H.
B.
4680
(By Delegate Browning)
[Introduced March 2, 1994; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-seven-a, twenty-eight, thirty-five and thirty-seven, article two, chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section forty, all relating to the division of public safety death, disability and retirement fund; contributions to fund; retirement awards and benefits; retirement annual annuity adjustments; availability of military service credit; benefits to dependents of a member; refunds of contributions to members upon discharge or resignation; deferred retirement; and utilization of accumulated annual and sick leave by newly hired members.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections twenty-six; twenty-seven, twenty-seven-a, twenty-eight, thirty-five and thirty-seven, article two, chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section forty, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2.
DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
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26.
Continuation of death, disability and retirement fund;
retirement board.
There shall be continued the death, disability and retirement fund heretofore created for the benefit of members of the department of public safety and any dependent of a retired or deceased member thereof.
There shall be deducted from the monthly payroll of each member of the department of public safety and paid into such fund six percent of the amount of his salary, and an additional twelve percent of the monthly salary of each member of said department shall be paid by the state of West Virginia monthly into such fund out of the annual appropriation for said department. There shall also be paid into the fund such amounts as have previously been collected by the superintendent of the department of public safety on account of payments to members for court attendance and mileage, rewards for apprehending wanted persons, fees for traffic accident reports and photographs, fees for criminal investigation reports and photographs, fees for criminal history record checks, fees for criminal history record reviews and challenges or from any other sources designated by the superintendent. All moneys payable into such fund shall be deposited in the state treasury, and the treasurer and auditor shall keep a separate account thereof on their respective books.
The moneys in this fund, and the right of a member to a retirement allowance, to the return of contributions, or to any benefit under the provisions of this article, are hereby exempt from any state or municipal tax; shall not be subject to the execution, garnishment, attachment or any other process whatsoever; and shall be unassignable except as is provided in this article.
The death, disability and retirement fund shall be administered through the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, by a retirement board which shall consist of the attorney general, state treasurer, the superintendent and two members in active service of the department: That members of said retirement board shall not be entitled to receive any compensation in addition to the salary of their respective offices for any service rendered as a member of said retirement board:
At its first meeting following each election of members to the retirement board, said board shall elect one of its members to serve as chairman and a second member to serve as secretary thereof. The retirement board shall have the power to make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions hereof, governing procedure and order and manner of business by and before such board. The retirement board shall have the power to make awards and to revise and terminate awards previously made for such times and under such terms and conditions as are hereinafter provided. The votes of a majority of the five members of the board shall be necessary to the decision of any matter by the board. Decisions made by the board shall be supreme and final and there shall be no appeal therefrom.
It shall be the duty of the retirement board on or before the first day of July of each year to cause all future awards from such fund to be valued and, to the extent that moneys shall be available, reserves based on sound actuarial principles for payment thereof to be carried on the fund's account as a liability against the reserve fund. The board shall have the authority to employ an actuary for such purpose. The board shall cause a system of accounting to be installed and maintained to reflect currently and truly all transactions or developments pertaining to age of members and eligible dependents surviving deceased members, periods of service and aggregate earnings of all members eligible to participate in said fund and any other matter relating to maintenance of said fund or administration thereof, and each year to cause to be made and submitted to each member of said department a statement of the condition of said fund. Costs and expenses incurred in making actuarial studies, audits and installations and maintenance of such accounting system shall be paid by the superintendent from funds appropriated for operation of the department of public safety.
All moneys paid into and accumulated in said death, disability and retirement fund, except such amounts as shall be designated or set aside by the retirement board for payments of death, disability and retirement benefits and awards, shall be invested by the state board of investments as provided by law.
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27. Retirement; awards and benefits.
(a) The retirement board shall retire any member of the department of public safety when the member has both attained the age of fifty-five years and completed twenty-five years of service as a member of the department, including military service credit granted under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article.
(b) The retirement board shall retire any member of the department of public safety who has lodged with the secretary of the retirement board his voluntary petition in writing for retirement, and:
(1) Has or shall have completed twenty-five years of service as a member of the department (including military service credit granted under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article);
(2) Has or shall have attained the age of fifty years and has or shall have completed twenty years of service as a member of the department (excluding military service credit granted under section twenty-eight of this article); or
(3) Being under the age of fifty years has or shall have completed twenty years of service as a member of the department (excluding military service credit granted under section twenty-eight of this article).
