40.03(2)(m)
(m) Shall have all other powers necessary to carry out the purposes and provisions of this chapter, except as otherwise specifically provided by this chapter.
40.03(2)(n)
(n) Shall have any additional powers and duties as are delegated by the board.
40.03(2)(p)
(p) Shall establish procedures for and conduct the elections of board members required under
ss. 15.16 (1) (d) and
15.165 (3) (a) 1.,
2.,
6. and
7. The procedures shall include the establishment of a nominating process and shall provide for the distribution of ballots to all participating employes and annuitants eligible to vote in the election.
40.03(2)(q)
(q) Shall promulgate rules governing the times when separate retirement systems may send or deliver funds under
sub. (1) (n) or withdraw those funds, the amounts of money that may be sent, delivered or withdrawn, the valuation of money that has been sent, delivered or withdrawn, and the distribution of investment income among the retirement systems. These rules may modify the accounting and valuation bases and the investment earnings distribution procedures of the Wisconsin retirement system to the extent necessary to achieve equity among the various retirement systems.
40.03(2)(r)
(r) Shall promulgate rules governing the times for making lump sum payments that are authorized under this chapter to be made to or from the Wisconsin retirement system and governing the valuation of money that has been sent, delivered or withdrawn, and the distribution of investment income to be credited on those amounts. The rules may modify the accounting and valuation bases and the investment earnings distribution procedures of the Wisconsin retirement system to the extent necessary to achieve equity among the various types of payments and contributions to, and payments from, the Wisconsin retirement system.
40.03(2)(t)
(t) Shall ensure that the Wisconsin retirement system complies with the internal revenue code as a qualified plan for income tax purposes and shall ensure that each benefit plan is administered in a manner consistent with all internal revenue code provisions that authorize and regulate the benefit plan.
40.03(2)(u)
(u) Shall ensure that the department include on all publications that are printed beginning on October 14, 1997, and that are intended for distribution to participants the toll-free telephone number of the department, if the department has such a telephone number.
40.03(3)
(3) Department of justice. The department of justice shall furnish legal counsel and shall prosecute or defend all actions brought by or against the board, department, group insurance board or any employe of the department as a result of the performance of the department employe's duties.
40.03(4)
(4) State treasurer. The state treasurer shall be the treasurer of the fund.
40.03(5)
(5) Actuary. The actuary or actuarial firm retained under
sub. (1) (d):
40.03(5)(a)
(a) Shall be the technical adviser of the board, the secretary and the group insurance board on any matters of an actuarial nature affecting the soundness of the fund or requiring any changes for more satisfactory operation.
40.03(5)(b)
(b) Shall make a general investigation at least once every 3 years of the experience of the Wisconsin retirement system relating to mortality, disability, retirement, separation, interest, employe earnings rates and of any other factors deemed pertinent and to certify, as a result of each investigation, the actuarial assumptions to be used for computing employer contribution rates, the assumed rate and the tables to be used for computing annuities and benefits, provided the tables shall not provide different benefits on the basis of sex for participants or beneficiaries similarly situated. If the assumed rate changes, the actuary shall at the same time adjust the assumptions for future changes in employe earnings rates to be consistent with the new assumed rate. The recommended actuarial assumptions shall be based on the system's own experience as identified in the general investigations unless lack of adequate information or unusual circumstances are specifically identified and fully described which require use of other groups' experience and such other experience is not inconsistent with the system's own experience. When considering or implementing new or changed benefit provisions and areas of risk, the assumptions may be based solely on the experience of other groups until 5 years of the system's own experience is available for use as long as such other experience is not inconsistent with the system's own experience.
40.03(5)(c)
(c) Shall determine the proper rates of premiums and contributions required, or advise as to the appropriateness of premium rates proposed by independent insurers, for each of the benefit plans provided for by this chapter.
40.03(5)(d)
(d) Shall make an annual valuation of the liabilities and reserves required to pay both present and prospective benefits.
40.03(5)(e)
(e) Shall certify the actuarial figures on the annual financial statements required under
sub. (2) (e).
