§ 8-34-302 — Membership

(a) The board shall consist of twenty (20) members as follows: (1) The state treasurer, ex officio; (2) The director of the division of retirement, ex officio; (3) The commissioner of finance and administration, ex officio; (4) The comptroller of the treasury, ex officio; (5) The administrative director of the courts, ex officio; (6) The commissioner of human resources, ex officio; (7) The secretary of state, ex officio; (8) The chair and vice chair of the council on pensions, ex officio; but whose membership is qualified as follows: (A) Such members shall not be voting members of the board of trustees; and (B) Such members shall be entitled to receive expenses and mileage allowance at the same rate as provided by § 3-1-106 for each meeting of the board of trustees; (9) Three (3) members of the retirement system who are teachers: (A) Two (2) teacher trustees shall be appointed by the speaker of the senate and one (1) teacher trustee shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives. No two (2) of the teacher trustees shall be from the same grand division of the state. The speaker of the senate shall appoint the teacher trustees serving from the eastern and western grand divisions. The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint the teacher trustee serving from the middle grand division. Professional education employees' organizations may recommend to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives persons for appointment to teacher trustee positions; however, the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives need not appoint any person so recommended. (B) Each teacher member shall serve a three-year term; (10) Two (2) members of the retirement system who are state employees, not from the same department, commission, board, agency or institution, or any department represented by an ex officio member, at least one (1) of whom shall be a general employee, who shall serve for a term of three (3) years. The two (2) state employee trustees shall be elected by state employee members of the retirement system in accordance with rules and procedures as the board of trustees shall prescribe; (11) One (1) vested member of the retirement system who shall be appointed by the board of directors of the Tennessee County Services Association to serve for a period of two (2) years; (12) One (1) vested member of the retirement system who shall be appointed by the board of directors of the Tennessee Municipal League to serve for a period of two (2) years; (13) One (1) vested member of the retirement system who shall be appointed by the board of directors of the County Officials Association of Tennessee to serve for a period of two (2) years; (14) One (1) retired state or higher education employee member of the retirement system who shall be appointed by the governor to serve for a period of two (2) years; (15) One (1) retired teacher, who is a vested member of the Tennessee consolidated retirement system, to be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives. The term of the retired teacher trustee shall be for three (3) years. Professional education employees' organizations may recommend to the speaker of the house of representatives persons for appointment to the retired teacher trustee position; however, the speaker need not appoint any person so recommended; and (16) One (1) police officer who shall serve a term of three (3) years commencing on July 1, 2007, and who, upon completion of that member's term, shall be replaced by a firefighter. Thereafter, the appointment of the board member shall alternate between a firefighter and a police officer for each successive three-year term. The board member shall be appointed as follows: (A) The police officer representative shall be appointed by the governor from lists of qualified persons submitted by interested law enforcement groups including, but not limited to, the professional organizations that represent police officers in this state; and (B) The firefighter representative shall be appointed by the governor from lists of qualified persons submitted by interested firefighter groups including, but not limited to, professional firefighter associations. (b) (1) Board members appointed pursuant to subdivisions (a)(9)-(16) shall attend at least fifty percent (50%) of the required quarterly meetings. (2) Any board member who fails to attend meetings as required in subdivision (b)(1) shall be removed as a member by the appointing authority. (c) Except for ex officio members, all persons shall be fully vested members of the retirement system in order to qualify to serve on the board of trustees.

Legislative History

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 303, s 7, eff. 7/1/2021. Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 35, s 3, eff. 3/27/2015. Acts 1972, ch. 814, § 6; 1973, ch. 213, § 1; 1974, ch. 788, § 3; 1977, ch. 400, § 6; T.C.A., § 8-3925; modified; Acts 1980, ch. 654, § 12; 1981, ch. 387, § 3; 1985, ch. 244, §§ 1, 2; 1992, ch. 920, §§ 1, 2; 1993, ch. 66, § 8; 1999, ch. 79, § 1; 2001, ch. 58, § 5; 2004, ch. 905, §§ 1 - 6; 2005, ch. 204, § 26; 2006, ch. 870, §§ 8, 9; 2007 , ch. 508, §§ 1, 2; 2008 , ch. 670, § 1; 2009 , ch. 375, § 1; 2011 , ch. 140, § 5; 2011 , ch. 280, §§ 1, 2.