HB 51 / AA (BR 230) - J. Nemes, C. Morgan, P. Pratt

     AN ACT relating to retirement benefits for legislators.
     Create new sections of KRS 6.500 to 6.577 to permit a member or retiree of the Legislators' Retirement Plan to opt out of the traditional defined benefit plan and elect to participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System's hybrid cash balance plan for nonhazardous employees under KRS 61.597; specify that, on the member's effective election date, the value of the active member's accumulated account balance or a lump-sum payment of the actuarial value of the retiree's benefits be deposited into the member's hybrid cash balance account and be considered part of the member's accumulated account balance in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System; specify that on an active member's effective election date, an employer pay credit shall be applied to the member's accumulated account balance for each contributing month prior to the effective election date; require the Judicial Form Retirement System and the Kentucky Retirement Systems to provide the electing member with information detailing the consequences of the member's or retiree's election; specify that a member or retiree is not eligible to make an election until a private letter ruling by the IRS is received; make the benefit election under this section irrevocable; amend KRS 6.505 to close the Legislators' Retirement Plan to new members effective August 1, 2018, and transfer all legislative members' in the hybrid cash balance plan to the hybrid cash balance plan in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System; make conforming amendments to KRS 21.374, 21.402, and 61.597; amend KRS 141.010 and 141.020 to provide that, effective for taxable years on or after January 1, 2019, members and retirees of the Legislators' Retirement Plan who do not opt out of the traditional defined benefit plan and elect to participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System's hybrid cash balance plan have any retirement distributions exceeding $80,000 taxed at a rate of 75%.