Senate Bill No. 326
(By Senators Wooton, Chernenko, Dalton,
Minard and Sharpe)
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[Introduced February 11, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated article fourteen-c, relating to retirement benefits for deputy sheriff's department employees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article fourteen-c, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 14C. DEPUTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT RETIREMENT ACT.

§7-14C-1. Short title.

This article shall be known and may be cited as the "West Virginia Deputy Sheriff's Department Retirement Act".

§7-14C-2. Deputy sheriff's department; death, disability and retirement fund established; retirement board.

There is hereby established a death, disability and retirement fund for the benefit of members of the deputy sheriff's departments and any dependent of a retired or deceased member thereof.
There shall be deducted from the monthly payroll of each member of the deputy sheriff's department and paid into such fund six percent of the amount of his or her salary, and an additional twelve percent of the monthly salary of each member of the departments shall be paid by the department monthly into such fund out of the annual budget for the departments. There shall also be paid into the fund any amounts collected 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 director. All moneys payable into the 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 inthis article.
The death, disability and retirement fund shall be administered by the consolidated public retirement board created by article ten-d, chapter five of this code.
The consolidated retirement board shall, on or before the first day of July of each year, make an accounting of all future awards and reserves from the fund based on sound actuarial principles. The board may, if necessary, employ an actuary for this purpose. The board shall use a system of accounting that reflects accurately all transactions or developments pertaining to age of members, eligible dependents surviving deceased members, periods of service, aggregate earnings, and any other matter relating to the administration of the fund. The board shall annually submit to each member of the department a statement which clearly explains the fiscal condition of the fund.

§7-14C-3. Retirement; awards and benefits.

(a) The consolidated retirement board shall retire any member of the deputy sheriff's department 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. For purposes of this article, military service credit is the same as that for the department of public safety, as defined in section twenty-eight, article two of chapter fifteen.
(b) The retirement board shall retire any member of thedeputy sheriff's department who has lodged with the secretary of the retirement board his or her 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 four 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 four 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 four 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 is 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 deputy sheriff's department; or
(2) The sum of six thousand dollars.
When a member has or will have served at least twenty years, but no more than twenty-five years as a member of the department and is retired under any of the provisions of this section before attaining the age of fifty years, payment of monthly installments of the retirement award to the member shall commence on the member's fiftieth birthday.

§7-14C-4. Retirement annual annuity adjustments.

Every member of the deputy sheriff's department who is fifty years of age or older and who is retired by the retirement board is eligible to receive an annual retirement annuity adjustment equal to three 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 ninety-four. 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 the member during twenty-five years of service or actual service if more than twenty-five years of service in the department based on the average earnings of that member while employed by the department, is eligible to receive the retirement annuity adjustment at the time the member attains the age ofsixty-five years or older. The annuity adjustments shall be paid to the member's beneficiaries during the period that the member's beneficiaries have attained fifty-six years of age or older and are receiving 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.

§7-14C-5. 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 is entitled to receive credit on the minimum period of service required by law for retirement pay from the service of the deputy sheriff's department for a period equal to the active military duty not to exceed five years, subject to the following:
(1) That he or she has been honorably discharged from the armed forces;
(2) That he or she substantiates by appropriatedocumentation or evidence his or her period of active military duty;
(3) That he or she is receiving no benefits from any other retirement system for active military duty; and
(4) That, except with respect to disability retirement pay awarded under section six of this article, he or she has actually served with the department for twenty years exclusive of any active military duty.
The amount of retirement pay to which these members are entitled shall be calculated and determined as if the member had been receiving for the period of his or her active military duty a monthly salary from the department equal to the average monthly salary which he or she actually received from the department for total service with the department exclusive of the active military duty. The retirement board 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 the members has been calculated and determined in regard to 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 ofJune, 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 order of the president, is entitled to receive credit on the minimum period of service required by law for retirement pay from the service of the deputy sheriff's department for a period equal to the full time he or she has, pursuant to such commission, enlistment, induction or call, served with said armed forces subject to the following:
(1) That he or she has been honorably discharged from the armed forces;
(2) That within ninety days after honorable discharge from the armed forces he or she offers to resume service as an active member of the department; and
(3) That he or she 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 or she was originally commissioned, enlisted, inducted or called.
That amount of retirement pay to which any member is entitled shall be calculated and determined as if the member has continued in the active service of the department at the rank orgrade 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 deputy sheriff's 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 those members would have been entitled to receive had they continued in the active service of the department during a period coextensive with the time the 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.

§7-14C-6. Awards and benefits for disability incurred in performance of duty.

Any member of the department who has been or becomes physically or mentally permanently disabled by injury, illness or disease resulting from any occupational risk or hazard inherent in the services required of members and incurred while the member was engaged in the performance of his or her duties as a member of the department, shall be retired from active service if, in the opinion of the retirement board, the member is by reason of such cause unable to perform required duties adequately. Thereafter, 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 or until suchdisability terminates, one or the other of two amounts, whichever is greater:
(1) An amount equal to seventy percent of the total base salary which would have been earned during twenty-five years or actual service if more than twenty-five years in the department based on the average earnings of the member while employed as a member of the department; or
(2) The sum of six thousand dollars.
If the disability is permanent and total to the extent that the member is unable to engage in any gainful employment, then there shall be paid to the member from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly installments during his or her natural lifetime or until the disability terminates, either (1) an amount equal to seventy percent of the total salary which would have been earned by the member during twenty-five years, or (2) an amount equal to seventy percent of the average actual earnings of the member if his or her actual service years total more than twenty-five years: Provided, That on and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, in no event may such amount be less than fifteen thousand dollars per annum.
The deputy sheriff's department is authorized to expend moneys from funds appropriated for the department in payment of medical, surgical, laboratory, X-ray, hospital, ambulance and dental expenses and fees, and reasonable costs and expenses incurred in purchase of artificial limbs and other approvedappliances which may be reasonably necessary for any member of the department who has or shall become temporarily, permanently or totally disabled by injury, illness or disease resulting from any occupational risk or hazard inherent in or peculiar to the service required of members of the department and incurred while the member was engaged in the performance of duties as a member of the department. Whenever the retirement board determines that any disabled member is ineligible to receive any of the aforesaid benefits at public expense the retirement board shall, at the request of the disabled member, refer such matter to the retirement board for hearing and final decision.

§7-14C-7. Same -- Due to other causes.

If any member while in active service of the department becomes, in the opinion of the retirement board, permanently disabled to the extent that they cannot adequately perform the duties required of a member of the department from any cause other than those set forth in the next preceding section and not due to vicious habits, intemperance or willful misconduct on his or her part, that member shall be retired by the retirement board. If the member, at the time of retirement under this section, has served less than twenty years as a member of the department, there shall be paid to that member, while in status of retirement, from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly installments during a period equal to one-half the time of service of the member in the department, a sum equal to five and one-half percent of the total salary which would havebeen earned during twenty-five years of service in the department based on the average earnings of the member while employed as a member of the department. If the member, at the time of retirement under the terms of this section, has served twenty years or longer as a member of the department, that member shall be paid from the death, disability and retirement fund, in equal monthly installments commencing on the date of retirement and continuing during the natural lifetime of the member while in status of retirement, the greater of two amounts: (1) An amount based upon the aggregate of salary paid to the member during his or her whole period of service, or (2) the period of twenty years or longer during which the member, at the time of the retirement, has served as a member of the department.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide the deputy sheriff's department with a retirement system similar to the division of public safety's retirement system.

This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.