(a) There shall be a retirement system which shall constitute a body corporate and shall be under the management of the Board of Control for the purpose of providing retirement allowances and other benefits under the provisions of this chapter for teachers of the State of Alabama. The retirement system shall be established as of October 1, 1940, or as soon thereafter as the Governor by proclamation declares the funds accruing to the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama are sufficient to meet the obligations of the "normal contribution" on October 1, of a year following 1940. It shall have the power and privileges of a corporation and shall be known as the "Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama," and by such name all of its business shall be transacted, all of its funds invested and all of its cash and securities and other property held in trust for the purpose for which received.

(b) Any provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Boards of Control of the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama and the Employees' Retirement System of Alabama shall have vested in them all powers necessary to fulfill their fiduciary duty as trustees to members of each respective system including the power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in their own names; provided, however, that as instrumentalities of the state funded by the state, the retirement systems, their officers, and employees shall be immune from suit to the same extent as the state, its agencies, officers, and employees.