40.03(6)
(6) Group insurance board. The group insurance board:
40.03(6)(a)1.1. Shall, on behalf of the state, enter into a contract or contracts with one or more insurers authorized to transact insurance business in this state for the purpose of providing the group insurance plans provided for by this chapter; or
40.03(6)(a)2.
2. May, wholly or partially in lieu of
subd. 1., on behalf of the state, provide any group insurance plan on a self-insured basis in which case the group insurance board shall approve a written description setting forth the terms and conditions of the plan, and may contract directly with providers of hospital, medical or ancillary services to provide insured employes with the benefits provided under this chapter.
40.03(6)(b)
(b) May provide other group insurance plans for employes and their dependents and for annuitants and their dependents in addition to the group insurance plans specifically provided under this chapter. The terms of the group insurance under this paragraph shall be determined by contract, and shall provide that the employer is not liable for any obligations accruing from the operation of any group insurance plan under this paragraph except as agreed to by the employer.
40.03(6)(c)
(c) Shall not enter into any agreements to modify or expand group insurance coverage in a manner which conflicts with this chapter or rules of the department or materially affects the level of premiums required to be paid by the state or its employes, or the level of benefits to be provided, under any group insurance coverage. This restriction shall not be construed to prevent modifications required by law, prohibit the group insurance board from providing optional insurance coverages as alternatives to the standard insurance coverage when any excess of required premium over the premium for the standard coverage is paid by the employe or prohibit the group insurance board from providing other plans as authorized under
par. (b).
40.03(6)(d)
(d) May take any action as trustees which is deemed advisable and not specifically prohibited or delegated to some other governmental agency, to carry out the purpose and intent of the group insurance plans provided under this chapter, including, but not limited to, provisions in the appropriate contracts relating to:
40.03(6)(d)1.
1. Eligibility of active and retired employes to participate, or providing the employe the opportunity to decline participation or to withdraw.
40.03(6)(d)3.
3. Enrollment periods and the time group insurance coverage shall be effective.
40.03(6)(d)4.
4. The time that changes in coverage and premium payments shall take effect.
40.03(6)(d)5.
5. The terms and conditions of the insurance contract or contracts, including the amount of premium.
40.03(6)(d)6.
6. The date group insurance contracts shall be effective.
40.03(6)(e)
(e) Shall apportion all excess moneys becoming available to it through operation of the group insurance plans to reduce premium payments in following contract years or to establish reserves to stabilize costs in subsequent years. If it is determined that the excess became available due to favorable experience of specific groups of employers or specific employe groups, the apportionment may be made in a manner designated to benefit the specific employers or employe groups only, or to a greater extent than other employers and employe groups.
40.03(6)(f)
(f) Shall take prompt action to liquidate any actuarial or cash deficit which occurs in the accounts and reserves maintained in the fund for any group insurance benefit plan.
40.03(6)(g)
(g) Shall determine the amount of insurance and extent of coverage provided and amount of premiums required during a union service leave. The amount of insurance and extent of coverage shall be not less than that in effect immediately preceding the commencement of the union service leave.
40.03(6)(h)
(h) Shall, on behalf of the state, offer as provided in
s. 40.55 long-term care insurance policies, subject to the following conditions:
40.03(6)(h)2.
2. For purposes of this section, the offering by the state of long-term health insurance policies shall constitute a group insurance plan under
par. (a) 1.
40.03(6)(i)
(i) May accept timely appeals of determinations made by the department affecting any right or benefit under any group insurance plan provided for under this chapter.
40.03(6)(j)
(j) May contract with the department of health and family services and may contract with other public or private entities for data collection and analysis services related to health maintenance organizations and insurance companies that provide health insurance to state employes.
40.03(7)
(7) Teachers retirement board. The teachers retirement board:
40.03(7)(a)
(a) Shall appoint 4 members of the employe trust funds board as provided under
s. 15.16 (1).
40.03(7)(b)
(b) Shall study and recommend to the secretary and the employe trust funds board alternative administrative policies and rules which will enhance the achievement of the objectives of the benefit programs for teacher participants.
40.03(7)(d)
(d) Shall approve or reject all administrative rules proposed by the secretary under
sub. (2) (i) that relate to teachers, except rules promulgated under
s. 40.30.
