(a) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System, in consultation with its actuary, may promulgate rules to lower the required years of service for entry into the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Deferred Retirement Option Plan authorized by this subchapter, subject to any early participation reduction. The reduction will be computed in a manner that is both equitable and actuarially appropriate for the system.
(b) This section shall apply only to entry into the plan by a person who has twenty-eight (28) or twenty-nine (29) years of creditable service and whose eligibility for retirement is based on rules adopted pursuant to § 24-5-112(c).