Page 236

House Bill No. 5506

Public Act No. 22-118 236 of 739

files proof of such support within two years of the date of the member's death; and (D) is not receiving, or entitled to a federal or state old age benefit based on the parent's own earnings, equal to or greater than the amount the parent would be entitled to as a dependent parent under this chapter. A "parent of a deceased member" is (i) the mother or father of a deceased member, [; or] (ii) a stepparent of a deceased member by a marriage entered into before the member attained age sixteen, [;] or (iii) an adopting parent of a deceased member who adopted the deceased member before the member attained age sixteen. [(12)] (13) "Designated beneficiary" means a person designated on a form prescribed by the board by a member to receive amounts [which] that may become payable under this chapter as the result of the member's death. [whether before or after retirement.] If a designated beneficiary is not living at the time of the death of a member, the amounts that would have been payable to the designated beneficiary shall be paid to the member's estate. [(13)] (14) "Disabled" means the inability to perform any teaching service, whether or not such service is performed full-time or part-time, in a public or nonpublic school or a nonschool setting, on a volunteer basis or for compensation, within or without the state, or engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that (A) is permanent or can be expected to last continually for not less than twelve months from the onset of such impairment, or (B) can be expected to result in death or to be of long- continued and indefinite duration, except that during the first twenty- four months that a member is receiving a disability allowance, "disabled" means the inability to perform the usual duties of [his] the member's occupation by reason of any such impairment. [(14)] (15) "Employer" means an elected school committee, a board of education, the State Board of Education, the Office of Early Childhood, the Technical Education and Career System, the Board of Regents for