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28	28	STATE OF OKLAHOMA
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30	30	2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (202 2)
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32	32	HOUSE BILL 3670 By: Wolfley
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36	36	AS INTRODUCED
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38	38	An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2021,
39	39	Sections 26-103, 26-104, and 26-105, which relate to
40	40	the Larry Dickerson Education Flexible Benefits
41	41	Allowance Act; clarifying definition; adding
42	42	definition for dependent; providing appropriation for
43	43	flexible benefit allowance to include school district
44	44	employee dependents; modifying calculation for
45	45	appropriation amount; providing for disbursement of
46	46	funds; modifying benefit election procedure;
47	47	prescribing additional monthly amount of flexible
48	48	benefit allowance for health care coverage for
49	49	dependents; and providing an effective date .
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56	56	BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
57	57	SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -103, is
58	58	amended to read as follows:
59	59	Section 26-103. The following words and phrases as used in
60	60	Section 26-101 et seq. of this title, unless a different meaning is
61	61	clearly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
62	62	1. "Benefit" means any of the benefits which may be purchased
63	63	or are required to be purchased under the cafeteria plan;
64	64	2. "Cafeteria plan" means a benefit plan established pursuant
65	65	to 26 U.S.C. Section 125;
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92	92	3. "Flexible benefit allowance " means amounts credited by the
93	93	school district for each school d istrict employee for the purchase
94	94	of benefits under the cafeteria plan;
95	95	4. "Support personnel" means full-time employees of a school
96	96	district as determined by the standard period of labor which is
97	97	customarily understood to constitute full -time employment for the
98	98	type of services performed by the employees who are employed a
99	99	minimum of six (6) hours per day for a minimum of one hundred
100	100	seventy-two (172) days or a minimum of six (6) hours per day for a
101	101	minimum of one thousand thirty -two (1,032) hours per yea r and who
102	102	provide services not performed by certified personnel, which is
103	103	necessary for the efficien t and satisfactory functioning of a school
104	104	district, and shall include cooks, janitors, maintenance personnel,
105	105	bus drivers, noncertified or nonregistered nu rses, noncertified
106	106	librarians, and clerical employees of a school district but shall
107	107	not include adult education instructors or adult coordinators
108	108	employed by technology center school districts;
109	109	5. "Plan year" means the twelve-month period established by the
110	110	school district for the cafeteria plan;
111	111	6. "School district" means the public school districts and
112	112	technology center school districts of this st ate;
113	113	7. "School district employee " means certified personnel or
114	114	support personnel as defined in Section 26-101 et seq. of this title
115	115	section. Employees of an educational service provider contracted
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142	142	with a school district pursuant to subsection G of Secti on 5-117 of
143	143	this title who perform functions that would otherwise be performed
144	144	by a school district employee shall be conside red employees of a
145	145	school district for purposes of the Larry Dickerson Education
146	146	Flexible Benefits Allowance Act unless otherwise p rovided for in the
147	147	contract between the educational service provider and the
148	148	contracting school district;
149	149	8. "Certified personnel" means a certified person employed on a
150	150	full-time basis to serve as a teache r, principal, supervisor,
151	151	administrator, counselo r, librarian, or certified or registered
152	152	nurse, but shall not mean a superintendent of a school district; and
153	153	9. "Self-insured" means a health care program in which the
154	154	school district funds the benefit pla ns from its own resources
155	155	without purchasing insu rance and which may be administered by the
156	156	school district or by an outside administrator under contract with
157	157	the school district for administrative services. The State Board of
158	158	Education shall prepare by M ay 1st of each year a list of each
159	159	school district in the state that is self -insured and the number of
160	160	support personnel and the number of certified personnel that are
161	161	participating in each self -insured school district plan ; and
162	162	10. "Dependent" means a spouse, an unmarried child under
163	163	eighteen (18) years of age, an unmarried child who is under twenty-
164	164	six (26) years of age and who is financially dependent upon the
165	165	parent, and an unmarried child of any age who is medically certified
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192	192	as disabled and dependent upon the parent. A person shall only be
193	193	considered a dependent if he or she does not have subsidized
194	194	coverage available from another source .
