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H. B. No. 72 As IntroducedAs Introduced
128th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2009-2010 |
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Representatives Hottinger, Dodd
Cosponsors:
Representatives Huffman, Pryor, Luckie, Domenick, Evans, Letson
A BILL
To amend sections 148.02, 148.04, and 3105.87 and to
enact
section 148.05 of the Revised Code to
provide for
confidentiality of certain records
maintained by
the Ohio Public Employees Deferred
Compensation
Board, to require the Treasurer of
State to be the
custodian of contributions into
the deferred
compensation program, to require new
employees
to be notified of the deferred
compensation
program and provided with the
opportunity to elect
to participate or not
participate in the program, and to make other
changes to the Deferred Compensation Law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 148.02, 148.04, and 3105.87 be
amended and
section 148.05 of the Revised Code be enacted to read
as follows:
Sec. 148.02. The Ohio public employees deferred
compensation
board shall be comprised of a member of the house of
representatives and a member of the senate, who shall not be of
the same political party, each to be appointed to serve at the
pleasure of the member's respective leadership, and the
members of
the
public employees retirement board as constituted by section
145.04 of the Revised Code, who are hereby created as a separate
legal entity for the purpose of administering a deferred
compensation system for all eligible employees. The public
employees retirement board may utilize its employees and property
in the administration of the system on behalf of the Ohio public
employees deferred compensation board, in consideration of a
reasonable service charge to be applied in a nondiscriminatory
manner to all amounts of compensation deferred under this system.
The Ohio public employees deferred compensation board may
exercise the same powers granted by section 145.09 of the Revised
Code necessary to its functions. The attorney general shall be
the
legal adviser of the board. The treasurer of state shall be the
custodian of contributions into the deferred compensation program.
Sec. 148.04. (A) The Ohio public employees deferred
compensation board shall initiate, plan, expedite, and, subject
to
an appropriate assurance of the approval of the internal
revenue
service, promulgate and offer to all eligible employees,
and
thereafter administer on behalf of all participating
employees and
continuing members, and alter as required, a
program for deferral
of compensation, including a reasonable
number of options to the
employee for the investment of deferred
funds, including life
insurance, annuities, variable annuities,
pooled investment funds
managed by
the board, or other forms of investment approved by the
board,
always in such form as will assure the desired tax
treatment of
such funds. The members of the board are the trustees
of any deferred funds and shall discharge
their duties with
respect to the funds solely in the interest of and for the
exclusive benefit of participating employees, continuing members,
and their
beneficiaries. With respect to such deferred funds,
section
148.09 of the Revised Code shall
apply to claims against
participating employees or continuing members and
their employers.
(B)(1) Whenever an individual becomes employed in a position
paid by warrant of the director of budget and management, the
individual's employer shall do both of the following at the time
the employee completes the employee's initial employment
paperwork:
(a) Provide information to the employee either verbally or in
writing regarding the benefits of long-term savings through
deferred compensation;
(b) Secure, in writing, the employee's election to
participate or not participate in a deferred compensation program
offered by the board.
If the employee elects to participate in the deferred
compensation program, the employee also shall execute a
participation agreement to become a member of the program.
An election regarding participation under this section shall
be made in such manner and form as is prescribed by the Ohio
public employees deferred compensation program and shall be filed
with the program.
The employer shall forward each election completed under this
division to the deferred compensation program not later than
thirty days after the date on which the employee's employment
begins.
(2) Every employer of an eligible employee shall contract
with the employee upon the employee's application for
participation in a
deferred compensation program offered by the
board. Every
retirement system serving an eligible employee shall
serve as
collection agent for compensation deferred by any of its
members
and account for and deliver such sums to the board.
(C) The board shall, subject to any applicable contract
provisions, undertake to obtain as favorable conditions of tax
treatment as possible, both in the initial programs and any
permitted alterations of them or additions to them, as to such
matters as terms of distribution, designation of beneficiaries,
withdrawal upon disability, financial hardship, or termination of
public employment, and other optional provisions.
