpose of this chapter shall be exempt from all taxes imposed by the State or any political subdivision thereof.

(1) The general administration and responsibility for the proper operation of the system and for making effective the provisions hereof are hereby vested in the board. (2) The board shall designate a medical board composed of three physicians who are not members of the system. If…

For all retirement allowances due on or after July 1, 1974, the retirement allowance payments to any member retired prior to said date or his beneficiary designated under an optional benefit or to any other beneficiary in receipt of an allowance prior to said date, exclusive of p…

Effective July 1, 2012, and annually thereafter, the retirement allowance received by retirees and their surviving annuitants pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, inclusive of Section 9-11-140 must be increased by the lesser of one percent or five hundred dollars. Only tho…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided below, retirees and beneficiaries under the Police Officers Retirement System receiving Medicaid (Title XIX) sponsored nursing home care as of June thirtieth of the prior fiscal year shall receive no increase in retir…

Any person who shall knowingly make any false statement, or shall falsify or permit to be falsified any record of the System in any attempt to defraud the System, as a result of such act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceed…

All records of all active, retired, and inactive members maintained by the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System are classified as confidential records. These records are exempt from the disclosure requirements of Chapter 4 of Title 30, and shall not be disclosed to th…

Effective as of January 1, 1996, the annual compensation of a member taken into account for determining all benefits provided under this retirement system is subject to the limitations set forth in Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and any regulations promul…

Effective December 12, 1994, and notwithstanding any provision in this chapter to the contrary, contributions, benefits, and service credit with respect to qualified military service will be provided in accordance with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(A) Effective as of July 1, 1989, member contributions paid to, and retirement benefits paid from, the system may not exceed the annual limits on contributions and benefits, respectively, allowed by Internal Revenue Code Section 415. For purposes of applying these limits, the def…

(1)(a) A county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State, and an agency or department of a political subdivision or service organization referred to in Section 9-11-10(17)(c) in its discretion, may become an employer by applying to the board for admission to the…

(A) The Catawba Nation may become an employer for the purposes of this chapter by applying to the board for admission to the system pursuant to Section 9-11-40, complying with the requirements of Section 9-11-40, and complying with the board's rules and regulations. The applicati…

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 9-11-40, an employer who maintains a local retirement system for police officers prior to the date of admission may require all active members of that system to become members of this System on the date of admission. If this option is exe…

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 9-11-40, an employer who maintains a local retirement system for firefighters before the date of admission to the Police Officers' Retirement System may transfer the local system to the Police Officers' Retirement System by meeting the re…

(A) An active member may establish service credit for any period of paid public service by making an actuarially neutral payment to the system to be determined by the actuary for the board, based on the member's current age and service credit, but not less than sixteen percent of…

All retirement allowances otherwise payable to police officers retired under such fund and in force on June 30, 1963, and all death benefits otherwise payable on account of such retired police officers shall become payable under the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement Syste…

If a police officer is a participant in the Police Insurance and Annuity Fund at the termination of the fund as of June 30, 1963, and if he is then in the service of a political subdivision, agency or department of the State which has not then become an employer under the System,…

Beneficiaries receiving benefits under the Police Insurance and Annuity Fund shall receive a fifty dollar a month increase in their monthly benefits effective July 1, 1994.

(1) A member may retire upon written application to the system setting forth at what time, no more than ninety days before nor more than six months after the execution and filing of the application, the member desires to be retired, if the member at the time specified for the mem…

(1) On the application of a member in service or the member's employer, a member who has the years of earned service required for the member's class pursuant to Section 9-11-60(1) or any contributing member who is disabled as a result of an injury arising out of and in the course…

(1) A disability beneficiary restored to active service at a salary less than his average final compensation shall not become a member of the System and his retirement allowance shall be adjusted in accordance with the provisions of Section 9-11-80(4). (2) Should a disability ben…

As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context: (1) "Board" means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority acting as trustee of the retirement systems and acting through its Division of Retirement Syste…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as providing for assets to be held in trust or escrow or any form of asset segregation for members, retired members, or beneficiaries. To the extent any person acquires the right to receive benefits under a QEBA, the right shall be no gr…

A QEBA is a portion of a governmental plan as defined in Section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, and is intended to meet the requirements of Internal Revenue Code Sections 115 and 415(m), and shall be so interpreted and administered.

Amounts deducted from employer contributions and deposited in a separate QEBA fund shall not increase the amount of employer contributions required under Chapters 1, 8, 9, and 11 of this title.

Each retirement system may establish and maintain a QEBA. The amount of any annual benefit that would be payable pursuant to this chapter but for the limitation imposed by Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code shall be paid from a QEBA established and maintained pursuant to th…

The board shall administer the QEBAs. The board has full discretionary authority to determine all questions arising in connection with the QEBAs, including its interpretation and any factual questions arising under the QEBAs. Further, the board has full authority to make modifica…

All members, retired members, and beneficiaries of the retirement systems are eligible to participate in a QEBA if their benefits would exceed the limitation imposed by Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code. Participation is determined for each calendar year, and participation…

On and after the effective date of the QEBA, the board shall pay to each eligible retiree and beneficiary a supplemental retirement allowance equal to the difference between the retiree's or beneficiary's monthly benefit otherwise payable from the applicable retirement system pri…

The board shall determine the amount of benefits that cannot be provided under the retirement systems because of the limitations of Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code, and the amount of contributions that must be made to the QEBAs as separate funds within the retirement sys…

Contributions shall not be accumulated under a QEBA to pay future supplemental retirement allowances. Instead, each payment of contributions by the applicable employer that would otherwise be made to a retirement system shall be reduced by the amount necessary to pay the required…

A member, retired member, or beneficiary cannot elect to defer the receipt of all or any part of the payments due under a QEBA.

Payments under a QEBA are exempt from garnishment, assignment, alienation, judgments, and other legal processes to the same extent as a retirement allowance under a retirement system.

In any city of this State having a fire department with one or more paid members, the city council may form a pension fund, create a board of trustees to manage such fund and raise funds for the pensioning of disabled and retired firemen of such cities.

The board shall cause to be kept a record of all its meetings and proceedings.