40.03(7)(e)
(e) Shall authorize and terminate the payment of disability annuity payments to teacher participants in accordance with this chapter.
40.03(7)(f)
(f) Shall accept timely appeals of determinations made by the department regarding disability annuities for teacher participants in accordance with
s. 40.63 (5) and
(9) (d).
40.03(7)(g)
(g) May amend any rule of the department, the Milwaukee teachers retirement board, the state teachers retirement board and the Wisconsin retirement fund board, which are in effect on January 1, 1982, in such a manner as to make it no longer applicable to teacher participants.
40.03(8)
(8) Wisconsin retirement board. The Wisconsin retirement board:
40.03(8)(a)
(a) Shall appoint 4 members of the employe trust funds board as provided under
s. 15.16 (1).
40.03(8)(b)
(b) Shall study and recommend to the secretary and the employe trust funds board alternative administrative policies and rules which will enhance the achievement of the objectives of the benefit programs for participants other than teachers.
40.03(8)(d)
(d) Shall approve or reject all administrative rules proposed by the secretary under
sub. (2) (i) that relate to participants other than teachers, except rules promulgated under
s. 40.30.
40.03(8)(e)
(e) Shall authorize and terminate the payment of disability annuity payments to participants other than teachers in accordance with this chapter.
40.03(8)(f)
(f) Shall accept timely appeals of determinations made by the department regarding disability annuities for participants other than teachers in accordance with
s. 40.63 (5) and
(9) (d).
40.03(8)(g)
(g) May amend any rule of the department, the Milwaukee teachers retirement board, the state teachers retirement board and the Wisconsin retirement fund board, which are in effect on January 1, 1982, in such a manner as to make it no longer applicable to participants other than teachers.
40.03(9)
(9) Deferred compensation board. The deferred compensation board shall have the powers and duties provided under
s. 40.80 (2) and
(2m).
40.03 Annotation
The insurance subrogation law permitting a subrogated insurer to be reimbursed only if the insured has been made whole applies to the state employe health plan. Leonard v. Dusek, 184 W (2d) 267, 516 NW (2d) 463 (Ct. App. 1994).
40.04
40.04
Accounts and reserves. 40.04(1)
(1) The separate accounts and reserves under
subs. (2) to
(10) and any additional accounts and reserves determined by the department to be useful in achieving the fund's purposes, or necessary to protect the interests of the participants or the future solvency of the fund, shall be maintained within the fund. The accounts and reserves maintained for each benefit plan shall fairly reflect the operations of that benefit plan. Any deficit occurring within the accounts of a benefit plan shall be eliminated as soon as feasible by increasing the premiums, contributions or other charges applicable to that benefit plan. Until eliminated, any deficit shall be charged with interest at the rate the funds would have earned if there had been no deficit.
40.04(2)(a)(a) An administrative account shall be maintained within the fund from which administrative costs of the department shall be paid, except charges for services performed by the investment board, costs of medical and vocational evaluations used in determinations of eligibility for benefits under
ss. 40.61,
40.63 and
40.65 and costs of contracting for insurance data collection and analysis services under
s. 40.03 (6) (j).
40.04(2)(b)
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, investment income of this fund and moneys received for services performed or to be performed by the department shall be credited to this account.
40.04(2)(c)
(c) The secretary shall estimate the administrative costs to be incurred by the department in each fiscal year and shall also estimate the investment income which will be credited to this account in the fiscal year. The estimated administrative costs less the estimated investment income shall be equitably allocated by the secretary, with due consideration being given to the derivation and amount of the investment income, to the several benefit plans administered by the department. In determining the amount of the allocation, adjustments shall be made for any difference in prior years between the actual administrative costs and investment income from that originally estimated under this paragraph. An amount equal to the adjusted allocated costs shall be transferred to this account from the investment earnings credited to the respective benefit plan accounts and from payments by the respective insurers or employe-funded reimbursement plan providers for administrative services.
