Opinion letter to the Honorable James A. Noland , Jr.

January 6, 1975 OPINION LETTER NO. 6 Answer by letter-Jones FiLL .. Honorable James A. Noland, Jr. State Senator, District 33 R. F . D. 1 Osage Beach, Missouri 65065 Dear Senator Noland: to This letter is to acknowledge receipt of your request for an opinion from this office which reads as follows: " (a) Once a member of the state employees' retirement system has become vested , can he then become a member of the public school retirement system and earn a retirement ben- efit from that system? .,(b) Can a member of the public school re- tirement system, with a vested interest therein, then become a member of the state employees' retirement system and earn a retirement benefit from that system? " It is our understanding that your first question relating to a member of the State Employees• Retirement System who has become "vested" concerns a person who is entitled to a deferred annuity under provisions of Section 104.330, RSMo Supp. 1973, and who is no longer employed by the state. In response to your first question, it is our view that upon a review of Chapter 169, RSMo 1969, relating to the Public School Retirement System of Missouri, there is no prohibition against such a member of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System from becoming a member of the Public School Retirement System of Missouri and earning a retirement benefit from that system. Honorable James A. Noland, Jr. In response to your second question, it was held in Attorney General Opinion No. 39, Henry, 5-15-61 (copy attached), that a member of the General Assembly who is covered by the retirement or benefit fund of the Public School Retirement System of r.iissouri cannot also become a member of the Missouri State Employees' Re- tirement System. It is submitted that similar reasoning is appli- cable to the second question that you have presented, and it would be our opinion that a member of the Public School Retirement Sys- tem, with a vested interest therein, cannot become a member of the State Employees' Retirement System and earn a retirement benefit from that system. Enclosure: Op. No. 39 5-15-61, Henry Yours very truly, JOHN C. DANFORTH Attorney General -2-