(c) When the retirement board retires any member under any of the provisions of this section, the board shall, by order in writing, make an award directing that the member shall be entitled to receive annually and that there shall be paid to the member from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly installments during the natural lifetime of the member while in status of retirement one or the other of two amounts, whichever is the greater:
(1) An amount equal to five and one-half percent of the aggregate of salary paid to the member during the whole period of service as a member of the department of public safety; or
(2) The sum of six thousand dollars.
When a member has or shall have served twenty years or longer but less than twenty-five years as a member of the department and shall be retired under any of the provisions of this section before he shall have attained the age of fifty years, payment of monthly installments of the amount of retirement award to such member shall commence on the date he attains the age of fifty years.
(d) As an alternative to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, a member who was hired before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, may elect to receive an annuity equal to three and four-tenths percent of his or her final average salary multiplied by the number of years, and fraction of a year, of his or her credited service in the department at the time of retirement as determined under the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.
(e) For all members who are hired on or after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the following provisions govern their retirement and they are not subject to the provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this section.
A member may retire with full benefits upon attaining the age of fifty-five and completing twenty or more years of service. A member who is less than age fifty-five may retire upon completing twenty years or more of service but will receive an actuarily reduced benefit that is equivalent to the benefit the member would have received if the member had retired with the same number of years of service upon attaining the age of fifty-five.
When the retirement board retires a member with full benefits under the provisions of this section, the board, by order in writing, shall make an award that the member is entitled to receive on annuity equal to three and one-tenths percent of his or her final average salary multiplied by the number of years, and fraction of a year, of his or her service in the department at the time of retirement. The member may select to receive one of the options provided in section thirty-five of this article.
(f) For the purposes of this section "final average salary" means the average of the highest annual salaries received by the member during any five years within the member's last ten years of service.
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15-2-27a. Retirement annual annuity adjustments.
(a) Every member of the department of public safety who is fifty-six years of age or older and who is retired by the retirement board before the effective day of the amendment of this section in one thousand nine hundred ninety-four shall be eligible to receive an annual retirement annuity adjustment equal to three and seventy-five hundredths percent of their retirement award. Such adjustments shall not be retroactive. Yearly adjustments shall begin upon the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight. The annuity adjustments shall be awarded and paid to the members from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly installments while the member is in status of retirement. The annuity adjustments shall supplement the retirement awards and benefits as provided in this article.
Every member retired by the retirement board and receiving from the death, disability and retirement fund an amount equal to more than eight percent of the total salary which would have been earned by such member during twenty-five years of service or actual service if more than twenty-five years of service in said department based on the average earnings of such member while employed as a member of said department, shall be eligible to receive the retirement annuity adjustment at the time such member attains the age of sixty-five years or older. The annuity adjustments shall be paid to the members beneficiaries during the period that the members beneficiaries have attained fifty-six years of age or older and are receiving a payment or an award from the death, disability and retirement fund. The annuity adjustments shall supplement the retirement awards and benefits as provided in this article.
(b) Every member who retires on and after the effective day of the amendment of this section in one thousand nine hundred ninety-four and attains the age of sixty-three years of age or older is eligible to receive an annual retirement annuity adjustment equal to two percent of his or her retirement award. The annuity adjustments shall be awarded and paid to the members from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly installments while the member is in status of retirement. The annual annuity adjustment shall commence on the first day of July of the year in which the members attains the age of sixty-three. If the member dies prior to attaining the age of sixty-three years, the annuity adjustments shall be paid to the beneficiary of such member if the beneficiary is otherwise eligible to receive an award from the death, disability and retirement fund:
Provided,
That if the member dies after commencement of the annual annuity adjustment, the beneficiary shall continue to receive the annual adjustment regardless of the beneficiary's age. The annuity adjustments shall supplement the retirement awards and benefits as provided in this article.
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28. Credit toward retirement for member's prior military
service; credit toward retirement when member has
joined armed forces in time of armed conflict.
(a) For purposes of this section, the term "active military duty" means full-time active duty with the armed forces of the United States, namely, the United States air force, army, coast guard, marines or navy; and service with the national guard or reserve military forces of any of such armed forces when the member has been called to active full-time duty and has received no compensation during the period of such duty from any person other than the armed forces.
(b) Any member of the department who has previously served on active military duty shall be entitled to and receive credit on the minimum period of service required by law for retirement pay from the service of the department of public safety under the provisions of this article for a period equal to the active military duty not to exceed five years, subject to the following:
(1) That he has been honorably discharged from the armed forces;
(2) That he substantiates by appropriate documentation or evidence his period of active military duty;
(3) That he is receiving no benefits from any other retirement system for his active military duty; and
(4) That, except with respect to disability retirement pay awarded under section thirty of this article, he has actually served with the department for twenty years exclusive of his active military duty.
