Arizona § 38-712 - ASRS purpose; trust fund

§ 38-712. ASRS purpose; trust fund

A. The primary intent of ASRS is to:

1. Provide an incentive in the recruitment and retention of employees of the highest possible quality.

2. Contribute toward providing a total compensation package that is generally equivalent to comparable employment in other public and private organizations in this state.

3. Provide a retirement system that encourages employees to remain in service for periods of time that will provide public employers with the full benefit of the training and experience gained by the employees.

4. Provide an orderly method of promoting and maintaining a high level of service to the public through an equitable separation procedure that is available to employees at retirement or on becoming a person with a disability.

5. Provide a base retirement benefit that is less than one hundred per cent of a member's post-retirement income requirements, recognizing that personal savings and social security also contribute toward total post-retirement income requirements.

B. ASRS is a defined benefit plan as described in section 414(j) of the internal revenue code. As provided in section 38-771, some eligible members of ASRS are entitled to benefits under the defined contribution program administered by ASRS. With respect to the portion of ASRS that provides benefits to members entitled to benefits under the defined contribution program that are derived from employer contributions and that are based partly on the balance of the separate account of a member, ASRS is a plan described in section 414(k) of the internal revenue code and shall comply with all applicable provisions of section 414(k) of the internal revenue code.

C. A public employee's retirement trust fund is established to afford an optimum degree of security to the members of ASRS. All monies and other assets of ASRS are a part of the trust fund. All accounts, depositories and funds of ASRS are included within the trust fund.

D. Except as provided in section 38-738, an employer does not have a beneficial interest in any asset of the trust fund, and no part of the trust fund may ever revert to or be paid, directly or indirectly, to an employer. All liabilities with respect to members and their beneficiaries shall be satisfied before any part of the corpus or income of the trust fund is used for or diverted to purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of members or their beneficiaries.