PART II.  RETIREMENT FOR PUBLIC OFFICERS



AND EMPLOYEES



 



A.  Definitions; Board of Trustees



 



§88-21 
Definitions.  The following words and phrases as used in this part, unless
a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the
following meanings:



"Accidental
death":  death that is the natural and proximate result of an accident
occurring at some definite time and place while the member was in the actual
performance of duty, or due to the result of some occupational hazard, and not
caused by wilful negligence on the part of the member.



"Accumulated
contributions":  the sum of all the amounts paid by, or deducted from the
compensation of, a member and credited to the member's individual account in
the annuity savings fund together with regular interest thereon.



"Active
member":  a member who is an employee.



"Actuarial
equivalent":  a benefit of equal value to the accumulated contributions,
annuity, pension or retirement allowance, when computed upon the basis of the
actuarial tables and other assumptions approved by the board of trustees from
time to time and specified in writing.



"Annuity": 
benefit payments for life derived from the accumulated contributions of a
member.



"Average final
compensation":  the average annual compensation as described in section
88-81, which becomes part of the formula for the computation of a retirement
allowance.



"Beneficiary": 
the recipient of any benefit from the system or, as the context may indicate,
the person or persons designated by a member, former member, or retirant, or as
provided by law to receive the benefits payable in the event of the member's,
former member's, or retirant's death.



"Board": 
the board of trustees of the employees' retirement system established pursuant
to sections 88-23 and 88-24.



"Child or
children":



(1)  A natural child of a
member;



(2)  A legally adopted
child of a member; or



(3)  A stepchild of a
member:



(A)  Who lives with
a member in a regular parent-child relationship; and



(B)  For whom the
member has become the child's legal guardian or has been awarded legal and
physical custody of the child pursuant to a valid court order.



"Corrections
officers":  all regularly employed personnel who are designated as adult
corrections officers pursuant to the classification of positions under chapter
76.



"County": 
the counties of Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui, including their respective
boards of water supply and other quasi-independent boards, commissions and
agencies.



"Credited
service":  prior service plus membership service.



"Elective
officer" or "elective official":  any person elected to a public
office or appointed to fill a vacancy of an elective office, except as a
delegate to a constitutional convention or member of the board of education, in
accordance with an election duly held in the State or counties under chapter
11; provided that the person receives compensation, pay, or salary for such
office.



"Emergency
medical technician" means a person regularly employed by the city and
county of Honolulu's emergency services department whose principal duty is to
provide emergency medical services and who is licensed to provide emergency
medical services.



"Employee": 
any employee or officer of the State or any county, including inspectors,
principals, teachers and special teachers, regularly employed in the public
schools, cafeteria managers and cafeteria workers, apprentices and on-the-job
trainees whether or not supported in whole or in part by any federal grants,
members of the legislature and other elective officers, including the trustees
of the office of Hawaiian affairs, year-round legislative employees who are
employed on a full-time basis, probationary and provisional employees, any
employee of the educational nonprofit public corporation as provided in section
88-49.7, per diem employees and others who are made eligible by reason of their
employment to membership in the system by or pursuant to any other provision of
law, but excluding:



(1)  Per diem employees who
elect to withdraw or not to become members as provided in section 88-42;



(2)  Elective officers who
do not elect to be members as provided in section 88-42.6;



(3)  Session employees of
the legislature employed after October 31, 2006, in accordance with section
88-54.2; and



(4)  Persons excluded by
rules of the board pursuant to section 88-43.



An individual is an
employee during the period of a leave of absence if the individual is in
service, as defined in this part, during the period of the leave of absence and
the board shall determine who are employees within the meaning of this part.



"Firefighters": 
all regularly employed members of the State, including employees of the
department of transportation who were assigned firefighting duties at state
airports prior to June 3, 1978, or of the fire departments of the counties,
whose principal duties are to prevent and fight fires.



"Judge": 
a justice of the supreme court, a judge of the intermediate appellate court, a
judge of the circuit court, a judge of the district court, or a district family
court judge of this State.



"Legislative
officer" means a chief clerk, an assistant chief clerk, a sergeant at
arms, or an assistant sergeant at arms of either house of the legislature.



"Medical
board":  the board of physicians provided for in section 88-31.



"Member": 
any person included in the membership of the system.



"Membership
service":  all service rendered by a member for which the member had made
the required contributions to the system.



"Narcotics
enforcement investigators":  those officers or employees with police
powers as defined by chapter 329 who actively enforce narcotics or related
statutory provisions on a full-time basis.



"Ordinary
death":  death that is not accidental and that occurs while in service or
on authorized leave without pay.



