Membership
Being an active member of GARS means you are serving in the General Assembly, earning service credit toward retirement, and making regular contributions to a GARS account. GARS members who retire at age 70 or with 30 years of service and continue to work are considered retired members as of the date of their retirement.
You must be an active member to receive most of the benefits outlined on this web page. As an active member of GARS, you will receive a member statement each year that reflects your employee contributions and interest, service credit and designated beneficiaries.
Correlated Systems
GARS, SCRS and PORS are correlated retirement systems. If you have contributions in more than one of these retirement systems, your service credit is maintained separately within each system; however, your service credit from all correlated systems is added together to determine your eligibility for retirement benefits. JSRS is not a correlated retirement system.
You cannot use correlated service credit to qualify for special contributor status in GARS. You must establish and maintain the required initial eight years of service credit (purchased and earned) specifically in GARS. However, you may use correlated service to qualify for a GARS deferred monthly benefit at age 60 if you have at least eight years of combined correlated service.
Member Contributions
As a member of GARS, you contribute a tax-deferred 10 percent of your earnable compensation (salary and in-district expense) and, if applicable, compensation for additional line item compensation. Positions that include additional line-item compensation are: Speaker of the House; Speaker Pro Tempore of the House; Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee; Chairman, Senate Finance Committee; and President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
Your GARS account earns 4 percent interest compounded annually on your balance as of the previous June 30 if you have not retired or withdrawn your contributions.
Beneficiaries
Active members may designate three types of beneficiaries:
You may name your estate as a beneficiary; however, monthly benefit payments cannot be paid to an estate. Active members may change their beneficiaries at any time before retirement.
Active Member In-Service Death
If you die while in service as an active member of GARS, your designated beneficiary will be entitled to a lump-sum return of your employee contributions and accumulated interest. Further, if you are over 60 years of age or have more than 15 years of service credit in GARS and die while in service, your beneficiary may select a monthly in-service death benefit in lieu of the return of contributions.
Active Member Incidental Death Benefit
In addition to the in-service death benefits listed above, if you die while in service with at least one year of earned service credit in GARS, an incidental death benefit payment equal to your annual earnable compensation will be paid to your designated beneficiary. If your death results from a job-related injury, the benefit is payable regardless of your length of service.