H. B. 2232


(By Delegates Williams, Pettit, Burk, Houvouras
Richards, Beach and Browning)

[Introduced February 22, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to supplemental and additional retirement plans for employees of the governing boards of the state institutions of higher education; providing for the voluntary election, by any employee of a governing board of a state institution of higher education who is a member of the state teachers retirement system or a participant in a supplemental plan, to participate, on a prospective basis, solely in any additional retirement; providing for the freezing of benefits payable from the state teachers retirement system to any person who elects to participate in an additional retirement plan; and allowing governing boards limited discretion in determining employee and employer contributions to the supplemental and additional plans.

 Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, 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.

ยง18-23-4a. Supplemental and additional retirement plans for employees; payroll deductions; authority to match employee contributions; retroactive curative and technical corrective action.

The governing boards shall have the authority to contract for a supplemental retirement plan plans for any or all of its their employees to supplement the benefits such employees will receive under the state teachers retirement system. The governing boards shall have the authority to make additional periodic deductions from the salary payments due such employees in the amount they are required to contribute for the supplemental retirement plan plans selected by the board boards. The additional deductions shall not exceed five percent of the salary of employees under thirty-five years of age, six percent of the salary of those thirty-five through forty-four years of age, and seven and one-half percent of the salary of those forty- five years of age and above, and shall not cover any portion of an employee's salary which is covered by the state teachers retirement system.
The governing boards shall also have the authority to contract for an additional retirement plan plans for any of its their employees who elect to participate solely in such aretirement plan plans selected by the governing boards without participating in the state retirement system. The governing boards shall have the authority to make periodic deductions from the salary payments due such employees in the amount they are required to contribute to the additional plan plans, which deductions shall be the same percentage not less than four and one-half percent nor more than six percent of the participating employees' salaries. as that deducted from the salaries of members of the state retirement system
The board is boards are further authorized, by way of additional compensation to such employees, to pay an amount equal to the contributions at least six percent of the salaries of such employees, into either the supplemental or additional retirement plan plans from funds appropriated to it for personal services the governing boards. Each participating employee shall have a full and immediate vested interest in the retirement and death benefits accrued from all the moneys paid into such supplemental or additional retirement plan plans for his that employee's benefit. Upon proper requisition of the a governing board, the auditor shall periodically issue a warrant, payable as specified in the requisition, for the total contributions so withheld from the salaries of all of that governing board's participating employees and for the governing board's matching funds.
Pursuant to the provisions contained in article seven-a and article twenty-three of this chapter, once a member has elected one of the options contained in section fourteen-a, article seven-a of this chapter and section four-a, article twenty-threeof this chapter, he cannot thereafter change such election.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sentence, any governing board employee who is a participant in a supplemental retirement plan created pursuant to this section, or who is a member of the state teachers retirement system, shall have the option, on a prospective basis, of ceasing to pay any portion of that employee's salary into the state teachers retirement system or into a supplemental plan and paying a portion of that employee's salary into any additional retirement plans provided pursuant to this section. In the event an employee makes such an election, the benefits payable to that employee from the state teachers retirement system shall be frozen and made available to that employee upon retirement as provided by the state teachers retirement system; and after having made such election the employee may not change such election or again become a member of the state teachers retirement system or a participant in a supplemental retirement plan provided pursuant to this section. For the purposes of this section "frozen" means that the employee's salary, years of service and any other factor to determine benefits shall be calculated as of the date the employee elected membership in an additional retirement plan provided pursuant to this section and after that date no increase in salary, years of service or any other factor may be used to increase the retirement benefit above that which it would be if a person retired upon the date that the election is made. The Legislature declares that the amendment of this section in Enrolled Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 4672, enacted at the regular session, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, wasinadvertent and remained in said bill contrary to legislative intent that the same be deleted; therefore, such language is hereby retroactively deleted and expunged as of the effective date of said Enrolled Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 4672 as curative and technical corrective action. The Legislature further declares that such ambiguous and deficient language inadvertently enacted in said bill shall be given no force and effect whatsoever in any litigation involving such language.
Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, any person whose employment commences on or after that date and is eligible to participate in an any additional retirement plan provided pursuant to this section shall be required to participate in said an additional plan provided pursuant to this section and shall not be eligible to participate in any other state retirement system.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give to any employee of any governing board of any state institution of higher education who is a member of the state teachers retirement system or is a participant in a supplemental plan, and who is otherwise eligible, the right to voluntarily elect, on a prospective basis, to participate solely in an additional retirement plan provided for higher education employees. Upon the effective date of any such election by a higher education employee, the employee's benefits payable to the employee from the state teachers retirement system would be frozen and thereafter made available to the employee at the employee's retirement. The bill also allows the governing boards greater flexibility in determining the amount of employee and employer contributions to the additional plans.