KRS 21.360: Election to participate -- Delayed election.

(1) (a) Each Judge of the District Court in office on July 1, 1978, may within thirty

(30) days after that date, and any judge or justice of any court entitled to be a

member thereafter taking office may within thirty (30) days after taking office,

elect to make m onthly contributions to the retirement system in an amount

equal to:

1. Five percent (5%) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judge or

justice became a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement Plan prior

to September 1, 2008;

2. Six percent (6% ) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judge or

justice became a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement Plan on

or after September 1, 2008, but prior to January 1, 2014; or

3. Six percent (6%) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judg e or

justice who becomes a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement

Plan on or after January 1, 2014, which shall be used to fund benefits as

follows:

a. Five percent (5%) of the monthly official salary shall be used to

provide funding for benefits provided under KRS 21.402; and

b. One percent (1%) of the monthly official salary to be used

exclusively to help fund retiree health benefits as provided by KRS

21.427 and which shall not be refunded to the member if the

member withdraws his or her accumulated account balance as

provided by KRS 21.460. The deducted amounts under this

subdivision shall be credited to an account established pursuant to

26 U.S.C. sec. 401(h), within the fund established by KRS 21.347.

(b) The election shall be effective to establis h membership in the system as of

July 1, 1978, or as of the date the judge or justice took office, as the case may

be. The election shall be addressed to and filed with the secretary of the

Finance and Administration Cabinet, and shall constitute an author ization by

the member, to the secretary, to thereafter cause to be deducted from the

member's official salary, each month, the amount required by paragraph (a) of

this subsection, as a voluntary contribution by the member towards the

funding of the retirement system. For a member who began contributing to the

Judicial Retirement Plan prior to January 1, 2014, the contribution shall

continue until the judge or justice is vested in a service retirement allowance

equal to one hundred percent (100%) of final co mpensation. Thereafter

employee contributions shall be discontinued but continued service and

retirement benefits shall not be affected thereby.

(2) A judge or justice entitled to elect membership in the retirement system who failed

to elect membership wit hin thirty (30) days after taking office in 1980 or who

elected membership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System may elect

membership not later than August 31, 2005. An election, upon being made pursuant

to this section, shall operate to create an in violable contract between the member

entitled to elect membership under this subsection and the Commonwealth,

guaranteeing to and vesting in the member the rights and benefits provided for

under the terms and conditions of KRS 21.350 to 21.510.

(3) (a) When any judge makes a delayed election of membership in the Judicial

Retirement Plan under subsection (2) of this section, his or her active

membership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall terminate,

as of the date his or her membership in the J udicial Retirement Plan becomes

effective, and any credit in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System,

earned for service as a judge, which he or she then has or which he or she

subsequently regains while being an active member of the Judicial Retirement

Plan, shall be transferred to and counted as service credit in the Judicial

Retirement Plan, and shall no longer constitute credit in the Kentucky

Employees Retirement System, except for the purpose of validating any other

credit in that system, if the memb er pays the difference, if any, between the

amount transferred from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System and the

actuarial value of the transferred service.

(b) Any credit he or she then has in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System,

earned for servi ce in any capacity other than a judge, shall not be affected.

Notwithstanding any provisions of KRS 61.680 to the contrary, final

compensation used to determine benefits for any service credit remaining in

the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall be based on the highest

years of compensation as a judge whether the years occur before or after the

judge elects membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan.

(c) No person may attain credit in more than one (1) of the retirement plans or

systems mentioned in this section for the same period of service. When credit

is transferred from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System to the Judicial

Retirement Plan, the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall transfer to

the Judicial Retirement Fund an amount equal to the employee's and

employer's contributions attributable to that credit, together with interest on

the contributions from the date made to the date of transf er at the actuarially-

assumed interest rate of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System in effect

at the time the contributions were made, compounded annually at that same

interest rate.

(4) Membership and benefit rights for judges and justices other than judges of the

District Court, and for the commissioners and administrative director, who took

office prior to July 1, 1978, shall be dependent upon valid elections having been

made under this section and KRS 21.355 and 21.365 prior to the 1978 amendment

to this section. The terms of such elections, including the contribution rate, shall

continue to govern for the duration of the member's service.

(5) When any Judge of the District Court in office on July 1, 1978, elects membership

in the Judicial Retirement Plan in accordance with this section, his or her

membership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall terminate as of

July 1, 1978, and any credit in that system he or she earned for service as a judge of

the District Court shall be nullified; pro vided that the effect of such service to

validate any other service credit in that system shall not be nullified.

(6) The state shall, solely for the purpose of compliance with Section 414(h) of the

United States Internal Revenue Code, pick up the employee contributions required

by this section for all compensation earned after August 1, 1982, and the

contributions so picked up shall be treated as employer contributions in determining

tax treatment under the United States Internal Revenue Code and KRS 141.010. The

picked-up employee contribution shall satisfy all obligations to the retirement

system satisfied prior to August 1, 1982, by the employee contribution, and the

picked-up employee contribution shall be in lieu of an employee contribution. The

state shall pay these picked -up employee contributions from the same source of

funds which is used to pay earnings to the employee. The employee shall have no

option to receive the contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by

the employer to the system. Employee contributions picked up after August 1, 1982,

shall be treated for all purposes of KRS 21.345 to 21.570 in the same manner and to

the same extent as employee contributions made prior to August 1, 1982.

(7) An election once made under this s ection, either to participate or not to participate

in the Judicial Retirement Plan, shall be considered to apply, to all future service in

any office covered by the plan, whether such service is in the same or a different

office, and whether or not it is continuous.