(a) For the purposes of this section and sections 51-49e and 51-50b:

(1) “Retirement system” or “system” means the retirement provisions in sections 51-49a to 51-50b, inclusive, and section 51-51, for judges, family support magistrates and compensation commissioners;

(2) “Actuarial reserve basis” means a basis under which the liabilities of the retirement system are determined using actuarial assumptions, tables and methods and under which assets are accumulated under a program designed to achieve a balance between the accumulated assets and the liabilities of the system;

(3) “Funding” means the accumulation of assets in advance of the payment of retirement allowances in accordance with a definite actuarial program;

(4) “Normal cost” means the amount of contribution which the state is required to make into the retirement fund in order to meet the actuarial cost of current service;

(5) “Unfunded liability” means the actuarially determined value of the liability for service before the date of the actuarial valuation less the accumulated assets in the retirement fund;

(6) “Amortization of unfunded liabilities” means a systematic program of payment for the unfunded liabilities over a period of years in lieu of a payment in one sum;

(7) “Current service” means service rendered in the current fiscal year;

(8) “Retirement fund” means the Judge's Retirement Fund established by section 51-49e.

(b) The retirement system shall be funded on an actuarial reserve basis. On or before November 1, 1998, and biennially thereafter, the Retirement Commission, as administrator of the system pursuant to section 5-155a, shall certify to the General Assembly, with respect to the ensuing biennium, the amount necessary on the basis of an actuarial determination to gradually establish and subsequently maintain the retirement fund on such determined actuarial reserve basis, and make such other recommendations with regard to such fund and its administration as the commission deems appropriate. The Retirement Commission shall, at least once every two years, prepare a valuation of the assets and liabilities of the system. On the basis of each such valuation, it shall redetermine the normal rate of contribution and, until it is amortized, the unfunded past service liability. The General Assembly shall review the commission's recommendations and certification and shall appropriate to the retirement fund the amount certified by the Retirement Commission as necessary provided said certification is in compliance with this section at the time of certification, and the amount so certified shall not be reduced or used for other than the purposes of this section.

(c) The Retirement Commission shall determine on an actuarial basis (1) a normal rate of contribution which the state shall be required to make into the retirement fund in order to meet the actuarial cost of current service and (2) the unfunded past service liability. Effective July 1, 1991, the unfunded past service liability shall be funded as a level percentage of payroll. The state contribution shall be the sum of the normal cost and the amount required for a forty-year amortization of unfunded liabilities. The forty-year period for such amortization shall commence July 1, 1991.

(d) No act liberalizing the benefits of the retirement system shall be enacted by the General Assembly until the assembly has requested and received from the Retirement Commission a certification of the unfunded liability created by such change and the cost of such change under the actuarial funding basis adopted by this section using full normal cost plus thirty-year amortization. Any unfunded liability created by such change shall be amortized over a period of thirty years.

(e) The funds of the retirement system shall not be reduced or used for other than the purposes of the system.

(P.A. 81-456, S. 3; P.A. 84-546, S. 110, 173; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-10, S. 3, 20; P.A. 92-226, S. 8, 28; P.A. 98-159, S. 1, 2.)

History: P.A. 84-546 made technical change in Subsec. (b), substituting reference to Sec. 5-155a for reference to Sec. 5-155; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-10 amended Subsec. (c) to delete 6-year funding program for the actuarial reserve basis for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1982, and requirement that unfunded liability be fully amortized over 40-year period commencing with fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and added provisions that unfunded past service liability shall be funded as a level percentage of payroll effective July 1, 1991, state contribution shall be sum of normal cost and amount required for 40-year amortization of unfunded liabilities, and 40-year amortization period shall commence July 1, 1991; P.A. 92-226 redefined “retirement system” to include family support magistrates; P.A. 98-159 amended Subsec. (b) to change certification date from “on or before March first annually” to “on or before November 1, 1998, and biennially thereafter,” with respect to the ensuing biennium, effective July 1, 1998.