(1) Each member of the General Assembly on January 1, 1966, who is not retired under the South Carolina Retirement System and who becomes a member of this System as of such date, is hereby authorized and required to cause the full amount of his contributions made to the System to be transferred to the System promptly upon the approval of this chapter. Thereafter no transfer of funds shall be made between the two Systems.
(2) Each member of the System shall contribute eleven percent of earnable compensation in each calendar year, up to twenty-two years of credited service, commencing with the calendar year 2013. Such contributions shall be made through payroll deductions in the case of members of the General Assembly or through direct remittance by contributing special members as set forth in Item (2)(ii) of Section 9-9-40. The twenty-two year limitation provided for in this item shall not apply to any member of the General Assembly during periods of active service.
(3) Every member of the System who is a member of the General Assembly shall be deemed to consent and agree to the deductions made and provided for herein, and shall receipt for his full salary or compensation, and payment of salary or compensation less such deduction shall be a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands whatsoever for the services rendered by such person during the period covered by such payments, except as to the benefits provided under the System.
(4) Each of the amounts so deducted or directly remitted shall be credited to the individual account of the member from whose compensation the deduction was made, or from whom the direct remittance was received.
(5) RESERVED
(6) Each department and political subdivision shall pick up the employee contributions required by this section for all compensation paid on or after July 1, 1982, and the contributions so picked up shall be treated as employer contributions in determining federal tax treatment under the United States Internal Revenue Code. For this purpose, each department and political subdivision is deemed to have taken formal action on or before January 1, 2009, to provide that the contributions on behalf of its employees, although designated as employer contributions, shall be paid by the employer in lieu of employee contributions. The department and political subdivision shall pay these employee contributions from the same source of funds which is used in paying earnings to the employee. The department and political subdivision may pick up these contributions by a reduction in the cash salary of the employee. The employee, however, must not be given the option of choosing to receive the contributed amount of the pickups directly instead of having them paid by the employer to the retirement system. Employee contributions picked up shall be treated for all purposes of this section in the same manner and to the extent as employee contributions made prior to the date picked up.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 61-282; 1966 (54) 2081; 1968 (55) 2855; 1969 (56) 703; 1975 (59) 71; 1977 Act No. 34; 1978 Act No. 644 Part II Section 27; 1982 Act No. 315, Section 3; 1982 Act No. 349, Section 3; 2008 Act No. 311, Section 44, eff June 4, 2008; 2012 Act No. 278, Pt II, Section 18, eff July 1, 2012.