40.04(2)(d)
(d) The costs of investing the assets of the benefit plans and retirement systems, including all costs due to
s. 40.03 (1) (n), shall be paid from the appropriation under
s. 20.515 (1) (r) and charged directly against the appropriate investment income or reserve accounts of the benefit plan or retirement system receiving the services.
40.04(3)
(3) A fixed retirement investment trust and a variable retirement investment trust shall be maintained within the fund under the jurisdiction and management of the investment board for the purpose of managing the investments of the retirement reserve accounts and of any other accounts of the fund as determined by the board, including the accounts of separate retirement systems. Within the fixed retirement investment trust there shall be maintained a transaction amortization account and a current income account, and any other accounts as are established by the board or the investment board. A current income account shall be maintained in the variable retirement investment trust. All costs of owning, operating, protecting and acquiring property in which either trust has an interest shall be charged to the current income or transaction amortization account of the trust having the interest in the property.
40.04(3)(a)
(a) All earnings, profits or losses of the fixed retirement investment trust and the net gain or loss of the variable retirement investment trust shall be distributed annually on December 31 to each participating account in the same ratio as each account's average daily balance within the respective trust bears to the total average daily balance of all participating accounts in that trust. For the fixed retirement investment trust the amount to be distributed shall be the then balance of the current income account plus 20% of the then balance of the transaction amortization account. For the variable retirement investment trust the amount to be distributed shall be the excess of the increase within the period in the value of the assets of the trust resulting from income from the investments of the trust and from the sale or appreciation in value of any investment of the trust, over the decrease within the period in the value of the assets resulting from the sale or the depreciation in value of any investments of the trust.
40.04(3)(b)
(b) The assets of the fixed retirement investment trust shall be commingled and the assets of the variable retirement investment trust shall be commingled. No particular contributing benefit plan shall have any right in any specific item of cash, investment or other property in either trust other than an undivided interest in the whole as provided in this paragraph. The department of administration shall maintain any records as may be required to account for each contributing account's share in the corresponding trust except that the employe accumulation reserve, the employer accumulation reserve and the annuity reserve shall be treated as a single account, except as provided in
sub. (7).
40.04(3)(c)
(c) The department shall advise the investment board and the state treasurer as to the limitations on the amounts of cash to be invested from investment trusts under this subsection in order to maintain the cash balances deemed advisable to meet current annuity, benefit and expense requirements.
40.04(3)(d)
(d) Notwithstanding
par. (a), assets of the fixed retirement investment trust which are authorized to be invested in common or preferred stock may, if authorized by rule, be invested as a part of the variable retirement investment trust with that portion of the annual distributions of net gains or losses to the fixed retirement investment trust from the variable retirement investment trust as provided in
par. (a) which results from transactions or events described in
s. 25.17 (14) (f) being credited to the transaction amortization account and the balance of the distributions being credited to the current income account.
40.04(4)(a)(a) An employe accumulation reserve, within which a separate account shall be maintained for each participant, shall be maintained within the fund and:
40.04(4)(a)2.
2. Credited as of each December 31 with interest on the prior year's closing balance at the effective rate on all employe required contribution accumulations in the variable annuity division, on all employe required contributions in the fixed annuity division on December 31, 1984, on all employe required contributions in the fixed annuity division of participants who are not participating employes after December 31, 1984, and on all employe and employer additional contribution accumulations and with interest on the prior year's closing balance at the assumed benefit rate on all employe required contribution accumulations in the fixed annuity division for participants who are participating employes after December 31, 1984.
40.04(4)(a)2m.
2m. Debited, if a participant terminates covered employment on or after January 1, 1990, and applies for a benefit under
s. 40.25 (2), with an amount equal to the amount by which the fixed annuity division interest credited on or after January 1, 1990, to employe required contributions, exceeds the interest crediting at an annual rate of 3% on each prior year's closing balance.
40.04(4)(a)3.
3. Debited by the amount available in any participant's account for funding a benefit elected by the participant or the participant's beneficiary. When the amount available has been applied to funding the benefit, no further right to the amounts, or to corresponding creditable service and employer contribution accumulations, shall exist other than the right to the annuity or benefit so granted except as provided in
s. 40.26 or
40.63 (10).
