Other post-employment benefits trust
HRS §87A-42
in effect87A-42. Other post-employment benefits trust
(a) Notwithstanding sections 87A-31 and 87A-31.5, the board, upon terms and conditions set by the board, shall establish and administer a separate trust fund for the purpose of receiving employer contributions that will prefund other post-employment health and other benefit plan costs for retirees and their beneficiaries. The separate trust fund shall meet the requirements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board regarding other post-employment benefits trusts. The board shall establish and maintain a separate account for each public employer within the separate trust fund to accept and account for each public employer's contributions. Employer contributions to the separate trust fund shall be irrevocable, all assets of the fund shall be dedicated exclusively to providing health and other benefits to retirees and their beneficiaries, and assets of the fund shall not be subject to appropriation for any other purpose and shall not be subject to claims by creditors of the employers or the board or plan administrator. The board's powers under section 87A-24 shall also apply to the fund established pursuant to this section.
(b) Public employer contributions shall be
paid into the fund in each fiscal year, and commencing with the 2018-2019
fiscal year, the amount of the annual public employer contribution shall be
equal to the amount of the annual required contribution, as determined by an
actuary retained by the board.
(c) In any fiscal year subsequent to the
2017-2018 fiscal year in which the state public employer's contributions into
the fund are less than the amount of the annual required contribution, the
amount that represents the excess of the annual required contribution over the
state public employer's contributions shall be deposited into the appropriate
account of the separate trust fund from a portion of all general excise tax
revenues collected by the department of taxation under section 237-31.
If any general excise tax revenues are
deposited into the separate trust fund in any fiscal year as a result of this
subsection, the director of finance shall notify the legislature and governor
whether the general fund expenditure ceiling for that fiscal year would have
been exceeded if those revenues had been legislatively appropriated instead of
deposited without appropriation into the trust fund. The notification shall be
submitted within thirty days following the end of the applicable fiscal year.
(d) In any fiscal year subsequent to fiscal
year 2017-2018 in which a public employer's contributions into the fund are
less than the amount of the annual required contribution, the public employer's
contributions shall be deposited into the fund from portions of any other
revenues collected on behalf of the public employer or held by the State. The
director of finance shall deduct the amount necessary to meet the public
employer's annual required contribution from any revenues collected on behalf
of the public employer held by the State, except the tax revenues deposited
into the mass transit special fund pursuant to section 237D-2(e)(1), and
transfer the amount to the board for deposit into the appropriate account of
the separate trust fund.
(e) For the purposes of this section,
"annual required contribution" means a public employer's required
contribution to the trust fund established in this section that is sufficient
to cover:
(1) The normal cost, which is the cost of other
post-employment benefits attributable to the current year of service; and
(2) An amortization payment, which is a catch-up
payment for past service costs to fund the unfunded actuarial accrued liability
over the next thirty years. If the State issues general obligation bonds to
pay or prepay all or any portion of the State's unfunded actuarial accrued
liability and contributes the proceeds to the trust fund, the outstanding
balance of the general obligation bonds shall be considered part of the State's
unfunded actuarial accrued liability for the purpose of determining the preliminary
annual required contribution. The annual required contribution would be the
greater of:
(A) The preliminary annual required
contribution less the related general obligation bond payment; or
(B) The amount calculated under this
paragraph without any special consideration given to the outstanding balance of
the general obligation bonds or any related general obligation bond payments.
[L 2012, c 304, §1; am L 2013, c 268, §8; am L 2015, c 121, §4; am L 2020, c
70, §2; am L 2021, c 229, §§3, 9; am L Sp 2021, c l, §8; am L 2022, c 247, §2]
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0087A/HRS_0087A-0042.htmFetched: 11/10/2026