§ 9-3-434 — Definitions

Wyoming § 9-3-434

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 09: Administration of the Government
• Ch. 3: COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
• Art. 4: RETIREMENT

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(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Administrator" means the director of the Wyoming
retirement system;
(ii) "Agent group of programs" means a group of
retirement programs which shares administrative and investment
functions but maintains a separate account for each retirement
program so that assets accumulated for a particular program may
be used to pay benefits only for that program's participants and
beneficiaries;
(iii) "Appropriate grouping of programs" means:
(A) For defined benefit plans, a cost-sharing
program or an agent group of programs; and
(B) For defined contribution plans, a group of
retirement programs which shares administrative and investment
functions.
(iv) "Beneficiary" means a person, other than the
participant, who is designated by a participant or by a
retirement program to receive a benefit under the program;
(v) "Code" means the federal Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended;
(vi) "Cost-sharing program" means a retirement
program for the employees of more than one (1) public employer
in which all assets accumulated for the payment of benefits may
be used to pay benefits to any participants or beneficiaries of
the program;
(vii) "Defined benefit plan" means a retirement
program other than a defined contribution plan;
(viii) "Defined contribution plan" means a retirement
program that provides for an individual account for each
participant and for benefits based solely upon the amount
contributed to the participant's account, and any income,
expenses, gains and losses credited or charged to the account
and any forfeitures of accounts of other participants that may
be allocated to the participant's account;
(ix) "Employee" includes an officer of a public
employer;
(x) "Fair value" means the amount that a willing
buyer would pay a willing seller for an asset in a current sale,
as determined in good faith by a fiduciary;
(xi) "Fiduciary" means a person who:
(A) Exercises any discretionary authority to
manage a retirement system;
(B) Exercises any authority to invest or manage
assets of a system;
(C) Provides investment advice for a fee or
other direct or indirect compensation with respect to assets of
a system or has any authority or responsibility to do so; or
(D) Is a trustee or a member of a trustee board.
(xii) "Furnish" means:
(A) To deliver personally, to mail to the last
known place of employment or home address of the intended
recipient, or, if reasonable grounds exist to believe that the
intended recipient would receive it in ordinary course, to
transmit by any other usual means of communication;
(B) To provide to the intended recipient's
public employer if reasonable grounds exist to believe that the
employer will make a good faith effort to deliver personally, by
mail, or by other usual means of communication; or
(C) To make available in an electronic format to
be sent electronically to the intended recipient or to make
available in an electronic format at a designated website.
(xiii) "Governing law" means state and local laws
establishing or authorizing the creation of a retirement program
or system and the principal state and local laws and regulations
governing the management of a retirement program or system or
assets of either;
(xiv) "Guaranteed benefit policy" means an insurance
policy or contract to the extent the policy or contract provides
for benefits in a guaranteed amount. The term includes any
surplus in a separate account, but excludes any other portion of
a separate account;
(xv) "Insurer" means a company, service, or
organization qualified to engage in the business of insurance in
this state;
(xvi) "Nonforfeitable benefit" means an immediate or
deferred benefit that arises from a participant's service, is
unconditional, and is enforceable against the retirement system;
(xvii) "Participant" means an individual who is or
has been an employee enrolled in a retirement program and who is
or may become eligible to receive or is currently receiving a
benefit under the program, or whose beneficiaries are or may
become eligible to receive a benefit. The term does not include
an individual who is no longer an employee of a public employer
and has not accrued any nonforfeitable benefits under that
employer's retirement program;
(xviii) "Public employer" means this state or any
political subdivision, or any agency or instrumentality of this
state or any political subdivision, whose employees are
participants in a retirement program;
(xix) "Qualified public accountant" means:
(A) An auditing agency of this state or a
political subdivision of this state which has no direct
relationship with the functions or activities of a retirement
system or its fiduciaries other than:
(I) Functions relating to this act; or
(II) A relationship between the system and
the agency's employees as participants or beneficiaries on the
same basis as other participants and beneficiaries; or
(B) A person who is an independent certified
public accountant, certified or licensed by a regulatory
authority of a state.
(xx) "Related person" of an individual means:
(A) The individual's spouse or a parent or
sibling of the spouse;
(B) The individual's descendant, sibling or
parent, or the spouse of the individual's descendant, sibling or
parent;
(C) Another individual residing in the same
household as the individual;
(D) A trust or estate in which an individual
described in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C) has a substantial
interest;
(E) A trust or estate for which the individual
has fiduciary responsibilities; or
(F) An incompetent, ward or minor for whom the
individual has fiduciary responsibilities.
(xxi) "Retirement program" means a program of rights
and obligations which a public employer establishes or maintains
and which, by its express terms or as a result of surrounding
circumstances:
(A) Provides retirement income to employees; or
(B) Results in a deferral of income by employees
for periods extending to the termination of covered employment
or beyond.
(xxii) "Retirement system" means an entity
established or maintained by a public employer to manage one (1)
or more retirement programs, or to invest or manage the assets
of one (1) or more retirement programs;
(xxiii) "Trustee" means a person who has ultimate
authority to manage a retirement system or to invest or manage
its assets;
(xxiv) "This act" means W.S. 9-3-433 through 9-3-452.