40.04(4)(b)
(b) Whenever a payment under
s. 40.25 (4), an annuity or a death benefit is computed, the prior year's closing balance of all employe contribution accumulations and any accounts maintained for individual participants shall be credited with interest for each full month elapsing between the first day of the calendar year and the annuity effective date or the month in which the payment of a benefit under
s. 40.25 (4) is approved at one-twelfth of the assumed benefit rate. The interest so credited shall be charged to the interest earnings for the current year and shall be paid out or transferred with the amount to which it was so credited.
40.04(4)(bm)
(bm) Whenever a payment under
s. 40.25 (1) is computed under
s. 40.23 (3), the prior year's closing balance of all employe and employer contribution accumulations and any accounts maintained for individual participants shall be credited with interest for each full month elapsing between the first day of the calendar year and the month in which the payment under
s. 40.25 (1) is approved at one-twelfth of the assumed benefit rate. The interest so credited shall be charged to the interest earnings for the current year and shall be paid out or transferred with the amount to which it was so credited.
40.04(4)(c)
(c) Whenever a participant's account is reestablished under
s. 40.26 (2) or
40.63 (10), in lieu of interest credits as provided in
par. (a), any balances remaining in the account at the end of the calendar year in which reestablished shall be credited with interest at one-twelfth the assumed benefit rate for the year for each full month between the date the account was reestablished and the end of the calendar year.
40.04(5)
(5) An employer accumulation reserve shall be maintained within the fund to which, without regard to the identity of the individual employer, shall be:
40.04(5)(a)
(a) Credited all employer required contributions.
40.04(5)(b)
(b) Credited, as of each December 31, all fixed annuity division interest not credited to other accounts and reserves under this section.
40.04(5)(c)
(c) Debited the aggregate excess of the amount of each single sum benefit or in the case of an annuity the present value of the annuity over the amount equal to the accumulated credits of the participant in the employe accumulation reserve applied to provide for the benefit or annuity.
40.04(5)(d)
(d) Credited as of the date of termination of any annuity under
s. 40.26 or
40.63 (9) (c) with the excess of the then present value of the terminated annuity over the aggregate amount of credits reestablished in the accounts of the participant.
40.04(5)(e)
(e) Credited all amounts waived, released or forfeited under any provision of this chapter.
40.04(6)
(6) An annuity reserve shall be maintained within the fund to which shall be transferred amounts equal to the present value as of the date of commencement of annuities granted under this chapter. The reserve shall be increased by investment earnings at the effective rate and shall be reduced by the aggregate amount of annuity payments and death benefits paid with respect to the annuities and by the present value at the date of termination of annuities terminated in accordance with
s. 40.08 (3),
40.26 or
40.63 (9) (c).
40.04(7)
(7) The reserves established under
subs. (4),
(5) and
(6) shall be divided both individually and for the purposes of
sub. (3) between a fixed annuity division and a variable annuity division. All required and additional contributions shall be credited to the fixed annuity division except:
40.04(7)(a)
(a) As otherwise elected by a participant prior to April 30, 1980. Any participant whose accounts on January 1, 1982, include credits segregated for a variable annuity shall have his or her required and additional contributions made on or after January 1, 1982, credited to the variable annuity division in a manner consistent with the participant's election prior to April 30, 1980, unless prior to January 1, 1982, the participant terminated such election under s.
40.85, 1979 stats. The department shall by rule provide that any participant who elected variable participation prior to April 30, 1980, may elect to cancel that variable participation as to future contributions. The department's rules shall permit a participant who elects or has elected to cancel variable participation as to future contributions, or an annuitant, to elect to transfer previous variable contribution accumulations to the fixed annuity division. A transfer of variable contribution accumulations under this paragraph shall result in the participant receiving the accrued gain or loss from the participant's variable participation. A participant may specify that election to cancel participation in the variable annuity division is conditional. If the participant so specifies the election is effective on the first date on which it may take effect on which the participant:
40.04(7)(a)1.
1. Is an annuitant and the amount of the annuity the participant or member will receive if the election is made effective is greater than or equal to the amount of the annuity the participant or member would have received if the participant or member had not elected variable participation; or
