Opinion ID: 2546975
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Bartleys' arrearage indebtedness for their BIA service is properly calculated under AS 14.25.060(d).

Text: Alaska Statute 14.25.060(a) applies to determine arrearage indebtedness with respect to two types of non-TRS service: (1) military or BIA service when the member first joined the service before July 1, 1990 and (2) outside service when the TRS member joined the system before July 1, 1978. This subsection, however, is modified by subsection (d), which raises the percentage multiplier to 8.65 percent for military or BIA service if a member first joined the system on or after July 1, 1990. The history of AS 14.25.060 suggests that subsection (d), with its higher multiplier, was intended to increase the percentage multiplier for arrearage indebtedness applicable to BIA service for members who did not join the TRS until after 1990. In 1977, AS 14.25.060(a) was amended to provide for a multiplier of 7.0 percent to calculate certain arrearage indebtedness: If a member has military service or Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) service, or if a member joined the system before July 1, 1978, and has creditable outside service. Sec. 3, ch. 128, SLA 1977. That description was retained when the statute was rewritten in 1980. See Sec. 6, ch. 13, SLA 1980. In 1990 the legislature changed 14.25.060(a) to its current language. Simultaneously, the legislature created AS 14.25.060(d): If a member first joined the system on or after July 1, 1990, and has military service or Alaska BIA service, the member's indebtedness shall be determined under (a) of this section except that the percentage multiplier is 8.65 percent. Sec. 3, ch. 97, SLA 1990. The effective date for both changes was July 1, 1990. See Sec. 18, ch. 97, SLA 1990. Historical context suggests that the 1990 revisions continued to require arrearage indebtedness for BIA service to be calculated using a percentage multiplier for members who began their Alaska BIA service before July 1, 1990. But, under AS 14.25.060(d), if the member who performed such service did not join the TRS system until on or after July 1, 1990, then the arrearage indebtedness for this Alaska BIA service is calculated using 8.65 percent, rather than 7.0 percent, as the base salary multiplier. The Bartleys joined the TRS system after July 1, 1990 and had BIA service prior to 1990. Alaska Statute 14.25.060(d), enacted in 1990 before the Bartleys joined the TRS system, covers the Bartleys' situation with respect to their BIA service. Because the Bartleys performed the BIA service before 1990 they are entitled to have their arrearage indebtedness for that service calculated using a percentage multiplier, rather than actuarial cost. But because they did not join the TRS system until after July 1, 1990, the correct multiplier is 8.65 percent. The Board did not err in approving the Division's calculations of the Bartleys' arrearage indebtedness for Alaska BIA service. The Bartleys suggest that they were constitutionally entitled to a calculation using 7.0 percent as the multiplier because that rate was formerly available to all TRS members who had served in the BIA before 1975. But the right to accrued pension benefits, arising from article XII, section 7 of the Alaska Constitution, attaches upon enrollment in TRS. See Flisock v. State, Division of Retirement & Benefits, 818 P.2d 640, 643 (Alaska 1991). The Bartleys are thus constitutionally entitled to have their pension benefits calculated under the law in effect when they joined TRS in 1991, not the law that was in effect when they joined the Alaska BIA service in 1968.