ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 564

(By Senators Tomblin, Lucht and Wehrle)
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[Originating in the Committee on Pensions;
reported March 30, 1993.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections fourteen and eighteen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to increasing employer contribution to teachers retirement system.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections fourteen and eighteen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7A-14. Contributions by members.
At the end of each month every member of the retirement system shall contribute six percent of that member's monthly earnable compensation to the retirement board: Provided, Thatany member employed by the West Virginia board of directors of the state college system or the board of trustees of the university system at an institution of higher education under its control shall contribute on the member's full earnable compensation, unless otherwise provided in section fourteen-a of this article.
Annually, the contributions of each member shall be credited to the member's account in the teachers accumulation fund. The contributions shall be deducted from the salaries of the members as herein prescribed and every member shall be deemed to have given consent to such deductions. No deductions, however, shall be made from the earnable compensation of any member who retired because of age or service, and then resumed service unless as provided in section thirteen-a of this article.
The aggregate of employer contributions, due and payable under this article, shall equal annually fifteen percent of the earnable compensation of members required by this section.
Payment by an employer to a member of the sum specified in the employment contract minus the amount of the employee's deductions shall be deemed to be a full discharge of the employer's contractual obligation as to earnable compensation.
Each contributor shall file with the retirement board or with the employer to be forwarded to the retirement board an enrollment form showing his date of birth and other data needed by the retirement board.
§18-7A-18. Funds created; fund transfers.
The funds created are the teachers accumulation fund, theemployers accumulation fund, the benefit fund, the reserve fund and the expense fund. Each fund shall constitute a separate trust.
(a) The teachers accumulation fund shall be the fund in which the contributions of members shall be accumulated. The accumulated contributions of a member returned to him upon his withdrawal, or paid to his estate or designated beneficiary in the event of death, shall be paid from the teachers accumulation fund. Any accumulated contributions forfeited by failure to claim such contributions shall be transferred from the teachers accumulation fund to the reserve fund.
(b) Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, contributions of employers shall be deposited in the employers accumulation fund through state appropriations and such amounts shall be included in the budget bill submitted annually by the governor.
Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, each county shall deposit in the employers accumulation fund an amount equal to one and one-half percent of all salary paid in excess of that authorized for minimum salaries in sections two and eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code and any salary equity authorized in section five of said article or any county supplement equal to the amount distributed for salary equity among the counties; beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety, the rate shall increase to three percent; beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, the rate shallincrease to four and one-half percent; beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, and thereafter, the rate shall be six percent; and beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, and thereafter, the rate shall be fifteen percent.
(c) The benefit fund shall be the fund from which annuities shall be paid. Upon the retirement of a member, his accumulated contributions shall be transferred from the teachers accumulation fund to the benefit fund; the accumulated employers' contribution shall be transferred from the employers accumulation fund to the benefit fund; and annually a sum for prior service pension and disability credits, if needed, shall be transferred from the reserve fund to the benefit fund. Any deficit occurring in the benefit fund which is not automatically met by payments to that fund, as provided for by this article, shall be met by additional transfers from the employers accumulation fund and, if necessary, by transfers from the teachers accumulation fund.
(d) The retirement board is hereby authorized to accept gifts and bequests. All gifts, bequests and interest earnings from investments received by the board shall be deposited in the reserve fund. Any funds that may come into possession of the retirement system in this manner or which may be transferred from the teachers accumulation fund by reason of the lack of a claimant or because of a surplus in any of the funds, or any other moneys the disposition of which is not otherwise provided for, shall be credited to the reserve fund. The retirement board shall allow interest on the contributions in the teachersaccumulation fund. Such interest shall be paid from the reserve fund and credited to the teachers accumulation fund. Any deficit occurring in any fund which would not be automatically covered by the payments to that fund as otherwise provided by this article shall be met by transfers from the reserve fund to such fund. In the reserve fund shall be accumulated moneys from retirement board appropriations to pay the accrued liabilities of the system, caused by the granting of prior service, ad hoc increases granted prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty, and disability pensions. Costs associated with board investments, such as premiums, accrued interest and commissions, shall be paid from the reserve fund.
(e) The expense fund shall be the fund from which shall be paid the expense incurred in the administration of the retirement system. The retirement board is herewith authorized to pay, from the expense fund, membership fees in such voluntary organizations as the national council on teacher retirement, anything in this code to the contrary notwithstanding. Interest on loans to members shall be deposited in the expense fund.
The retirement board is herewith given sole authority to direct and approve the making of any and all fund transfers as provided herein, anything in this code to the contrary notwithstanding.