(a) Unless a participant elects to be paid his or her service award in an optional actuarially equivalent form on the written application for distribution he or she files with the administrator, the service award shall be paid to the participant in the form of a monthly payment straight life annuity. The amount of the monthly straight life annuity payment shall be one-twelfth of the benefit amount times the years of ambulance service credit earned by the participant as of the effective date of the commencement of payment of his or her service award.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a participant shall be entitled to apply for and receive distribution of a service award only when the participant has acquired a, nonforfeitable right to a service award and has attained the entitlement age. A written application for distribution must be received by the administrator from a participant before payments shall commence to the participant. The participant shall, on such written application, specify the effective date of payment commencement and shall select the form of payment of his or her service award. The effective date of payment commencement shall be the first day of any month commencing within the 90-day period immediately following the date the written application is received by the administrator. A participant may file a written application within the 90-day period immediately preceding the date on which he or she shall have attained the entitlement age and acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award and specify an effective date of payment commencement:

(c) The effective date of the commencement of payment of a service award to a participant shall not be on or before the last day of the first calendar year during which a participant earned a year of ambulance service credit.

(d) The administrator shall approve an application for distribution based on the terms of the sponsor's adoption agreement, the records maintained by the administrator and, in the case of disability or death, such additional records or information as the administrator may require. The administrator, in its sole discretion, may require the sponsor, the appropriate ambulance company or the participant to verify or supply any information the administrator deems necessary to determine entitlement to distribution of a service award.

(e) The number and types of optional forms of payments of a service award available under a program shall be at the sole discretion of the administrator subject to the approval of the Comptroller. Program sponsors and ambulance companies whose volunteer ambulance workers participate in a defined benefit plan service award program shall be promptly notified by the administrator in writing of any changes in the optional forms of payment. Participants shall then be promptly notified about such changes by the ambulance company. The optional forms of payment under the program are set forth in section 152.26 of this Part.

(f) For determining the payments of a service award to a participant under an actuarially equivalent form of payment, the program actuary shall use the actuarial assumptions used to calculate the annual program costs payable by the sponsor during the calendar year in which the payments of the service award to the participant or the participant's beneficiary shall commence.

(g) No ambulance service credit may be earned by a participant after the effective date of commencement of payment of a service award to a participant. Only service credit earned before the effective date of commencement of the service award payments to a participant shall be considered when calculating a participant's service award.

(h) In the event that a participant becomes totally and permanently disabled as certified by the workers' compensation board or by any other competent authority approved by the administrator, and the disability prevents the participant from pursuing his or her normal occupation, the participant shall be entitled to apply for and receive distribution of his or her service award regardless of whether the participant has reached the entitlement age or acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award. The participant may select one of the optional forms of payment available under the service award program in case of disability. The value of the service award shall be determined on the basis of the years of ambulance service credited to the participant as of the effective date of commencement of payment of the service award. The amount of payments shall be calculated so as to be actuarially equivalent to the present value of the payments as if they commenced at the entitlement age.

(i) In the event of the death of a participant who has acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award and who has not previously received distribution of any portion of his or her service award, the beneficiaries designated by the participant or, if no beneficiaries have been so designated, the participant's estate, shall be entitled to apply for and receive distribution of the participant's service award. The applicant may select one of the optional forms of payment available under the service award program in case of death. The value of the service award shall be determined on the basis of the years of ambulance service credited to the participant as of the effective date of commencement of payment of the service award. The amount of the payments shall be calculated so as to be actuarially equivalent to the present value of the payments as if they commenced at the entitlement age.