The amount of retirement pay to which any such member is entitled shall be calculated and determined as if he had been receiving for the period of his active military duty a monthly salary from the department equal to the average monthly salary which he actually received from the department for his total service with the department exclusive of the active military duty. The superintendent is authorized to transfer and pay into the death, disability and retirement fund from moneys appropriated for the department a sum equal to eighteen percent of the aggregate of the salaries on which the retirement pay of all such members has been calculated and determined for their periods of active military duty. In addition, any person who while a member of the department was commissioned, enlisted or inducted into the armed forces of the United States or, being a member of the reserve officers' corps, was called to active duty in said armed forces between the first day of September, one thousand nine hundred forty, and the close of hostilities in World War II, or between the twenty-seventh day of June, one thousand nine hundred fifty, and the close of the armed conflict in Korea on the twenty-seventh day of July, one thousand nine hundred fifty-three, between the first day of August, one thousand nine hundred sixty-four and the close of the armed conflict in Vietnam, or during any other period of armed conflict by the United States whether sanctioned by a declaration of war by the Congress or by executive or other order of the president, shall be entitled to and receive credit on the minimum period of service required by law for retirement pay from the service of the department of public safety for a period equal to the full time he has or shall, pursuant to such commission, enlistment, induction or call, have served with said armed forces subject to the following:
(1) That he has been honorably discharged from the armed forces;
(2) That within ninety days after honorable discharge from the armed forces he has presented himself to the superintendent and offered to resume service as an active member of the department; and
(3) That he has made no voluntary act, whether by reenlistment, waiver of discharge, acceptance of commission or otherwise, to extend or participate in extension of the period of service with the armed forces beyond the period of service for which he was originally commissioned, enlisted, inducted or called.
That amount of retirement pay to which any such member shall be entitled shall be calculated and determined as if the member has continued in the active service of the department at the rank or grade to him appertaining at the time of such commission, induction, enlistment or call, during a period coextensive with the time the member served with the armed forces pursuant to the commission, induction, enlistment or call. The superintendent of the department is authorized to transfer and pay each month into the death, disability and retirement fund from moneys appropriated for the department a sum equal to eighteen percent of the aggregate of salary which all such members would have been entitled to receive had they continued in the active service of the department during a period coextensive with the time such members served with the armed forces pursuant to the commission, induction, enlistment or call:
Provided,
That the total amount of military service credit allowable under this section shall not exceed five years.
(c) No member hired on or after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four may receive credit for any prior military service for purposes of calculating the retirement benefit or required years of service requirement for retirement benefits under this article.
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35. Awards and benefits to dependents of member
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When
member dies after retirement or after serving
twenty years.
(a) When any member of said department has heretofore completed or hereafter shall complete twenty years of service or longer as a member of said department and has died or shall die from any cause or causes other than those specified in this article before having been retired by the retirement board, and when a member in retirement status has died or shall die after having been retired by the retirement board under the provisions of this article, there shall be paid annually in equal monthly installments from said fund to the surviving spouse of said member, commencing on the date of the death of said member and continuing during the lifetime or until remarriage of said surviving spouse an amount equal to three-fourths the retirement benefits said deceased member was receiving while in status of retirement, or would have been entitled to receive to the same effect as if such member had been retired under the provisions of this article immediately prior to the time of his death and in no event to be less than five thousand dollars and in addition thereto said surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive and there shall be paid to such surviving spouse from said fund the sum of one hundred dollars monthly for each dependent child or children. If such surviving spouse die, or remarry, or if there be no surviving spouse there shall be paid monthly from said fund to each dependent child or children of said deceased member a sum equal to twenty-five percent of the surviving spouse's entitlement. If there be no surviving spouse or no surviving spouse eligible to receive benefits and no dependent child or children there shall be paid annually in equal monthly installments from said fund to the dependent parents of said deceased member during their joint lifetimes a sum equal to the amount which a surviving spouse without children would have been entitled to receive:
Provided,
That when there shall be but one dependent parent surviving, such parent shall be entitled to receive during his or her lifetime one half the amount which both parents, if living, would have been entitled to receive.