(D) In no event shall the total of the amount of deferred
compensation to be set aside under a deferred compensation
program
and the employee's nondeferred income for any year exceed
the
total annual salary or compensation under the existing salary
schedule or classification plan applicable to the employee in
that
year.
Such a deferred compensation program shall be in addition
to
any retirement or any other benefit program provided by law
for
employees of this state. The board shall adopt rules
pursuant to
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to provide any
necessary
standards or conditions for the administration of its
programs,
including any limits on the portion of a participating
employee's
compensation that may be deferred in order to avoid
adverse
treatment of the program by the internal revenue service
or the
occurrence of deferral, withholding, or other deductions
in excess
of the compensation available for any pay period.
Any income deferred under such a plan shall continue to be
included as regular compensation for the purpose of computing the
contributions to and benefits from the retirement system of such
employee. Any sum so deferred shall not be included in the
computation of any federal and state income taxes withheld on
behalf of any such employee.
(E) This section does not limit the authority of any
municipal corporation, county, township, park district,
conservancy district, sanitary district, health district, public
library, county law library, public institution of higher
education, or school district to provide separate authorized
plans
or programs for deferring compensation of their officers
and
employees in addition to the program for the deferral of
compensation offered by the board. Any municipal corporation,
township,
public institution of higher education, or school
district that
offers such plans or programs shall include a
reasonable number
of options to its officers or employees for the
investment of the
deferred funds, including annuities, variable
annuities,
regulated investment trusts, or other forms of
investment
approved by the municipal corporation, township, public
institution of higher
education, or school district, that will
assure the desired tax
treatment of the funds.
Sec. 148.05. (A)(1) As used in this division, "personal
history record"
means information maintained by the Ohio public
employees deferred compensation board
on an individual who is a
participating employee or continuing member
that includes the
address, telephone number, social
security
number, record of
contributions, records of benefits, correspondence with the
Ohio
public employees deferred compensation program,
or other
information the board
determines to be confidential.
(2) The records of the board shall be open to public
inspection, except
that the following shall be
excluded,
except
with the written authorization of the individual
concerned:
(a) Information pertaining to an individual's participant
account;
(b) The individual's personal history record.
(B)(1) All medical reports, records, and recommendations of a
participating employee or a continuing member that are in the
possession of the board are
privileged.
(2) All tax information of a participating employee,
continuing member, or former participant or member that is in the
possession of the board shall be confidential to the extent the
information is confidential under Title LVII or any other
provision of the Revised Code.
(C) Notwithstanding the exceptions to public inspection in
division (A)(2) of this section, the board may furnish the
following information:
(1) If a participating employee, continuing member, or former
participant or member is subject to an order issued under
section
2907.15
of the Revised Code or is
convicted of or pleads
guilty
to a
violation of section 2921.41 of
the Revised Code, on
written
request of a prosecutor as defined in
section 2935.01 of
the
Revised Code, the board shall furnish to
the prosecutor the
information requested from the individual's
personal history
record or participant account.
(2) Pursuant to a court or administrative order issued
pursuant to Chapter 3119., 3121., 3123., or 3125. of the Revised
Code, the board
shall furnish to a court or child support
enforcement agency the
information required under that section.
(3) Pursuant to an administrative subpoena issued by a state
agency, the board shall furnish the information required by the
subpoena.
(4) The board shall comply with orders issued under section
3105.87 of the Revised Code.
(D) A statement that contains information obtained from
the
program's records that is signed by the executive director or the
director's designee and to
which the board's official seal is
affixed, or copies of the
program's records to which the
signature
and seal are attached,
shall be received as true copies
of the
board's records in any
court or before any officer of this
state.
Sec. 3105.87. The court may order a public retirement
program or the Ohio public employees deferred compensation program
to
provide information from a participant's personal
history
record
necessary to determine the amounts described in
division
(D) of
section 3105.82 of the Revised Code.
Section 2. That existing sections 148.02, 148.04, and 3105.87
of the
Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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