164.5805 Transfer of assets, liabilities, and staff positions of Kentucky Tech System -- Employee benefits and salaries of transferred employees -- Rules governing transferred employees. (1) Effective July 1, 1998, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System shall be the legal successor to the postsecondary Kentucky Tech institutions and corresponding administrative units the former Cabinet for Workforce Development and shall assume all assets and liabilities of this system, including without limitation all obligations, responsibilities, programs, staff, instructional supplies, equipment, real property, facilities, funds, and records. The Finance and Administration Cabinet shall execute the instruments necessary to transfer the real property relating to the operation of the postsecondary institutions in the Kentucky Tech System from the former Cabinet for Workforce Development to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. in (a) The staff positions in the former Department for Technical Education and the former Cabinet for Workforce Development whose responsibilities include support for the postsecondary institutions in the Kentucky Tech System and the school-based positions shall be transferred to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Selected employees of the Kentucky Tech regional offices shall be transferred and reassigned within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Appropriate central office functions from the Department for Technical Education shall be assigned within the system to carry out the administrative and support functions with the approval of the board of regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. (b) All funds related to the costs of operating the Kentucky Tech postsecondary institutions, including the administrative costs, shall be transferred to the board of regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System for carrying out the mission of the postsecondary technical institutions and colleges. (c) Funds raised by a not-for-profit or nonprofit organization for a specific program or technical institution shall be for the exclusive use of the program or that technical institution. (d) The following provisions shall apply to the employees who are transferred from the former Cabinet for Workforce Development to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, effective July 1, 1998: 1. Accumulated sick leave, compensatory time, and annual leave as of June 30, 1998, shall be transferred with each employee; 2. Employees who have earned continuing status as defined in KRS 156.800 and employees who have earned classified status as merit system employees under KRS Chapter 18A shall be provided the same standing. Those employees who are transferred and are in the process of earning continuing status or classified status shall earn their standing based on the rules that were governing them on June 30, 1998, in their respective systems. New employees within the system shall earn status based on the new policies established by the board; 3. 4. 5. 6. Employees shall transfer into the new system at a salary not less than their previous salary as of June 30, 1998; Employees shall be provided retirement plans in the same system where they are currently enrolled: the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System under KRS 161.220 or the Kentucky Employees Retirement System under KRS 61.525; Employees shall be provided a health benefits package that is available or equivalent to that provided to other state or university employees; and Employees shall be provided life insurance coverage and optional insurance or investment programs. (e) The board shall adopt rules that are the same as the administrative regulations under KRS Chapter 151B in effect on June 30, 1998, to govern the certified and equivalent employees who transfer from the former Cabinet for Workforce Development, except that the rules shall provide that all grievances and appeals shall be to the board of regents or to the board's designee. The board shall adopt rules that are the same as the administrative regulations under KRS Chapter 18A in effect on June 30, 1998, to govern the transferred classified employees, except that the rules shall provide that all grievances and appeals shall be to the board of regents or to the board's designee. A transferred employee shall have the option to elect to participate in the new Kentucky Community and Technical College personnel system in lieu of the rules under which the employee transferred. An employee who elects to accept this option may not return to the previous personnel policy. An employee shall have the right to exercise this option at any time. (2) New employees hired after July 1, 1997, in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System shall be governed by the rules and regulations established by the board, except that no housing allowance shall be provided for the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Effective: April 27, 2018 History: Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 171, sec. 17, effective April 14, 2018; and ch. 207, sec. 17, effective April 27, 2018. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 211, sec. 107, effective July 12, 2006. -- Created 1997 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 18, effective May 30, 1997. Legislative Research Commission Note (4/27/2018). This statute was amended by 2018 Ky. Acts chs. 171 and 207, which do not appear to be in conflict and have been codified together. Legislative Research Commission Note (6/25/2013). A reference to "KRS 151B.010" in subsection (1)(d)2. of this statute has been changed to "KRS 156.800." KRS 151B.010 was repealed, reenacted as KRS 156.800, and amended in 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 59, sec. 1. This statute should have been amended to conform in that Act. The Reviser of Statutes has made this correction in codification under the authority of KRS 7.136(1)(h).