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28	28	STATE OF OKLAHOMA
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30	30	1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023)
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32	32	HOUSE BILL 2022 By: Wolfley
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38	38	AS INTRODUCED
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40	40	An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2021,
41	41	Sections 26-103, 26-104, and 26-105, which relate to
42	42	the Larry Dickerson Education Fl exible Benefits
43	43	Allowance Act; clarifying definition; adding
44	44	definition for dependent; providing appropriation for
45	45	flexible benefit allowance to include school district
46	46	employee dependents; modifying calculation for
47	47	appropriation amount; providing for disb ursement of
48	48	funds; modifying benefit election procedure;
49	49	prescribing additional monthly amount of flexible
50	50	benefit allowance for health care coverage for
51	51	dependents; and providin g an effective date.
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58	58	BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
59	59	SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -103, is
60	60	amended to read as follows:
61	61	Section 26-103. The following words and phrases as used in
62	62	Section 26-101 et seq. of this title, unless a different meaning is
63	63	clearly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
64	64	1. "Benefit" means any of the benefits which may be purchased
65	65	or are required to be purchased under the cafeteria plan;
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92	92	2. "Cafeteria plan" means a benefit plan established pursuant
93	93	to 26 U.S.C. Section 125;
94	94	3. "Flexible benefit allowance " means amounts credited by the
95	95	school district for each school d istrict employee for the purchase
96	96	of benefits under the cafeteria plan;
97	97	4. "Support personnel" means full-time employees of a school
98	98	district as determined by the standard period of labor which is
99	99	customarily understood to constitute full -time employment for the
100	100	type of services performed by the employees who are employed a
101	101	minimum of six (6) hours per day for a minimum of one hundred
102	102	seventy-two (172) days or a minimum of six (6) hours per day for a
103	103	minimum of one thousand thirty -two (1,032) hours per yea r and who
104	104	provide services not performed by certified personnel, which is
105	105	necessary for the efficient and satisfactory functioning of a school
106	106	district, and shall include cooks, janitors, maintenance personnel,
107	107	bus drivers, noncertified or nonregistered nu rses, noncertified
108	108	librarians, and clerical employees of a school district but shall
109	109	not include adult education instructors or adult coordinators
110	110	employed by technology center school districts;
111	111	5. "Plan year" means the twelve-month period established by the
112	112	school district for the cafeteria plan;
113	113	6. "School district" means the public sch ool districts and
114	114	technology center school districts of this state;
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141	141	7. "School district employee " means certified personnel or
142	142	support personnel as defined in Section 26-101 et seq. of this title
143	143	section. Employees of an educational service provider cont racted
144	144	with a school district pursuant to subsection G of Sec tion 5-117 of
145	145	this title who perform functions that would otherwise be performed
146	146	by a school district employee shall be conside red employees of a
147	147	school district for purposes of the Larry Dickers on Education
148	148	Flexible Benefits Allowance Act unless otherwise provided for in the
149	149	contract between the educational service provider and the
150	150	contracting school district;
151	151	8. "Certified personnel" means a certified person employed on a
152	152	full-time basis to serve as a teacher, principal, supervisor,
153	153	administrator, counse lor, librarian, or certified or registered
154	154	nurse, but shall not mean a superintendent of a school district; and
155	155	9. "Self-insured" means a health care program in which the
156	156	school district funds t he benefit plans from its own resources
157	157	without purchasing in surance and which may be administered by the
158	158	school district or by an outside administrator under contract with
159	159	the school district for administrative services. The State Board of
160	160	Education shall prepare by May 1st of each year a list of each
161	161	school district in the state that is self -insured and the number of
162	162	support personnel and the number of certified personnel that are
163	163	participating in each self -insured school district plan ; and
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190	190	10. "Dependent" means a spouse, an unmarried child under
191	191	eighteen (18) years of age, an unmarried child who is under twenty -
192	192	six (26) years of age and who is financially dependent upon the
193	193	parent, and an unmarried child of any age who is medically certified
194	194	as disabled and dependent upon the parent. A person shall only be
195	195	considered a dependent if he or she does not have subsidized
196	196	coverage available from another source .
