KRS 161.569: Effect of election to participate -- Payment of benefits -- Taxation and

attachment of benefits -- Employer contributions.

(1) Any person electing to participate in the optional retirement plan shall be ineligible

for membership in the regular retirement plan of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement

System for as long as the participant is employed in a position for which the

optional retirement plan is available, except as provided in KRS 161.568(1).

(2) Any person electing to participate in the optional retirement plan shall acknowledge

in writing that the benefits payable to participants are not the obligation of the

Commonwealth of Kentucky or the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, and

that these benefits and other rights of the optional retir ement plan are the liability

and responsibility solely of the designated companies to which contributions have

been made.

(3) Benefits shall be payable to optional retirement plan participants or their

beneficiaries by the designated companies in accordanc e with the contracts issued

by each company and the retirement plan provisions adopted by each public

institution.

(4) Annuity contracts issued under the optional retirement plan and all rights of a

participant in the optional retirement plan shall be exem pt from any state, local, or

municipal tax; assessment for the insolvency of any life, health, or casualty

insurance company; any levy or sale, garnishment, or attachment; or any process

whatsoever, and shall be unassignable except as otherwise specificall y provided by

the contracts offered under the optional retirement plan adopted by the respective

public institutions of higher education. Except contracts issued and rights accrued in

the optional retirement plan on or after January 1, 1998, shall be subje ct to the tax

imposed by KRS 141.020, to the extent provided in KRS 141.010 and 141.0215.

(5) Each institution shall contribute for each payroll period of each fiscal year to the

Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, an amount equal to five and one -tenth

percent (5.1%) of the total salaries of all persons who elect or elected to participate

in the optional retirement plan instead of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement

System. This payment shall continue to be made until June 30, 2018. No

contributions shall b e payable on or after July 1, 2018, to the Kentucky Teachers'

Retirement System for all persons who elect or elected to participate in the optional

retirement plan instead of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System.