H. B. 4288
(By Delegates Swartzmiller, Yost, Stalnaker,
Kominar, Varner, Manchin, Palumbo,
Pino, Caputo and Browning)
[Introduced January 25, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5-10B-10a of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding
thereto a new section, designated §5-10B-12a, all relating to
the deferred compensation plan for state employees; clarifying
that an employee must have received pay every payday during a
fiscal year to qualify for participation in the matching
program; and providing the Treasurer with information needed
to operate the state deferred compensation plan.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-10B-10a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated §5-10B-12a, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10B. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLANS.
§5-10B-10a. Matching contribution program.
(a) For a period commencing the first day of July, two
thousand seven, and continuing through the thirtieth day of
September, two thousand twelve, the Treasurer is authorized to establish and operate a savings incentive program pursuant to
section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, in
which a state employee participating in the deferred compensation
plan authorized in this article may receive certain matching
contributions pursuant to this section. The Treasurer shall
establish matching program guidelines in accordance with this
article.
(b) To qualify for participation in the matching program, a
state employee shall have contributed to his or her deferred
compensation account not less than ten dollars
every pay period
for twelve monthly pay periods or twenty-four semi-monthly pay
periods during a fiscal year.
(c) (1) Subject to the limitations provided by subdivision (2)
of this subsection and subsections (e) and (f) of this section, the
Treasurer shall allocate and credit a matching sum of up to
twenty-five percent of the contributions a qualified state employee
made to his or her deferred compensation account
for twelve monthly
pay periods or twenty-four semi-monthly pay periods during a fiscal
year
subsequent to qualifying to participate in the matching
program for a period of up to five fiscal years, which
contributions shall be at least ten dollars in every pay period
during the fiscal year, and which matching contributions for any
employee shall not exceed one hundred dollars in any one fiscal
year and four hundred dollars total over the life of the matching
program.
(2) The Treasurer shall set the amount of funds a qualified state employee may receive as a match in accordance with this
section in an amount not to exceed the amount of funds authorized
by the Legislature for this purpose.
(d) The matching contribution shall be remitted annually by
the Treasurer from the West Virginia Deferred Compensation Matching
Fund, which is hereby created, to the employee's account in the
West Virginia Deferred Compensation Trust Fund no later than the
thirtieth day of September each year for the prior fiscal year.
(e) The Treasurer shall not obligate, authorize or pay any
match for which funds are not available in the West Virginia
Deferred Compensation Matching Fund.
(f) Operation of the matching program is contingent upon
funding made available by the West Virginia Legislature and may be
changed or discontinued at any time for a time certain or
indefinitely, as determined by the Legislature or the Treasurer.
The maximum amount of funds that may be expended from the Deferred
Compensation Matching Fund in any one fiscal year is one million
dollars.
(g) On or before the first day of June, two thousand seven,
the unclaimed property administrator shall transfer the amount of
two million dollars from the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund, created
in section thirteen, article eight, chapter thirty-six of this
code, to the Deferred Compensation Matching Fund for operation of
the matching program. On or before the first day of June, two
thousand eight, the unclaimed property administrator shall transfer
the amount of one million dollars from the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to the Deferred Compensation Matching Fund for operation of
the matching program.
(h) Moneys in the Deferred Compensation Matching Fund may be
invested, in whole or in part, with the West Virginia Board of
Treasury Investments or any other entity the Treasurer selects, and
all earnings shall accrue to and be retained by the fund.
(i) The State of West Virginia, the Treasurer and his or her
employees, agents and representatives shall not be liable for any
losses incurred by the Deferred Compensation Matching Fund.
(j) Any moneys remaining in the Deferred Compensation Matching
Fund at the termination of the matching program shall be
transferred to the General Revenue Fund of the state no later than
the thirty-first day of December, two thousand twelve.
(k) Any public employer may elect to operate its own matching
program.
§5-10B-12a. Disclosure of information to the Treasurer for
operation of the plan.
For purposes of this article, any person or entity with
information pertaining to an employee shall disclose to the
Treasurer any information the Treasurer determines he or she needs
for the operation of the state deferred compensation plan.
Disclosure of the information shall begin upon enactment of this
section on such schedule and under such arrangements as the
Treasurer may reasonably require. Information disclosed pursuant to
this section shall be used by the Treasurer only for the operation
of the state plan. The Treasurer shall treat the information obtained as confidential and shall not disclose the information
except to a vendor providing goods or services for the plan, who
shall also treat the information as confidential, or as required by
law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to delete unnecessary
language pertaining to the matching program of the deferred
compensation plan for state employees, to clarify that an employee
must have received pay every payday during a fiscal year to qualify
for participation in the matching program and to provide the
Treasurer with information needed to operate the state deferred
compensation plan.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.