(b) For all members hired after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the survivor benefits shall be the same as in subsection (a) of this section except for the surviving spouse benefit which shall be two thirds of the retirement benefits as defined in subsection (a). The member may choose a higher percentage of surviving spouse benefits by taking an actuarily determined reduced initial benefit so that the chosen spouse benefit and initial benefit would be actuarily equivalent to the normal spouse benefit and initial benefit. The retirement board shall design these benefit options and provide them as choices for the member to select. For the purposes of this subsection "initial benefit" means the benefit received by the member upon retirement.
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37. Refunds to certain members upon discharge
or
resignation; deferred retirement.
(a) Any member who shall be discharged by order of the superintendent or shall otherwise terminate employment with the division after such member has or shall have served two full years or more as a member of said department shall, at the written request of such member to the retirement board, be entitled to receive from the retirement said fund a sum equal to the aggregate of the principal amount of moneys deducted from the salary of such member and paid into said death, disability and retirement fund plus four percent interest thereon calculated annually as provided and required by this article.
Provided,
That the superintendent shall forthwith refund to any member who has or shall have served more than two but less than twenty years as a member of said department and has resigned or shall resign or who has been or shall be discharged from the service for cause, a sum equal to the aggregate of the principal amount of all moneys deducted from the salary of such member and paid into said fund as aforesaid: That if any such refund shall be made to any member, such member shall not be entitled to any benefits provided by this article, and should
(b) Any such member withdrawing contributions who may thereafter be again enlisted reenlisted as a member of said department the division, no shall not receive any prior service credit or any period of service required of a member as a condition of retirement shall be allowed to such member on account of such former service, unless following such reenlistment such member shall redeposit in said fund the amount of the refund, together with interest thereon at the rate of four percent per annum from the date of withdrawal to the date of redeposit, in which case he shall receive the same credit on account of his former service as if no refund had been made. When any member has or shall have served as a member of said department during twenty years or longer and shall, in the opinion of the superintendent, become unfit for any reason for further active service such member shall, in lieu of being discharged, be retired by the retirement board under the provision or provisions of this article most favorable to such member.
(c) Every member who completes ten years of service with the division of public safety is eligible, upon separation of employment with the division, to withdraw his or her contributions in accordance with subsection (a) of this section or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contributions with interest and upon attainment of age sixty-two such member will be eligible to receive a deferred actuarily calculated retirement annuity. Any member choosing to receive the deferred annuity under this subsection is not eligible to receive the annual annuity adjustment provided in section twenty-seven-a of this article.
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15-2-40.
Utilization of accumulated annual and sick leave for
extension of insurance coverage.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (e), section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter fifteen of this code, a member hired after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, may only use his or her accumulated annual and sick leave upon retirement in accordance with the provisions of this section.
When a member who is a participating employee under the public employees insurance program is compelled or required by law to retire before reaching the age of sixty-five, or when such a participating employee voluntarily retires as provided by law, that employee's annual leave or sick leave, if any, shall be credited toward one half of the premium cost if such premium is required to be paid for coverage of the member or the member's dependents, of the insurance provided by article sixteen, chapter five of this code for periods and scope of coverage determined according to the following formulae: (1) One additional month of single retiree coverage for every two days of annual leave or sick leave, or both, which the employee had accrued as of the effective date of his or her retirement; or (2) one additional month of coverage for a retiree, his or her spouse and dependents for every three days of annual leave or sick leave, or both, which the employee had accrued as of the effective date of his or her retirement. The remaining premium cost shall be borne by such retired employee if he or she elects such coverage.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make changes to the death, disability and retirement fund of the Division of Public Safety to partially address the actuarial deficit of the fund. An alternative annuity computation based upon final average salary (FAS) is provided for present members. All members hired after July 1, 1994, will have their annuities calculated under a FAS formula with a normal retirement age of 55. For all members who retire after the effective date of this bill, the retirement annuity adjustment will begin at age 63 and will be 2% per year. Persons hired after July 1, 1994, will not receive retirement credit for military service and their dependent spouse benefits will be two thirds of their retirement benefits when they die after retirement or after serving 20 years except that they may choose an increased spouse benefit with an actuarily reduced initial benefit. Any member who leaves the division before retirement is entitled to receive his or her contributions to
the fund plus four percent interest calculated annually. If the member has completed ten or more years of service, the member may elect to receive a deferred retirement annuity beginning at age 62. Any member hired after July 1, 1994, upon retirement will only be allowed to use any accumulated annual and sick leave for the extension of public employee insurance coverage and not for an enhanced retirement benefit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
§15-2-40 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.