GA Code § 47-3-65 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 47 - Retirement and Pensions|Chapter 3 - Teachers Retirement System of Georgia|Article 4 - Membership in the Retirement System|§ 47-3-65. Membership, Rights, and Benefits in Local Retirement Funds

 Except as otherwise provided by paragraph (5) of subsection (e) of Code Section 47-3-60, teachers in the service of an employer operating a local retirement fund shall not be members of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia. Such teachers shall make no contributions to this retirement system and shall be eligible for pension benefits under this retirement system only under this Code section. If such a teacher retires under his or her local retirement fund and if at the time of his or her retirement he or she would have been eligible for service retirement under this retirement system had he or she been a member, the board of trustees shall pay from this retirement system to the managing board of the local retirement fund a pension equal to the pension for membership service which would have been payable under this retirement system in respect to the part of his or her earnable compensation payable from state funds if such member had been classified as a member of this retirement system immediately prior to the time of his or her retirement; provided, however, upon service retirement of any teacher who is a member of a local retirement fund, the local retirement fund under which such teacher retired shall receive a service retirement pension on account of his or her service thereunder, in accordance with the provisions of this Code section, which shall consist of:    A pension equal to the annuity which would have been allowable at age of retirement if such teacher had been a member of this retirement system and had made contributions of 5 percent of his or her earnable compensation payable from state funds, but not to exceed an annuity allowable at age 65, computed on the basis of such contributions as would have been made prior to age 65; and   If he or she has a prior service certificate in full force and effect, an additional pension equal to the annuity which would have been provided at age of retirement, but not to exceed an annuity which would have been provided at age 65 by three times the amount of his or her prior service accumulations as heretofore defined, with regular interest thereon from time to time in effect from the date of establishment until the date of his or her retirement, but not beyond age 65.  It shall be the duty of the employers operating local retirement funds to report to the board of trustees annually or at such other intervals as shall be set by the board of trustees the earnable compensation paid from state funds of each teacher in their employ who is paid from state funds and such other information as may be needed for establishing the prospective benefit of the member.     (Ga. L. 1943, p. 640, § 9; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 341, § 1; Ga. L. 1962, p. 723, § 9; Ga. L. 1966, p. 564, § 2; Ga. L. 1977, p. 825, §§ 6, 7; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1892, § 2; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1894, § 4; Ga. L. 1993, p. 86, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 131, § 1; Ga. L. 2010, p. 1207, § 43/SB 436.)    The 2010 amendment,  effective July 1, 2010, rewrote this Code section.   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 2010, p. 1207, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "The intent of this Act is to repeal obsolete and inoperative provisions and to make certain stylistic corrections in Title 47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Nothing in this Act shall deny, abridge, increase, renew, revive, or on any way affect any right, benefit, option, credit, or election to which any person was entitled pursuant to such title on June 30, 2010, and the board of trustees of each public retirement system is authorized and directed to provide by regulation for the continuation of any such right, benefit, option, credit, or election not otherwise covered in this Act; provided, however, that any such right, benefit, option, credit, or election shall be subject to the statutory provisions in effect on June 30, 2010."   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Cited in Fulton County School Employees Pension Fund v. Teachers Retirement Sys., 176 Ga. App. 612, 337 S.E.2d 57 (1985).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Local retirement fund precludes membership in retirement system.   - Teachers employed by employer operating local retirement fund may not be members of retirement system, although the teachers are denied participation in the local system. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 212.   Teacher moving into local retirement fund may remain in system.    - Section47-5-60(e)(5)(now deleted) was specifically enacted to allow retirement system members with ten or more years of creditable service to elect to remain in the retirement system even though they had become employed by an employer operating a local retirement fund; this change ameliorated the harsh result realized by teachers who, prior to the enactment of this provision, decided to leave a retirement-system-covered school system in which they had taught ten or more years and move to teaching positions in school systems with local retirement funds, thus having to relinquish their right to retirement system membership under subsection (a) of this statute. 1978 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U78-24 (see O.C.G.A. § 47-3-65).   Moving member cannot withdraw contributions to system.   - Member cannot withdraw contributions to retirement system upon entering employment of employer operating local fund. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-80.   Right to receive state payments vests when information furnished.   - Legal right to receive pension payments from the retirement system does not vest in the local retirement fund until such time as the information needed to establish the prospective benefit is furnished by the employers operating the local retirement system. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 612.   Teacher not allowed pension based on local retirement fund years.   - If a teacher includes previous service in a system under the retirement system toward retirement under a local retirement fund, and the retirement system pays the pension amounts on that service to the local fund, the teacher cannot be allowed pension benefits from the retirement system based on those same years for which payments are being made to the local fund as this would clearly amount to a double payment. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 74-21.   If a teacher has 15 years of accrued creditable service under the retirement system acquired after July 1, 1943, and if that teacher applies ten of those years toward a local retirement fund, after retirement at age 65, the teacher would be entitled to normal retirement benefits from the retirement system based on the five years which were not applied to the local system's account for that teacher or, in the alternative, to the minimum "floor" on these five years, whichever is greater. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-113.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 60A Am. Jur. 2d, Pensions and Retirement Funds, §§ 1229 et seq., 1231.   C.J.S.   - 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 311 et seq. 78 C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, § 338 et seq.