Section 40 ILCS 5/2-126.1 - Pickup of contributions(a) The State shall pick up the participant contributions required under Section 2-126 for all salary earned after December 31, 1981. The contributions so picked up shall be treated as employer contributions in determining tax treatment under the United States Internal Revenue Code. The State shall pay these participant contributions from the same source of funds which is used in paying salary to the participant. The State may pick up these contributions by a reduction in the cash salary of the participant. If participant contributions are picked up they shall be treated for all purposes of this Article 2 in the same manner as participant contributions that were made prior to the date that the pick up of contributions began.(b) Subject to the requirements of federal law, a participant may elect to have the employer pick up optional contributions that the participant has elected to pay to the System, and the contributions so picked up shall be treated as employer contributions for the purposes of determining federal tax treatment. The employer shall pick up the contributions by a reduction in the cash salary of the participant and shall pay the contributions from the same fund that is used to pay earnings to the participant. The election to have optional contributions picked up is irrevocable and the optional contributions may not thereafter be prepaid, by direct payment or otherwise. If the provision authorizing the optional contribution requires payment by a stated date (rather than the date of withdrawal or retirement), that requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if (i) on or before the stated date the participant executes a valid irrevocable election to have the contributions picked up under this subsection, and (ii) the picked-up contributions are in fact paid to the System as provided in the election. P.A. 90-448, eff. 8/16/1997; 90-766, eff. 8/14/1998.