ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 306
(By Senator Burdette, Mr. President)
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[Passed March 9, 1994; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section twenty-two-a, article
thirteen, chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to further
amend said article by adding thereto a new section,
designated section twenty-two-c; to amend and reenact
section eleven, article twenty-two of said chapter; and to
further amend said article by adding thereto a new section,
designated section eleven-a, all relating to the approved
means of investing municipal funds; permitting investments
in federally-issued, backed or guaranteed instruments,
including mortgages on real property situate in the state or
in highly rated pooled trusts; opening investment options in
certain mutual funds and in the securities and commercial
paper of private organizations, banks, trusts and savings
organizations; imposing portfolio limitations on specified
investments; establishing approved investment instruments
for the retirement system assets of Class I, II and III
municipalities; permitting investments in federally
guaranteed, backed or issued instruments, including
mortgages on real property situate in the state or in highly
rated pooled trusts; opening investment options in certain
mutual funds and in the securities and commercial paper of
private corporations, banks, trusts and savings
organizations; and imposing portfolio limitations on
specified investments.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two-a, article thirteen, chapter eight
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said article be
further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section twenty-two-c; that section eleven, article twenty-two of
said chapter be amended and reenacted; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
eleven-a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
PART VI. ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES; FUNDS; DISBURSEMENTS.
§8-13-22a. Investment of municipal funds.
All municipal funds, the investment of which is not governed
by other provisions of this code and not required for the payment
of current obligations and not otherwise prohibited, may be
invested and reinvested in:
(1) Any direct obligation of, or obligation guaranteed as to
the payment of both principal and interest by, the United Statesof America;
(2) Any evidence of indebtedness issued by any United States
government agency guaranteed as to the payment of both principal
and interest, directly or indirectly, by the United States of
America including, but not limited to, the following: Government
national mortgage association, federal land banks, federal home
loan banks, federal intermediate credit banks, banks for
cooperatives, Tennessee valley authority, United States postal
service, farmers home administration, export-import bank, federal
financing bank, federal home loan mortgage corporation, student
loan marketing association and federal farm credit banks;
(3) Any evidence of indebtedness issued by the federal
national mortgage association to the extent such indebtedness is
guaranteed by the government national mortgage association;
(4) Any evidence of indebtedness that is secured by a first
lien deed of trust or mortgage upon real property situate within
this state, if the payment thereof is substantially insured or
guaranteed by the United States of America or any agency thereof;
(5) Direct and general obligations of this state;
(6) Any undivided interest in a trust, the corpus of which
is restricted to mortgages on real property and, unless all of
such property is situate within the state and insured, such trust
at the time of the acquisition of such undivided interest, is
rated in one of the three highest rating grades by an agency
which is nationally known in the field of rating pooled mortgage
trusts;
(7) Any bond, note, debenture, commercial paper or other
evidence of indebtedness of any private corporation or
association:
Provided,
That any such security is, at the time
of its acquisition, rated in one of the three highest rating
grades by an agency which is nationally known in the field of
rating corporate securities:
Provided, however,
That if any
commercial paper or any such security will mature within one year
from the date of its issuance, it shall, at the time of its
acquisition, be rated in one of the two highest rating grades by
any such nationally known agency and commercial paper or other
evidence of indebtedness of any private corporation or
association shall be purchased only upon the written
recommendation from an investment advisor that has over three
hundred million dollars in other funds under its management;
(8) Negotiable certificates of deposit issued by any bank,
trust company, national banking association or savings
institution which mature in less than one year and are fully
collateralized;
(9) Interest earning deposits including certificates of
deposit, with any duly designated state depository, which
deposits are fully secured by a collaterally secured bond as
provided in section four, article one, chapter twelve of this
code; and
(10) Mutual funds registered with the securities and
exchange commission which have assets in excess of three hundred
million dollars.
§8-13-22c. Restrictions on investment.
Moneys invested as permitted by section eleven of this
article are subject to the restrictions and conditions contained
in this section:
(1) At no time may more than seventy-five percent of the
portfolio of either fund be invested in securities described in
subdivision (7), section eleven of this article;
(2) At no time may more than twenty percent of the portfolio
of either fund be invested in securities described in subdivision
(7), section eleven of this article which mature within one year
from the date of issuance thereof;
(3) At no time may more than nine percent of the portfolio
be invested in securities issued by a single private corporation
or association; and
(4) At no time may more than sixty percent of the portfolio
be invested in equity mutual funds under subdivision (10),
section eleven of this article.
