(1) Every employer in this state shall provide the pension benefits of the statewide retirement plan established by part 31.5 of this title 31 for members hired on or after April 8, 1978, except for the following: (a) Any employer that began covering members under the federal "Social Security Act" on or before August 11, 2005, and any employer that began covering members under the federal "Social Security Act" on or before August 11, 2005, that chooses to cover members hired after August 11, 2005, under the federal "Social Security Act"; (b) Any employer that covers members under an exempt plan established pursuant to part 8 of article 30.5 of this title 31; (c) Any employer that withdrew its members from the statewide defined benefit plan pursuant to section 31-31-601, as said section existed prior to its repeal, and established a locally administered and financed alternative pension plan; (d) Any employer that has withdrawn its members from the defined benefit component of the statewide retirement plan for the purpose of covering them under the statewide money purchase plan established pursuant to part 5 of this article 31; and (e) Any employer that covers a member hired on or after April 8, 1978, but before January 1, 1980, under an old hire pension plan as permitted by section 31-30.5-103 (1). (2) Nothing in this part 4 shall affect retirement pensions or disability or survivor benefits of members hired prior to April 8, 1978, who retired, were disabled, or died prior to January 1, 1980. (3) Where an employer results from a merger, a consolidation, or an exclusion or dissolution proceeding between or among one or more employers, including a new governmental entity created by intergovernmental agreement between or among one or more employers, all members transferred to or employed by such resulting employer shall, for the purposes of this article 31 and articles 30.5 and 31.5 of this title 31, have those rights and obligations they had prior to the merger, consolidation, exclusion, dissolution, or intergovernmental agreement. In the event of a transfer of members, provision shall be made in such agreement or proceeding for allocation and transfer of plan assets, and, in the event of the transfer of members of a defined benefit plan, provision shall be made in such agreement or proceeding for discharging plan liabilities and funding in order to maintain or enhance the actuarial soundness of the remaining and resulting plans. If the resulting employer had no members prior to the merger, consolidation, exclusion, or dissolution, it may continue as its plan any plan of a transferring employer, authorized by this article, for its members hired after the effective date of the agreement or proceeding or the resulting employer shall belong to the statewide retirement plan. The board may authorize the resulting employer to consolidate preexisting retirement plans and any retirement plan attributable solely to the resulting employer into one or more plans if the plans to be consolidated are identical, the benefits are equal for all members covered under the retirement provisions of the plans, and no member suffers a reduction of benefits or an increase in member contributions due to such plan consolidation. Any member employed by a predecessor department who participated in a money purchase plan prior to the merger, consolidation, exclusion, or dissolution and who participates in the statewide retirement plan after the merger, consolidation, exclusion, or dissolution shall pay the continuing uniform rate of contribution established by the board pursuant to section 31-31.5-305. (4) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2022.) (5) A member normally serving less than one thousand six hundred hours in any calendar year shall be exempted from the lifetime benefit components of the statewide retirement plan and shall be covered under the statewide money purchase plan. (6) If an employer that is otherwise required to enroll its members under a plan fails to properly enroll such members, neither the fire and police pension association nor the defined benefit system trust fund is obligated or liable for any purpose to any person or employer arising from such failure.
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