"Pensions": 
benefit payment for life derived from money provided by the State or county, as
the case may be.



"Per diem
worker":  a person employed and compensated on an hourly or daily basis.



"Police
officers":  all duly commissioned members of the police department of the
several counties whose principal duties are law enforcement and who are paid on
a monthly salary basis, including without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, all police matrons and guards who work under the jurisdiction of
such departments.



"Prior
service":  service rendered by a member to the State, territory or county
or predecessor government prior to the establishment of the system or, as
specifically provided in this part, prior to the admission of certain groups or
classes of employees into the system membership.



"Public safety
investigations staff investigators":  those employees in the
investigations staff office of the department of public safety who have been
conferred police powers by the director of public safety in accordance with
section 353C-4 and are in the positions of investigator I to VII.



"Regular
interest":  interest at four and one-half per cent a year, compounded
annually.



"Retirant": 
a member who has retired and becomes a beneficiary of the system.



"Retirement
allowance":  the benefit payable for life as originally computed and paid
a member at the point of the member's retirement in accordance with the
retirement allowance option selected by the member, exclusive of any bonus or
bonuses.



"Service": 
service as an employee paid by the State or county, and also:  service during
the period of a leave of absence or exchange if the individual is paid by the
State or county during the period of the leave of absence or exchange; and
service during the period of an unpaid leave of absence or exchange if the
individual is engaged in the performance of a governmental function or if the
unpaid leave of absence is an approved leave of absence for professional
improvement; provided that, for the period of the leave of absence or exchange
without pay, the individual makes the same contribution to the system as the
individual would have made if the individual had not been on the leave of
absence.  Cafeteria managers and cafeteria workers shall be considered as paid
by the State, regardless of the source of funds from which they are paid.



"Service
retirement":  retirement of a member for age or length of service.



"Sewer
worker":  an employee of any county who is employed in any of the
following classifications:  (1) sewer maintenance helper or wastewater
collection system helper, (2) sewer maintenance repairer or wastewater
collection system repairer, (3) sewer maintenance supervisor I and II or
wastewater collection system supervisor I and II, (4) gas detector, (5) gas detector
helper, (6) gas detection supervisor, (7) cesspool worker, (8) cesspool pumping
equipment operator I, (9) cesspool pumping equipment operator II, (10) cesspool
pumping supervisor, or in any combination of these classifications.



"System": 
the employees' retirement system of the State of Hawaii.



"Water safety
officer":  any regularly employed member of any county of the State whose
principal duty is to stand guard over the beaches of the State and counties to
ensure the safety of individuals thereon.



"Year round school employee":  any teacher,
school administrator, school health aide, educational assistant, school
security attendant, or other salaried ten-month department of education
employee working in a public school operating under a single-track restructured
instructional schedule. [L 1925, c 55, §1; am imp L 1927, c 251, especially
§§1, 2, 5; am L 1929, c 96, §19; RL 1935, §7920; am imp L 1937, c 235; RL 1945,
§701; am L 1945, c 73, §1(a); am L 1947, c 85, §1(a); am L 1951, c 110, §1(a);
am L 1953, c 37, §1(a), (b); am L 1955, c 141, §1(a), (b); RL 1955, §6-20; am L
1957, c 43, §1, c 143, §1, and c 231, §1(a); am L 1959, c 60, §1; am L 1961, c
181, §1; am imp L 1963, c 127, §20; am L 1965, c 222, §§1, 2; am L 1967, c 98,
§2, c 130, §1, and c 176, §1; HRS §88-21; am L 1969, c 110, pt of §1; am L
1972, c 36, §1; am L 1973, c 179, §26; am L 1975, c 82, §19(a); am L 1977, c
191, §2; am L 1978, c 193, §1; am L 1979, c 111, §8; am L 1982, c 165, §1; gen
ch 1985; am L 1987, c 299, §1; am L 1988, c 242, §2; am L 1989, c 339, §1 and c
343, §1; am L 1993, c 357, §1(1); am L 1994, c 108, §2 and c 196, §2; am L
1997, c 374, §1; am L 2002, c 183, §5; am L 2003, c 199, §2; am L 2004, c 182,
§3; am L 2005, c 58, §2; am L 2006, c 169, §§1, 4; am L 2007, c 2, §2 and c
215, §2; am L 2008, c 41, §3 and c 47, §3]



 



Attorney General Opinions



 



  Constitutional under Article XVI, section 2 and Article I,
section 5 of the State Constitution.  Att. Gen. Op. 87-4.



 



Case Notes



 



  Mentioned:  74 H. 181, 840 P.2d 367.