{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-21.360","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 21.360","heading":"Election to participate -- Delayed election.","body":"(1) (a) Each Judge of the District Court in office on July 1, 1978, may within thirty\n(30) days after that date, and any judge or justice of any court entitled to be a\nmember thereafter taking office may within thirty (30) days after taking office,\nelect to make m onthly contributions to the retirement system in an amount\nequal to:\n1. Five percent (5%) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judge or\njustice became a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement Plan prior\nto September 1, 2008;\n2. Six percent (6% ) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judge or\njustice became a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement Plan on\nor after September 1, 2008, but prior to January 1, 2014; or\n3. Six percent (6%) of his or her monthly official salary, if the judg e or\njustice who becomes a member of the Kentucky Judicial Retirement\nPlan on or after January 1, 2014, which shall be used to fund benefits as\nfollows:\na. Five percent (5%) of the monthly official salary shall be used to\nprovide funding for benefits provided under KRS 21.402; and\nb. One percent (1%) of the monthly official salary to be used\nexclusively to help fund retiree health benefits as provided by KRS\n21.427 and which shall not be refunded to the member if the\nmember withdraws his or her accumulated account balance as\nprovided by KRS 21.460. The deducted amounts under this\nsubdivision shall be credited to an account established pursuant to\n26 U.S.C. sec. 401(h), within the fund established by KRS 21.347.\n(b) The election shall be effective to establis h membership in the system as of\nJuly 1, 1978, or as of the date the judge or justice took office, as the case may\nbe. The election shall be addressed to and filed with the secretary of the\nFinance and Administration Cabinet, and shall constitute an author ization by\nthe member, to the secretary, to thereafter cause to be deducted from the\nmember's official salary, each month, the amount required by paragraph (a) of\nthis subsection, as a voluntary contribution by the member towards the\nfunding of the retirement system. For a member who began contributing to the\nJudicial Retirement Plan prior to January 1, 2014, the contribution shall\ncontinue until the judge or justice is vested in a service retirement allowance\nequal to one hundred percent (100%) of final co mpensation. Thereafter\nemployee contributions shall be discontinued but continued service and\nretirement benefits shall not be affected thereby.\n(2) A judge or justice entitled to elect membership in the retirement system who failed\nto elect membership wit hin thirty (30) days after taking office in 1980 or who\nelected membership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System may elect\nmembership not later than August 31, 2005. An election, upon being made pursuant\nto this section, shall operate to create an in violable contract between the member\nentitled to elect membership under this subsection and the Commonwealth,\nguaranteeing to and vesting in the member the rights and benefits provided for\nunder the terms and conditions of KRS 21.350 to 21.510.\n(3) (a) When any judge makes a delayed election of membership in the Judicial\nRetirement Plan under subsection (2) of this section, his or her active\nmembership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall terminate,\nas of the date his or her membership in the J udicial Retirement Plan becomes\neffective, and any credit in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System,\nearned for service as a judge, which he or she then has or which he or she\nsubsequently regains while being an active member of the Judicial Retirement\nPlan, shall be transferred to and counted as service credit in the Judicial\nRetirement Plan, and shall no longer constitute credit in the Kentucky\nEmployees Retirement System, except for the purpose of validating any other\ncredit in that system, if the memb er pays the difference, if any, between the\namount transferred from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System and the\nactuarial value of the transferred service.\n(b) Any credit he or she then has in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System,\nearned for servi ce in any capacity other than a judge, shall not be affected.\nNotwithstanding any provisions of KRS 61.680 to the contrary, final\ncompensation used to determine benefits for any service credit remaining in\nthe Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall be based on the highest\nyears of compensation as a judge whether the years occur before or after the\njudge elects membership in the Judicial Retirement Plan.\n(c) No person may attain credit in more than one (1) of the retirement plans or\nsystems mentioned in this section for the same period of service. When credit\nis transferred from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System to the Judicial\nRetirement Plan, the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall transfer to\nthe Judicial Retirement Fund an amount equal to the employee's and\nemployer's contributions attributable to that credit, together with interest on\nthe contributions from the date made to the date of transf er at the actuarially-\nassumed interest rate of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System in effect\nat the time the contributions were made, compounded annually at that same\ninterest rate.\n(4) Membership and benefit rights for judges and justices other than judges of the\nDistrict Court, and for the commissioners and administrative director, who took\noffice prior to July 1, 1978, shall be dependent upon valid elections having been\nmade under this section and KRS 21.355 and 21.365 prior to the 1978 amendment\nto this section. The terms of such elections, including the contribution rate, shall\ncontinue to govern for the duration of the member's service.\n(5) When any Judge of the District Court in office on July 1, 1978, elects membership\nin the Judicial Retirement  Plan in accordance with this section, his or her\nmembership in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System shall terminate as of\nJuly 1, 1978, and any credit in that system he or she earned for service as a judge of\nthe District Court shall be nullified; pro vided that the effect of such service to\nvalidate any other service credit in that system shall not be nullified.\n(6) The state shall, solely for the purpose of compliance with Section 414(h) of the\nUnited States Internal Revenue Code, pick up the employee  contributions required\nby this section for all compensation earned after August 1, 1982, and the\ncontributions so picked up shall be treated as employer contributions in determining\ntax treatment under the United States Internal Revenue Code and KRS 141.010. The\npicked-up employee contribution shall satisfy all obligations to the retirement\nsystem satisfied prior to August 1, 1982, by the employee contribution, and the\npicked-up employee contribution shall be in lieu of an employee contribution. The\nstate shall pay these picked -up employee contributions from the same source of\nfunds which is used to pay earnings to the employee. The employee shall have no\noption to receive the contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by\nthe employer to the system. Employee contributions picked up after August 1, 1982,\nshall be treated for all purposes of KRS 21.345 to 21.570 in the same manner and to\nthe same extent as employee contributions made prior to August 1, 1982.\n(7) An election once made under this s ection, either to participate or not to participate\nin the Judicial Retirement Plan, shall be considered to apply, to all future service in\nany office covered by the plan, whether such service is in the same or a different\noffice, and whether or not it is continuous.","path":["KRS Chapter 21"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=52634","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:48:41Z","sha256":"f31d4bf607209aaefa1074cf5e1584f8e302b5656c84666a4490bc649458bf7b","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-21.357","next":"us-ky/krs-21.365"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}