AN ACT to authorize reciprocity for service in the optional retirement program for members of the teachers and state employees retirement system.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 135‑4.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Only for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits accruing under this Article, creditable service standing to the credit of a member of the Legislative Retirement System, Consolidated Judicial Retirement System, or the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System or service standing to the credit of a member of the Optional Retirement Program shall be added to the creditable service standing to the credit of a member of this System; provided, that in the event a person is a retired member of any of the foregoing retirement  systems or the Optional Retirement Program, such creditable service standing or service standing to the credit of the retired member prior to retirement shall be likewise counted. In no instance shall service credits maintained in the aforementioned retirement systems or the Optional Retirement Program be added to the creditable service in this System for application of this System's benefit accrual rate in computing a service retirement benefit unless specifically authorized by this Article."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of June, 2010.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved 9:22 a.m. this 1st day of July, 2010