There shall be created the Preretirement Death Benefit Program effective October 1, 1985, which shall be effective as of that date to all employees covered under the Teachers* Retirement System of Alabama and the Employees* Retirement System of Alabama. In the event the conditions prescribed in Section 36-27B-5 shall occur prior to October 1, 1985, the death benefit plan established herein shall become effective upon certification and adoption by a joint resolution of the Teachers* and Employees* Retirement Systems* Boards of Control.

A separate fund to be known as the Preretirement Death Benefit Fund is hereby established within the Employees* Retirement System of Alabama and the Teachers* Retirement System of Alabama to be held in trust by the respective Boards of Control. Such fund shall consist of all moneys paid by the employers for preretirement death benefit purposes, and of the investment earnings upon such moneys, and shall be used only to pay the preretirement death benefits prescribed by Section 36-27B-3. Concurrent with the determination of the initial liability of this program for the fiscal year on and after the effective date of the program, there shall be transferred from the pension accumulation fund of each system to the fund created by this section such amounts, as shall be determined by the actuary, necessary to pay anticipated death benefit claims. Subsequent transfers shall be made if necessary to pay the benefits prescribed in Section 36-27B-3.

Upon receipt of proof satisfactory to the respective Board of Control, of the death of a contributing member, in-service, who had completed at least one year of contributing membership service; or of the death of a contributing member as a result of an injury arising out of and in the course of the performance of his duties regardless of length of membership service, in lieu of the matching amount equal to the accumulated contributions of the member not to exceed $5,000.00 payable pursuant to the provisions of Section 36-27-16(c)(2), (3) and (4) or Section 16-25-14(g)(2), (3) and (4), there shall be paid a death benefit equal to the annual earnable compensation of the member as reported to the retirement systems for the preceding fiscal or scholastic year as the case may be; provided that in the event of the death of a contributing member to whom such benefit is payable who has completed less than one year of contributing membership service said benefits shall be equal to the annual earnable compensation of the member at the time his death occurs. For purposes of this section, a member shall be deemed to be in-service on the date of his death if his death occurs not more than 180 calendar days after the member*s last day in pay status, provided that he shall not have terminated employment, retired or made application for refund of his contributions.

The Boards of Control are authorized to take such action as may be necessary to provide the death benefit under this section in the form of group life insurance upon determination that to do so would guarantee a more favorable tax treatment to the beneficiaries to whom such benefit is payable.

Should the actuaries employed by the respective Boards of Control certify a decrease in the rate of employer contributions as set forth in subdivisions (3) and (5) of Section 16-25-21 and subsections (d) and (f) of Section 36-27-24, the Boards of Control may by joint resolution declare the provisions of this chapter to become effective on October 1 next following the adoption of said resolution. Amounts sufficient to fund the provisions of this chapter shall thereafter be made in the same manner as the regular appropriations to the Teachers* and Employees* Retirement Systems, and shall be deposited in the fund established in Section 36-27B-2.