§ 24-4-301. Membership as condition to employment

(a)

1. (1) Except as set forth in this subsection, all state employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(17) and (45), shall become members of the Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement System as a condition of employment.

2. (2)

   1. (A)

      1. (i)

         1. (a) A person who is first elected as a member of the General Assembly on or after July 1, 1999, shall have his or her employment covered as a regular state employee member in lieu of coverage under special provisions relating to General Assembly members or to elected officials.

         2. (b) However, if the member’s only service under an Arkansas retirement plan, as provided under § 24-2-401 et seq., is service as a member of the General Assembly, then the member must have ten (10) or more years of actual service to be eligible for benefits.

      2. (ii)

         1. (a) A person who was first elected as a member of the General Assembly before July 1, 1999, may elect to have his or her employment covered as a regular state employee member in lieu of coverage under special provisions relating to General Assembly members or to elected officials. The member may make the election at any time.

         2. (b) However, if the member’s only service under an Arkansas retirement plan is service as a member of the General Assembly, then the member must have ten (10) or more years of actual service to be eligible for benefits.

   2. (B) Any member of the General Assembly who was serving in that capacity at the commencement of the Eighty-fourth General Assembly and who had elected not to participate in the Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement System under the provisions of § 24-4-301(a)(2)(A) prior to its amendment by Acts 2003, No. 1403, may elect to participate and receive current credit in the system. The member is eligible to receive prior service credit for the time he or she was first elected to the General Assembly until the date of election to participate provided that:

      1. (i) The member pays, or causes to be paid, all employer contributions based on the employer’s normal cost from the most recent actuarial valuation and the compensation that would have been paid had he or she been a member of the system during that time and regular interest on the employer contributions computed from the date the service was rendered to the date payment is received by the system;

      2. (ii) The payment shall be made in a lump sum; and

      3. (iii) The member may pay for all prior service, or a portion of the prior service, consisting of one-year increments.

(b) All county employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(14), (17), and (27), who are in the employ of a county July 1, 1959, and all persons who became or become county employees in the employ of a county after June 30, 1959, shall become members of the system as a condition of continuing in or obtaining county employment, as the case may be.

(c) All municipal employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(17), (24), and (27), who are in the employ of a municipality as of the date the municipality becomes a participating public employer and all persons who become municipal employees in the employ of a municipality on or after the date it becomes a participating public employer shall become members of the system as a condition of continuing in or entering the employ of the municipality. However, no employee shall be included whose compensation is less than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) per annum.

(d) All nonstate employees, as defined in § 24-4-101(17), (22), (27), and (33), who are in the employ of a nonstate employer as of the date the nonstate employer becomes a participating public employer and all persons who become nonstate employees in the employ of a nonstate employer on or after the date it becomes a participating public employer shall become members of the system as a condition of continuing in or entering the employ of the nonstate employer.

(e)

1. (1) From and after July 1, 1973, all elected and appointed state and county constitutional officials shall be or become members of the system.

2. (2) Any current member of the system who has service prior to July 1, 1973, as an elected or appointed constitutional official, which service is not credited to his or her retirement account because the member elected not to become a member of the system during that time, shall receive credited service for that time, but only if:

   1. (A) The person is a contributing member of the system on the date the service is purchased and the person has at the time of purchase at least two (2) years of credited service in the system;

   2. (B) The member buys all of the service rendered during the period of time in which he or she did not participate in the system; and

   3. (C) The member pays or causes to be paid all employee contributions at the rate and on the compensation that would have been paid had he or she been a member of the system during that period of time, all employer contributions based on the employer normal cost from the most recently completed regular annual actuarial valuation and the compensation that would have been paid had he or she been a member during that time, and regular interest on the employee and employer contributions computed from the date the service was rendered to the date the payment is received by the system.