Vendor Frequently Asked Questions
By not participating, your organization will be prohibited from enrolling any employees of California local school districts, community college districts, or county offices of education in your 403(b) plan as of November 30, 2004, who were not enrolled prior to that date. The next open enrollment period begins May 1, 2005.
Fees are based on the number of vendors who register and will not be available until after the implementation date. The costs of developing the Information Bank Web site are to be borne equally by all registered vendors.
The registration fees will pay for the development and implementation of the registration process, communication campaign, accounting and program support systems, and Web site.
Yes. Registration fees received in future enrollment periods shall be distributed equally among registered organizations, and credited toward subsequent maintenance and administrative fees charged to each organization.
Yes. According to the Education Code, if the fund does not appear in the Information Bank, it cannot be sold to employees of local school districts, community college districts, and county offices of education in California effective November 30, 2004 unless the employee has an existing contract.
The insurance company would register the name of the variable annuity product and the annuity’s 32 subaccounts.
Broker-dealers who offer a proprietary 403(b) product or who charge fees that are otherwise not disclosed, registered investment companies, public retirement systems, nonbank custodians, and life insurance companies qualified to do business in California must register if they wish to sell 403(b) products to new customers of local school districts, community college districts, and county offices of education after November 30, 2004.
The Broker-Dealer would need to register ALL mutual funds they offer in each model portfolio, regardless of who else may register it. This will mean that some mutual funds are entered multiple times which is the intent. Employees will then be able to look at how fees affect each instance of the mutual fund.
Individual registered representatives, brokers, financial planners, and agents are not required to register.
It is the responsibility of your organization to ensure its own information is correct. A vendor will have an opportunity to correct information that has been entered incorrectly, however the vendor may be removed from the registry if the vendor submits materially inaccurate information.
California Education Code section 25100 can be found at the following location www.leginfo.com .
No. CalSTRS is required to provide an impartial database of 403(b) investment products. Employees are free to search the site based on their own criteria and to make decisions based on their own needs. CalSTRS will not make recommendations or subjectively rank or give priority to the information in the database. CalSTRS will not prohibit registration of organizations licensed to sell 403(b) products in California. Registration may not be conditioned upon the content of the information. If it is determined that an organization has submitted materially inaccurate information, the organization will be allowed 60 days to make corrections. CalSTRS may remove the organization from the registry if corrections are not made, information in the registry is not updated, or fees are not paid. CalSTRS will provide an appeals process for investment organizations that are denied registration or removed from the registry.
Vendors of 403(b) products are not required to register if they receive 9024 transfers and are not otherwise required to register with the 403bCompare.com Web site by the California Education Code section 25101.