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SB208 SUB1 Senate Bill 208 History

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COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 208

(By Senators Foster and Plymale)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on Finance;

reported February 14, 2008.]

____________


A BILL to amend and reenact §5-10C-3, §5-10C-4 and §5-10C-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to government employees retirement plans; adding the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System to, and clarifying that all other retirement systems administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board are included in, the definition of "retirement systems" for purposes of the employer pick-up provisions; clarifying that all participating public employers in retirement systems covered by this article are included in the definition of "participating public employer"; and setting forth requirements for member contributions to be picked up for federal tax purposes by participating public employers in retirement systems covered by this article in accordance with revised guidance relating to same from the Internal Revenue Service.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-10C-3, §5-10C-4 and §5-10C-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10C. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT PLANS.
§5-10C-3. Definitions.

The following words and phrases as used in this article, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context, have the following meanings:
(1) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all amounts credited to a member's individual account in the members' deposit fund and includes both contributions deducted from the compensation of a member and contributions of a member picked up and paid by the member's participating public employer, plus applicable interest thereon.
(2) "Board of trustees" means, as appropriate: The board of trustees of the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created in article ten, chapter five of this code; the retirement board of the West Virginia department of public safety death, disability and retirement fund created in section twenty-six, article two, chapter fifteen of this code; the retirement board of the state teachers and board of regents retirement system created in article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code; the governing board of the board of regents supplemental and additional retirement plans created in section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter eighteen of this code; the retirement board of the judges' retirement system created in article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code; or the board of trustees of the firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds created in article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code The Consolidated Public Retirement Board created in article ten-d of this chapter; the Higher Education Policy Commission; the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education; the institutional governing boards responsible for the higher education retirement plan and supplemental retirement plan; or the boards of trustees of the firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds created in article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code.
(3) "Employee" means any person, whether appointed, elected or under contract, providing services for a public employer for which compensation is paid and who is a member of the applicable retirement system.
(4) "Member" means any employee who is included person who has accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in a retirement system.
(5) "Member contributions" means, as appropriate: The contributions required by section twenty-nine, article ten of this chapter five from employees who are members of the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System; the contributions required by section twenty-six, article two, chapter fifteen of this code from employees who are members of the West Virginia department of public safety State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund; the contributions required by section seven, article fourteen-d, chapter seven of this code from employees who are members of the Deputy Sheriff Sheriff's Retirement System; the contributions required by section fourteen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code from employees who are members of the State Teachers Retirement System; the contributions authorized or required by section fourteen-a, article seven-a of said chapter or by section four-a, article twenty-three of said chapter from employees who are members of the West Virginia board of regents retirement plans higher education retirement plan and supplemental retirement plan; the contributions required by section four, article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code from employees who are members of the Judges' Retirement System; or the contributions required by section sixteen nineteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code from employees who are members of the municipal firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds; the contributions required by section nine, article seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code from employees who are members of the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System; the contributions required by section five, article two-a, chapter fifteen of this code from the employees who are members of the West Virginia State Police Retirement System; or the contributions required by section eight, article five-v, chapter sixteen of this code from employees who are members of the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System.
(6) "Participating public employer" means the State of West Virginia, any board, commission, department, institution or spending unit and shall include includes any agency with full-time employees, created by rule of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which for the purpose of this article shall be considered a department of state government and county boards of education with respect to teachers employed by them; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System; and any political subdivision in this state which is subject to the provisions of article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code.
(7) "Political subdivision" means the State of West Virginia, a county, city or town in the state; a school corporation or corporate unit; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part by counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or towns, any agency or organization established by or approved by the division Department of Health and Human Resources for the provision of community health or mental retardation services and which is supported in part by state, county or municipal funds.
(8) "Retirement system" means, as appropriate: The West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created in article ten of this chapter; the West Virginia department of public safety State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund created in sections twenty-six through thirty-eight, inclusive, article two, chapter fifteen of this code; the West Virginia Deputy sheriff Sheriff Retirement System created in article fourteen-d, chapter seven of this code; the State Teachers Retirement System created in article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia Board of Regents higher education retirement plans plan and supplemental retirement plan created in section fourteen-a, article seven-a of said chapter and section four-a, article twenty-three of said chapter; the Judges' Retirement System created in article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code; or the firemen's or policemen's pension and relief fund funds created in section sixteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code; the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System created in article seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia State Police Retirement System created in article two-a, chapter fifteen of this code; or the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System created in article five-v, chapter sixteen of this code.
(9) "Teacher" has the meaning ascribed to it in section three, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code.
§5-10C-4. Pick-up of members' contributions by participating public employers.

(a) The State of West Virginia for its public employees and county boards of education for its teachers shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such the employees are required by law to make to the retirement system in which they are a member for all compensation earned by its member employees after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six. Any political subdivision that is a participating public employer in the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such the employees are required by law to make to the retirement system in which they are members for all compensation earned by its member employees after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. Counties shall pick-up and pay the contributions which such the employees are required by law to make to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System in which they are members for all compensation earned by its member employees after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. Any election made by a political subdivision to pick-up and pay employee contributions prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, remains in effect and is not altered or amended by the amendments made to this section during the regular legislative session, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. Unless a different commencement date for pick-up is specifically stated in this section, all participating public employers under this article, with respect to retirement systems subject to this article, shall pick-up and pay the contributions which their employees are required by law to make to the retirement system in which they are a member from and after the commencement of the required employee contributions.
(b) When the participating public employer picks up and pays the contributions of its member employees, the contributions, although designated by statute as employee contributions, shall be treated as employer contributions in determining the tax treatment thereof under article twenty-one, chapter eleven of this code and the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the contributions shall not be included in the gross income of the employee in determining his or her tax treatment under those provisions until they are distributed or made available to the employee or his or her beneficiary. The participating public employer shall pay these employee contributions from the same source of funds used in paying compensation to the employee, by effecting an equal cash reduction in the gross salary of the employee, or by an off-set against future salary increases, or by a combination of reduction in gross salary and off-set against future salary increases. In no event shall any employee of a participating public employer have the right to opt out of pick-up or to elect to receive the picked-up and contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by the participating public employer into the retirement system pursuant to this article. (c) When employee contributions are picked up and paid by the participating public employer, they shall be treated by the board of trustees in the same manner and to the same extent as employee contributions made prior to the date on which employee contributions are picked up by the participating public employer. (d) The amount of employee contributions picked up by the participating public employer shall be paid to the retirement system in the manner and form and in the frequency required by the board of trustees and shall be accompanied by supporting data that the board of trustees may prescribe. When paid to the retirement system, each of these amounts shall be credited to the deposit fund account of the member for whom the contribution was picked up and paid by the participating public employer.
§5-10C-5. Savings clause.
In enacting this article, it is the intent of the Legislature that the retirement plan created pursuant to this article and those created pursuant to article ten of this chapter; article fourteen- d, chapter seven of this code; article two, chapter fifteen of this code; article seven-a, chapter eighteen; and article nine, chapter fifty-one; section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter eighteen of this code; section sixteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code; article seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code; article two-a, chapter fifteen of this code; and article five-v, chapter sixteen of this code qualify under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 1986, as amended, and that the member contributions picked up by the participating public employer qualify under Subsection (h), Section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 1986, as amended. Should If the United States Internal Revenue Service does not approve of certain sections or phraseology of certain sections of this article as being in compliance with the statutes or rules regulations governing the Internal Revenue Service, the respective boards of trustees, in the adoption of the deferred compensation plan, shall adopt such the terminology with respect to those sections as will that comply therewith with the statutes or regulations governing the Internal Revenue Service.
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