Senate Bill No. 295
(By Senator Burdette, Mr. President)
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[Introduced February 8, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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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.
§18-23-4a. 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 board shall also have the authority tocontract for an additional retirement plan plans for any of its
their employees who elect to participate solely in such a
retirement 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-three
of 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 increasein 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, was
inadvertent 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.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.