ARTICLE 22. RETIREMENT BENEFITS GENERALLY; POLICEMEN'S PENSION
AND RELIEF FUND; FIREMEN'S PENSION AND RELIEF FUND;
PENSION PLANS FOR EMPLOYEES OF WATERWORKS SYSTEM,
SEWERAGE SYSTEM OR COMBINED WATERWORKS AND SEWERAGE
SYSTEM.
PART II. GENERAL RETIREMENT SYSTEMS FOR CLASS I,
II AND III CITIES.
§8-22-11. Investment of funds.
The board shall keep as an available sum for the purpose ofmaking retirement, disability and death payments and
administration expense an amount estimated to meet such payments
for a period not to exceed ninety days. The board in acquiring,
investing, reinvesting, exchanging, retaining, selling and
managing property for the benefit of the fund shall exercise
judgment and care which persons of experience, prudence,
discretion and intelligence exercise in the management of
financial affairs, considering the probable income as well as the
probable security of the investment and with regard to the
permanent disposition of the fund. Within the limitations of the
foregoing standard, the board is authorized in its sole
discretion to invest and reinvest any funds received by it in the
following:
(1) Any direct obligation of, or obligation guaranteed as to
the payment of both principal and interest by, the United States
of America;
(2) Any evidence of indebtedness issued by any United States
government agency guaranteed as to the payment of both principal
and interest, directly or indirectly, by the United States of
America including, but not limited to, the following: Government
national mortgage association, federal land banks, federal home
loan banks, federal intermediate credit banks, banks for
cooperatives, Tennessee valley authority, United States postal
service, farmers home administration, export-import bank, federal
financing bank, federal home loan mortgage corporation, student
loan marketing association and federal farm credit banks;
(3) Any evidence of indebtedness issued by the federal
national mortgage association to the extent such indebtedness is
guaranteed by the government national mortgage association;
(4) Any evidence of indebtedness that is secured by a first
lien deed of trust or mortgage upon real property situate within
this state, if the payment thereof is substantially insured or
guaranteed by the United States of America or any agency thereof;
(5) Direct and general obligations of this state;
(6) Any undivided interest in a trust, the corpus of which
is restricted to mortgages on real property and, unless all of
such property is situate within the state and insured, such trust
at the time of the acquisition of such undivided interest, is
rated in one of the three highest rating grades by an agency
which is nationally known in the field of rating pooled mortgage
trusts;
(7) Any bond, note, debenture, commercial paper or other
evidence of indebtedness of any private corporation or
association:
Provided,
That any such security is, at the time of
its acquisition, rated in one of the three highest rating grades
by an agency which is nationally known in the field of rating
corporate securities:
Provided, however,
That if any commercial
paper or any such security will mature within one year from the
date of its issuance, it shall, at the time of its acquisition,
be rated in one of the two highest rating grades by any such
nationally known agency and commercial paper or other evidence of
indebtedness of any private corporation or association shall bepurchased only upon the written recommendation from an investment
advisor that has over three hundred million dollars in other
funds under its management;
(8) Negotiable certificates of deposit issued by any bank,
trust company, national banking association or savings
institution which mature in less than one year and are fully
collateralized;
(9) Interest earning deposits including certificates of
deposit, with any duly designated state depository, which
deposits are fully secured by a collaterally secured bond as
provided in section four, article one, chapter twelve of this
code; and
(10) Mutual funds registered with the securities and
exchange commission which have assets in excess of three hundred
million dollars.
§8-22-11a. Restrictions on investment.
Moneys invested as permitted by section eleven of this
article are subject to the restrictions and conditions contained
in this section:
(1) At no time may more than seventy-five percent of the
portfolio of either fund be invested in securities described in
subdivision (7), section eleven of this article;
(2) At no time may more than twenty percent of the portfolio
of either fund be invested in securities described in subdivision
(7), section eleven of this article which mature within one year
from the date of issuance thereof;
(3) At no time may more than nine percent of the portfolio
be invested in securities issued by a single private corporation
or association;
(4) At no time may more than sixty percent of the portfolio
be invested in equity mutual funds under subdivision (10),
section eleven of this article;
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any
investments in equity mutual funds under subdivision (10),
section eleven of this article by a policemen's pension and
relief fund or a firemen's pension and relief fund shall be in a
securities and exchange commission registered no sales-load
equity mutual funds whose stated investment policy requires
investment in a portfolio of securities which are at least
eighty-five percent in New York Stock Exchange instruments and
requires multi-industry diversification:
Provided,
That the
value of such investments shall not exceed the lesser of: (a)
One percent times completed months since enactment of this
section; or (b) fifty percent of the total assets of said pension
and relief fund.