§ 36-7-10. Retirement system defined. (a) A retirement system for the purposes hereof shall mean any annuity, pension, or retirement fund or system established by state law or by action of a city, town, or agency of the state. Pursuant to § 218(d)(6) of the federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 418, the employees retirement system of the state of Rhode Island created by chapters 8 to 10 of this title, shall, for the purposes of §§ 36-7-1 - 36-7-31 be deemed to constitute a separate retirement system with respect to the state and a separate retirement system with respect to each city or town having positions covered thereby.

(b) Effective as of the date § 218(d)(6) of the Social Security Act, as amended by public law 880, 84th congress, is made applicable to the state of Rhode Island, the separate retirement system established by the preceding sentence with respect to the state, and the separate retirement systems established by that sentence with respect to each city or town shall, for the purposes of this chapter, also be deemed to constitute two (2) retirement systems with respect to the state, and in the case of any the city or town, two (2) retirement systems with respect to the city or town, one of which is composed of the positions of members of that system who have expressed their desire to be covered under the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., and all individuals becoming members of that system after the date coverage under the Social Security Act is extended, and the other of which is composed of the positions of members who have not expressed a desire for that coverage.

(c) In case of such division of a system in accordance with the desire of the members thereof, the position of any member of the deemed system composed of the positions of members who did not express a desire to be covered under the Social Security Act may be transferred in the manner and to the extent permitted by § 218(d) of the Social Security Act to the deemed system composed of the positions of members who did express to be so covered.

(d) Further, in case of such division of a system, an individual who is in a position covered by that retirement system and who is not a member thereof, but who is eligible to be a member, shall be considered to be a member, and social security coverage shall be obtained for that individual to the extent permitted by § 218(d)(6)(E) of the Social Security Act.

(e) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the coverage under the Social Security Act of members of the state employees' retirement system in accordance with a vote held under § 218(d)(7) of the Social Security Act.

History of Section. (P.L. 1951, ch. 2675, § 4; P.L. 1955, ch. 3546, § 4; G.L. 1956, § 36-7-10; R.P.L. 1957, ch. 98, § 2; P.L. 1959, ch. 62, § 1.)