195	195	SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -104, is
196	196	amended to read as follows:
197	197	Section 26-104. A. Each fiscal year, the Legislatur e shall
198	198	appropriate adequate funding to the State Board of Education and the
199	199	State Board of Career and Technology Education for the purpose of
200	200	providing a flexible benefit allowance to school district employ ees
201	201	and their dependents pursuant to this act. U nless the Legislature
202	202	appropriates adequate funding specifically for the purpose of
203	203	providing a flexible benefit allowance to school district employees
204	204	and their dependents , the Oklahoma State Board of Educa tion shall
205	205	allocate from the funds appropriated t o the Oklahoma State Board of
206	206	Education for the support of public school activities an amount to
207	207	fully fund the flexible benefit allowance, which shall occur first
208	208	prior to allocating the funds for any other purpose. The amount
209	209	appropriated for funding an d disbursed to school districts shall be
210	210	calculated by multiplying the number of eligible school district
211	211	employees employed by school districts which are participating in
212	212	the health insurance pl an offered by the State and Education
213	213	Employees Group Insuran ce Board or are self -insured as counted in
214	214	February of each year and their dependents by the amount of the
215	215	flexible benefit allowance credited to the eligible school employees
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242	242	as established in Section 26-105 of this title. Each Board shall
243	243	disburse the total amount appropriated for funding the flexible
244	244	benefit allowance to school districts during the fiscal year. From
245	245	the total amount appropriated, each Board shall disburse the
246	246	appropriate amounts, based on the number of eligible school district
247	247	employees employed by that school district and their dependents, to
248	248	each school district.
249	249	B. Every school district shall establish or make available to
250	250	school district employees a cafeteria plan pursuant to 26 U.S. C.
251	251	Section 125 of the United States Code. The pl an shall offer, as a
252	252	benefit, major medical health care plan coverage.
253	253	C. The flexible benefit allowance amount established pursuant
254	254	to Section 26-105 of this title shall be credited to each eligible
255	255	school district employee. School district employees sh all elect
256	256	whether to use the flexible benefit allowance to pay for coverage
257	257	for themselves and their dependents in the health insurance plan
258	258	offered by the State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board
259	259	or the self-insured plan offered by the sch ool district and may
260	260	receive the excess flexible benefit allowance as taxable
261	261	compensation as provided in Section 26 -105 of this title.
262	262	D. The administrator of the cafeteria plan shall maintain a
263	263	separate account for each participating school district emp loyee.
264	264	School districts shall forward the school district employee flexible
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291	291	benefit allowance amounts to the administrator for elected purchases
292	292	of cafeteria plan benefits.
293	293	E. Expenses included in an employee 's salary adjustment
294	294	agreement pursuant to the cafeteria plan shall be limited to
295	295	expenses for:
296	296	1. Premiums for any health insurance, health maintenance
297	297	organization, life insurance, long term disability insurance, dental
298	298	insurance or high deductible health benefit plan offered to
299	299	employees and their dependents; and
300	300	2. All other eligible benefit programs offered under 26 U.S.C.
301	301	Section 125 of the United States Code.
302	302	F. The flexible benefit allowance amount established in Section
303	303	26-105 of this title shall not be included as income in computation
304	304	of state retirement contributions and benefits or as part of the
305	305	Minimum Salary Schedule for teachers established in Section 18-
306	306	114.12 18-114.14 of this title. School districts shall not consider
307	307	the flexible benefit allowance amount as income for eligible suppor t
308	308	employees and thereby shall not reduce the salary of an eligible
309	309	support employee.
310	310	SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -105, is
311	311	amended to read as follows:
312	312	Section 26-105. A. The flexible benefit allowance shall be
313	313	used by a school district employee who is participating in the
314	314	cafeteria plan to purchase major medical health care plan coverage
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341	341	offered by the school district through a cafeteria plan. Any excess
342	342	flexible benefit allowance over the cost of the major medi cal
343	343	coverage purchased by the employee who is participating in the
344	344	cafeteria plan may be used to purcha se any of the additional
345	345	benefits offered by the school district or may be taken as taxable
346	346	compensation as provided in subsection C of this section. Ce rtified
347	347	personnel who choose not to participate in the school -district-
348	348	sponsored cafeteria plan shall r eceive Sixty-nine Dollars and
349	349	seventy-one cents ($69.71) per month as taxable compensation in lieu
350	350	of the flexible benefit allowance amount provided in s ubsection B of
351	351	this section. Support personnel who choose not to participate in
352	352	the school-district-sponsored cafeteria plan shall receive One
353	353	Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty -nine cents ($189.69) per month
354	354	as taxable compensation in lieu of the flex ible benefit allowance
355	355	amount provided in subsection B of this section.
