AI-assisted research summary: The board must create and run a separate trust fund for retiree health and other post-employment benefits, and public employers must pay contributions into it.
(a) Notwithstanding sections 87A-31 and 87A-31.5, the board, upon terms and conditions set by the board, shall establish and administer a separate trust fund for the purpose of receiving employer contributions that will prefund other post-employment health and other benefit plan costs for retirees and their beneficiaries. The separate trust fund shall meet the requirements of the Government Accounting Standards Board regarding other post-employment benefits trusts. The board shall establish and maintain a separate account for each public employer within the separate trust fund to accept and account for each public employer's contributions. Employer contributions to the separate trust fund shall be irrevocable, all assets of the fund shall be dedicated exclusively to providing health and other benefits to retirees and their beneficiaries, and assets of the fund shall not be subject to appropriation for any other purpose and shall not be subject to claims by creditors of the employers or the board or plan administrator. The board's powers under section 87A-24 shall also apply to the fund established pursuant to this section. (b) Public employer contributions shall be paid into the fund in each fiscal year, and commencing with the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the amount of the annual public employer contribution shall be equal to the amount of the annual required contribution, as determined by an actuary retained by the board. (c) In any fiscal year subsequent to the 2017-2018 fiscal year in which the state public employer's contributions into the fund are less than the amount of the annual required contribution, the amount that represents the excess of the annual required contribution over the state public employer's contributions shall be deposited into the appropriate account of the separate trust fund from a portion of all general excise tax revenues collected by the department of taxation under section 237-31. If any general excise tax revenues are deposited into the separate trust fund in any fiscal year as a result of this subsection, the director of finance shall notify the legislature and governor whether the general fund expenditure ceiling for that fiscal year would have been exceeded if those revenues had been legislatively appropriated instead of deposited without appropriation into the trust fund. The notification shall be submitted within thirty days following the end of the applicable fiscal year. (d) In any fiscal year subsequent to the 2017-2018 fiscal year in which a county public employer's contributions into the fund are less than the amount of the annual required contribution, the amount that represents the excess of the annual required contribution over the county public employer's contributions shall be deposited into the fund from a portion of all transient accommodations tax revenues collected by the department of taxation under section 237D-6.5(b)(4). The director of finance shall deduct the amount necessary to meet the county public employer's annual required contribution from the revenues derived under section 237D-6.5(b)(4) and transfer the amount to the board for deposit into the appropriate account of the separate trust fund. (e) In any fiscal year subsequent to fiscal year 2017-2018 in which a public employer's contributions into the fund are less than the amount of the annual required contribution and the public employer is not entitled to transient accommodations tax revenues sufficient to satisfy the total amount of the annual required contribution, the public employer's contributions shall be deposited into the fund from portions of any other revenues collected on behalf of the public employer or held by the State. The director of finance shall deduct the amount necessary to meet the public employer's annual required contribution from any revenues collected on behalf of the public employer held by the State and transfer the amount to the board for deposit into the appropriate account of the separate trust fund. (f) For the purposes of this section, "annual required contribution" means a public employer's required contribution to the trust fund established in this section that is sufficient to cover: (1) The normal cost, which is the cost of other post-employment benefits attributable to the current year of service; and (2) An amortization payment, which is a catch-up payment for past service costs to fund the unfunded actuarial accrued liability over the next thirty years. [L 2012, c 304, §1; am L 2013, c 268, §8; am L 2015, c 121, §4] Note Authorization to create fund requires Government Accounting Standards Board requirements. L 2012, c 304, §2. Public employer contributions into trust fund (fiscal period 2014-2019) L 2013, c 268, §11.