I. All member contributions to the judicial retirement plan shall be payable only with respect to membership service, and picked up by the state by means of payroll deduction and shall be treated as employer contributions for purposes of Section 414(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The member contribution rate shall be fixed biennially by the board of trustees and shall be calculated so that the rate percent of earnable compensation deducted is one-half of the annual contribution requirements of the judicial retirement plan as determined in RSA 100-C:13, I. In no year shall the member contribution rate exceed 10 percent of a member’s earnable compensation. Once a member attains eligibility for a service retirement allowance equal to 75 percent of the member’s final year’s salary pursuant to RSA 100-C:5, said member shall not be required to have deductions made from earnable compensation for purposes of this section provided that the state contributions for such member under RSA 100-C:13, IV shall continue until the member’s retirement.
II. Any judge who is appointed at an age such that he or she will never become entitled to receive a retirement benefit under RSA 100-C:5 may, but shall not be required to, become a member of the judicial retirement plan. Any such judge electing to become a member shall pay employee contributions to the plan, shall be eligible for disability retirement benefits under RSA 100-C:6 and death benefits under RSA 100-C:7, and shall be entitled to the return of his or her contributions to the plan in accordance with RSA 100-C:8. The state shall not pay employer contributions to the plan for any such judge not electing to become a member of the plan.
Source. 2003, 311:1, eff. July 1, 2003. 2016, 41:1, eff. May 3, 2016.