Amends TCA Section 8-25-213.

Under present law, there is an optional retirement program for employees of public institutions of higher education operated by the board of regents and the board of trustees of the University of Tennessee. Any person receiving benefits from the optional retirement program who returns to service on other than a full-time basis in a position covered by the optional program is subject to the applicable work and compensation limits as follows: <br /> <br /> (1) During a 12-month period, that person does not work more than 120 days, or the equivalent of 120 days; or, if employed as a teacher by an institution of higher learning, 24 quarter credit hours or 18 semester credit hours;<br /> <br /> (2) For temporary employment periods commencing on or after July 1, 2002, the entire compensation payable to the retired member for the work must not exceed an amount equal to the sum of 60 percent of the annual full-time salary received by the retired member in the year immediately prior to the member's last paid day of covered employment, adjusted by 5 percent for each year since the member's last paid day of covered employment or by such other percentage as may be determined by the treasurer and the commissioner of human resources. In determining such percentage for any given year, the treasurer and commissioner may consider any matter which, in their discretion, they deem relevant, including the condition of the labor market and the ability to fill the respective positions; and<br /> <br /> (3) As a condition of the employment, the person is not eligible for additional contributions to the person's optional retirement account, nor eligible to accrue retirement credit in the retirement system during that person's period of reemployment. <br /> <br /> This bill rewrites the provisions above to provide, instead, that a person returning to service on other than a full-time basis in a position covered by the optional retirement program or the Tennessee consolidated retirement system (TCRS) may take or continue taking distributions from the optional retirement program as long as the person complies with (1)-(3) above and is subject to applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulations, notices and guidances, and optional retirement program plan terms relative to distributions, including in-service distributions. <br />