197	197	SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -104, is
198	198	amended to read as follows:
199	199	Section 26-104. A. Each fiscal year, the Legislatu re shall
200	200	appropriate adequate funding to the State Board of Education and the
201	201	State Board of Career and Technology Education for the purpose of
202	202	providing a flexible benefit allowance to school di strict employees
203	203	and their dependents pursuant to this act. Unless the Legislature
204	204	appropriates adequate funding specifically for the purpose of
205	205	providing a flexible benefit allowance to school district employees
206	206	and their dependents , the Oklahoma State B oard of Education shall
207	207	allocate from the funds appropriated to the Oklahoma State Board of
208	208	Education for the support of public school activities an amount to
209	209	fully fund the flexible benefit allowance, which shall occur first
210	210	prior to allocating the funds for any other purpose. The amount
211	211	appropriated for funding a nd disbursed to school districts shall be
212	212	calculated by multiplying the number of eligible school district
213	213	employees employed by school districts which are participating in
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240	240	the health insurance p lan offered by the State and Education
241	241	Employees Group Insura nce Board or are self -insured as counted in
242	242	February of each year and their dependents by the amount of the
243	243	flexible benefit allowance credited to the eligible school employees
244	244	as established in pursuant to Section 26-105 of this title. Each
245	245	Board shall disburse the total amount appropriated for funding the
246	246	flexible benefit allowance to school districts during the fiscal
247	247	year. From the total amount appropriated, each Board shall disburse
248	248	the appropriate amounts, based on the number of eligible school
249	249	district employees employed by that school district and their
250	250	respective dependents, to each school district.
251	251	B. Every school district shall establish or make available to
252	252	school district employees a cafeteria plan pursuant to 26 U.S.C.
253	253	Section 125 of the United States Code. The plan shall offer, as a
254	254	benefit, major medical health care plan coverage.
255	255	C. The flexible benefit allowance amount established pursuant
256	256	to Section 26-105 of this title shall be credited to each eligible
257	257	school district employee. School district employees shall elect
258	258	whether to use the flexible benefit allowance to pay for coverage
259	259	for themselves and their dependents in the health insurance plan
260	260	offered by the State and Educa tion Employees Group Insurance Board
261	261	or the self-insured plan offered by the school district and may
262	262	receive the excess flexible benefit allowance as taxable
263	263	compensation as provided in Section 26 -105 of this title.
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290	290	D. The administrator of the cafeteria p lan shall maintain a
291	291	separate account for each participating school district employee.
292	292	School districts shall forward the school district employee flexible
293	293	benefit allowance amounts to the administrator for elected purchases
294	294	of cafeteria plan benefits.
295	295	E. Expenses included in an employee 's salary adjustment
296	296	agreement pursuant to the cafeteria plan shall be limited to
297	297	expenses for:
298	298	1. Premiums for any health insurance, health maintenance
299	299	organization, life insurance, long term disability insurance, dental
300	300	insurance or high deductible health benefit plan offered to
301	301	employees and their dependents; and
302	302	2. All other eligible benefit programs offered under 26 U.S.C.
303	303	Section 125 of the United States Code.
304	304	F. The flexible benefit allowance amount established in Section
305	305	26-105 of this title shall not be included as income in computation
306	306	of state retirement contributions and benefits or as part of the
307	307	Minimum Salary Schedule for teachers established in Section 18-
308	308	114.12 18-114.14 of this title. School districts s hall not consider
309	309	the flexible benefit allowance amount as in come for eligible support
310	310	employees and thereby shall not reduce the salary of an eligible
311	311	support employee.
312	312	SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 70 O. S. 2021, Section 26-105, is
313	313	amended to read as follows:
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340	340	Section 26-105. A. The flexible bene fit allowance shall be
341	341	used by a school district employee who is participating in the
342	342	cafeteria plan to purchase major medical health care plan coverage
343	343	offered by the school district through a c afeteria plan. Any excess
344	344	flexible benefit allowance over th e cost of the major medical
345	345	coverage purchased by the employee who is participating in the
346	346	cafeteria plan may be used to purcha se any of the additional
347	347	benefits offered by the school district or may be taken as taxable
348	348	compensation as provided in subsectio n C of this section. Certified
349	349	personnel who choose not to participate in the school -district-
350	350	sponsored cafeteria plan shall r eceive Sixty-nine Dollars and
351	351	seventy-one cents ($69.71) per month a s taxable compensation in lieu
352	352	of the flexible benefit allowa nce amount provided in subsection B of
353	353	this section. Support personnel who choose not to participate in
354	354	the school-district-sponsored cafeteria plan shall receiv e One
355	355	Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty-nine cents ($189.69) per month
356	356	as taxable compensation in lieu of the flexible benefit allowance
357	357	amount provided in subsection B of this section.