356	356	B. Each eligible school distri ct employee shall be credited
357	357	annually with a specified amount as a flexible benefit allowance
358	358	which shall be available for the purchase of benefits. Each
359	359	eligible school district employee , who has dependents and elects to
360	360	enroll them in the cafeteria plan offered by the school district ,
361	361	shall be credited One Hundred Fifty-four Dollars and ninety cents
362	362	($154.90) monthly as an additional flexible benefit allowance for
363	363	the purchase of major medical health care coverage through the
364	364	cafeteria plan for his or her dependents. The amount of the
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391	391	flexible benefit allowance credited to each eligible school district
392	392	employee shall be communicated to the employee pri or to the
393	393	enrollment period for each plan year.
394	394	1. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible
395	395	benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less
396	396	than Sixty-nine Dollars and sevent y-one cents ($69.71) per month.
397	397	For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible benefit
398	398	allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than One
399	399	Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty -nine cents ($189.69) per
400	400	month.
401	401	2. For the fiscal year e nding June 30, 2004, the flexible
402	402	benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less
403	403	than fifty-eight percent (58%) of the premium amount for the
404	404	HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the State
405	405	and Education Employees Gr oup Insurance Board. For the fiscal year
406	406	ending June 30, 2003, and each fiscal year thereafter, the flexible
407	407	benefit allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than
408	408	one hundred percent (100%) of the premium amount for the
409	409	HealthChoice (Hi) op tion plan for an individual offered by the State
410	410	and Education Employees Group Insurance Board.
411	411	3. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, and each fiscal
412	412	year thereafter, the flexible benefit allowance amount for certified
413	413	personnel shall be no less th an one hundred percent (100%) of the
414	414	premium amount for the HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an
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441	441	individual offered by the State and Education Employees Group
442	442	Insurance Board.
443	443	C. If a school district employee who is participating in the
444	444	cafeteria plan elects benefits whose sum total is less than the
445	445	flexible benefit allowance, the employee shall receive any excess
446	446	flexible benefit allowance as taxable compensation. Such taxable
447	447	compensation shall be paid in substantially equal amounts each pay
448	448	period over the plan year. Except as otherwise provided for in
449	449	subsection D of this section, on termination during a plan year, a
450	450	participating school district employee shall have no right to
451	451	receive any taxable cash compensation allocated to the portion of
452	452	the plan year after the termination of the employee.
453	453	D. In cases where the employee of a school district fulfills
454	454	the terms of their contract and terminates employment for the
455	455	subsequent year, the employee shall be entitled to the flexible
456	456	benefit allowance for t he remainder of the current benefit term.
457	457	For purposes of this subsection, "benefit term" shall mean the
458	458	twelve-month period after the initiation of benefits for the
459	459	position held by the employee.
460	460	E. Each school district employee shall make an annual ele ction
461	461	of benefits under the plan during an enroll ment period to be held
462	462	prior to the beginning of each plan year. The enrollment period
463	463	dates will be determined annually and will be announced by the
464	464	school district, providing the enrollment period shall e nd no later
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491	491	than thirty (30) days before the begi nning of the plan year. Each
492	492	school district employee shall make an irrevocable advance election
493	493	for the plan year or the remainder of the plan year pursuant to
494	494	procedures the school district shall prescrib e.
495	495	F. The school district shall prescribe the fo rms that school
496	496	district employees shall be required to use in making their
497	497	elections, and may prescribe deadlines and other procedures for
498	498	filing the elections.
499	499	G. School district employees hired after the closing of the
500	500	enrollment period shall be allowe d to make an election as provided
501	501	in this act.
502	502	H. A district board of education shall have the option of
503	503	providing a flexible benefit allowance to the superintendent of the
504	504	school district in an amount not more than the amount of the
505	505	flexible benefit allo wance established for certified personnel in
506	506	subsection B of this section. Funding for the flexible benefit
507	507	allowance for a superintendent shall be provided through local
508	508	revenue.
509	509	SECTION 4. This act shall become effective November 1, 2022.
510	510
511	511	58-2-9724 EK 01/13/22

Oklahoma 2022 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB3670 Compare Versions