ENROLLED
H. B. 4623
(By Delegates Morgan, C. Miller and Craig)
[Passed March 8, 2008; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to
amend and reenact §18-23-4a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Higher Education Policy
Commission; the Council for Community and Technical College
Education; governing boards of state institutions of higher
education; establishing minimum employer contributions; and
allowing contributions to employee retirement plans by certain
higher education employers to exceed the percentage
contributions of employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-23-4a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 23. ADDITIONAL POWERS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF
GOVERNING BOARDS OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
EDUCATION.
§18-23-4a. Supplemental and additional retirement plans for employees; payroll deductions; authority to match
employee contributions; retroactive curative and
technical corrective action.
(a) Any reference in this code to the "additional retirement
plan" relating to state higher education employees, means the
"higher education retirement plan" provided in this section. Any
state higher education employee participating in a retirement plan
upon the effective date of this section continues to participate in
that plan and may not elect to participate in any other state
retirement plan. Any retirement plan continues to be governed by
the provisions of law applicable on the effective date of this
section.
(b) The Higher Education Policy Commission, on behalf of the
governing boards, Council for Community and Technical College
Education and itself, shall contract for a retirement plan for its
employees, to be known as the "Higher Education Retirement Plan".
The governing boards, Council for Community and Technical College
Education and Higher Education Policy Commission shall make
periodic deductions from the salary payments due the employees in
the amount they are required to contribute to the Higher Education
Retirement Plan, which deductions shall be six percent.
(c) The Higher Education Policy Commission, Council for
Community and Technical College Education and the governing boards,
may contract for supplemental retirement plans for any or all of their employees to supplement the benefits the employees otherwise
receive. The governing boards, Council for Community and Technical
College Education and Higher Education Policy Commission may make
additional periodic deductions from the salary payments due the
employees in the amount they are required to contribute for the
supplemental retirement plan.
(d) Each governing board, the Council for Community and
Technical College Education and the Higher Education Policy
Commission, by way of additional compensation to their employees,
shall pay an amount, which, at a minimum, equals the contributions
of the employees into the higher education retirement plan from
funds appropriated to the board or commission for personal
services.
(e) As part of an overall compensation plan, the Higher
Education Policy Commission, the Council for Community and
Technical College Education or an institutional governing board,
each at its sole discretion, may increase its contributions to any
employee retirement plan to an amount that exceeds the
contributions of employees.
(f) Each participating employee has a full and immediate
vested interest in the retirement and death benefits accrued from
all the moneys paid into the Higher Education Retirement Plan or a
supplemental retirement plan for his or her benefit. Upon proper
requisition of a board, the Council for Community and Technical College Education or the Higher Education Policy Commission, the
Auditor periodically shall issue a warrant, payable as specified in
the requisition, for the total contributions so withheld from the
salaries of all participating employees and for the matching funds
of the governing board, Council for Community and Technical College
Education or Higher Education Policy Commission.
(g) Any person whose employment commences on or after the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, and who is
eligible to participate in the Higher Education Retirement Plan,
shall participate in that plan and is not eligible to participate
in any other state retirement system:
Provided, That the foregoing
provision does not apply to a person designated as a 21st Century
Learner Fellow pursuant to section eleven, article three, chapter
eighteen-a of this code. The additional retirement plan contracted
for by the governing boards prior to the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-one, remains in effect unless changed
by the Higher Education Policy Commission. Nothing in this section
may be construed to consider employees of the governing boards or
the Council for Community and Technical College Education as
employees of the Higher Education Policy Commission, nor is the
Higher Education Policy Commission responsible or liable for
retirement benefits contracted by, or on behalf of, the governing
boards or the Council for Community and Technical College
Education.
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