358	358	B. Each eligible school distri ct employee shall be credited
359	359	annually with a specified amount as a flexible benefit allowance
360	360	which shall be available for the p urchase of benefits. Each
361	361	eligible school district employee, who has dependents and elects to
362	362	enroll them in the cafeteria plan offered by the school district,
363	363	shall be credited One Hundred Fift y-four Dollars and ninety cents
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390	390	($154.90) monthly as an addit ional flexible benefit allowance for
391	391	the purchase of major medical health care coverage through the
392	392	cafeteria plan for his or her dependents. The amount of the
393	393	flexible benefit allowance credite d to each eligible school district
394	394	employee shall be communicated to the employee prior to the
395	395	enrollment period for each plan year.
396	396	1. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible
397	397	benefit allowance amount for ce rtified personnel shall be no les s
398	398	than Sixty-nine Dollars and seventy -one cents ($69.71) per month.
399	399	For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible benefit
400	400	allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than One
401	401	Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty-nine cents ($189.69) per
402	402	month.
403	403	2. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 20 04, the flexible
404	404	benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less
405	405	than fifty-eight percent (58%) of the premium amount for the
406	406	HealthChoice (Hi) option p lan for an individual offered by the State
407	407	and Education Employees Group Insurance Boa rd. For the fiscal year
408	408	ending June 30, 2003, and each fiscal year thereafter, the flexible
409	409	benefit allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than
410	410	one hundred percent (100%) of the premium amount for the
411	411	HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the State
412	412	and Education Employees Group Insurance Board.
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439	439	3. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, and each fiscal
440	440	year thereafter, the flexible benefit allowance amount for cer tified
441	441	personnel shall be no less than one hundred pe rcent (100%) of the
442	442	premium amount for the HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an
443	443	individual offered by the State and Education Employees Group
444	444	Insurance Board.
445	445	C. If a school district employee who is par ticipating in the
446	446	cafeteria plan elects benefits whos e sum total is less than the
447	447	flexible benefit allowance, the employee shall receive any excess
448	448	flexible benefit allowance as taxable compensation. Such taxable
449	449	compensation shall be paid in substantiall y equal amounts each pay
450	450	period over the plan year. Except as otherwise provided for in
451	451	subsection D of this section, on termination during a plan year, a
452	452	participating school district employee shall have no right to
453	453	receive any taxable cash compensation allocated to the portion of
454	454	the plan year after the t ermination of the employee.
455	455	D. In cases where the employee of a school district fulfills
456	456	the terms of their contract and terminates employment for the
457	457	subsequent year, the employee shall be entitled to the flexible
458	458	benefit allowance for the remainder of t he current benefit term.
459	459	For purposes of this subsection, "benefit term" shall mean the
460	460	twelve-month period after the initiation of benefits for the
461	461	position held by the employee.
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488	488	E. Each school distri ct employee shall make an annual election
489	489	of benefits under the plan during an enrollment period to be held
490	490	prior to the beginning of each plan year. The enrollment period
491	491	dates will be determined annually and will be anno unced by the
492	492	school district, pro viding the enrollment period shall end no later
493	493	than thirty (30) days before the beginning of the plan year. Each
494	494	school district employee shall make an irrevocable advance election
495	495	for the plan year or the remainder of th e plan year pursuant to
496	496	procedures the school district shall prescribe.
497	497	F. The school district shall prescribe the forms that school
498	498	district employees shall be required to use in making their
499	499	elections, and may prescribe deadlines and other procedures fo r
500	500	filing the elections.
501	501	G. School district employees hired after the closing of the
502	502	enrollment period shall be allowed to make an election as provided
503	503	in this act.
504	504	H. A district board of education shall have the option of
505	505	providing a flexible benefit all owance to the superintendent of t he
506	506	school district in an amount not more than the amo unt of the
507	507	flexible benefit allowance established for certified personnel in
508	508	subsection B of this section. Funding for the flexible benefit
509	509	allowance for a superintenden t shall be provided through local
510	510	revenue.
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538	538	SECTION 4. This act shall become effective November 1, 2023.
539	539
540	540	59-1-6548 EK 12/15/22

Oklahoma 2024 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB2022 Compare Versions