H. B. 4024
(By Delegate Williams)
[Introduced January 10, 1996; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article sixteen, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to eliminating the
requirement that elected officials work regularly full time
for a county, city or town in order to be eligible for
coverage under the public employees insurance act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article sixteen, chapter five of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases as used in this article,
unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context,
shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Advisory board" means the public employees insurance
agency advisory board created by this article.
(2) "Agency" means the public employees insurance agency
created by this article.
(3) "Director" means the director of the public employees
insurance agency, created by this article.
(4) "Employee" means any person, including an elected
officers officer, who works regularly full time in the service of
the state of West Virginia and, for the purpose of this article
only, the term "employee" also means any person, including an
elected officers officer, who works regularly full time in the
service of a county board of education; a county, city or town in
the state; any separate corporation or instrumentality
established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as
permitted by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in
most part by counties, cities or towns; any public corporation
charged by law with the performance of a governmental function
and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties,
cities or towns; any comprehensive community mental health center
or comprehensive mental retardation facility established,
operated or licensed by the secretary of health and human
resources pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter
twenty-seven of this code, and which is supported in part by
state, county or municipal funds; any person who works regularly full time in the service of the university of West Virginia board
of trustees or the board of directors of the state college
system; and any person who works regularly full time in the
service of a combined city-county health department created
pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code. On and
after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, and upon election by a county board of education to
allow elected board members to participate in the public
employees insurance program pursuant to this article, any person
elected to a county board of education shall be deemed to be an
"employee" during the term of office of the elected member:
Provided, That the elected member shall pay the entire cost of
the premium if he or she elects to be covered under this act.
Any matters of doubt as to who is an employee within the meaning
of this article shall be decided by the director.
(5) "Employer" means the state of West Virginia, its boards,
agencies, commissions, departments, institutions or spending
units; a county board of education; a county, city or town in the
state; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by
one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted by law; any
corporation or instrumentality supported in most part by
counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law
with the performance of a governmental function and whose
jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or towns; any comprehensive community mental health center or
comprehensive mental retardation facility established, operated
or licensed by the secretary of health and human resources
pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-seven of
this code, and which is supported in part by state, county or
municipal funds; and a combined city-county health department
created pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code.
Any matters of doubt as to who is an "employer" within the
meaning of this article shall be decided by the director. The
term "employer" shall not include within its meaning the national
guard.
(6) "Finance board" means the public employees insurance
agency finance board created by this article.
(7) "Retired employee" shall mean means an employee of the
state who retired after the twenty-ninth day of April, one
thousand nine hundred seventy-one, and an employee of the
university of West Virginia board of trustees or the board of
directors of the state college system or a county board of
education who retires on or after the twenty-first day of April,
one thousand nine hundred seventy-two, and all additional
eligible employees who retire on or after the effective date of
this article and meet the minimum eligibility requirements for
their respective state retirement system: Provided, That for the
purposes of this article such employees who are not covered by a state retirement system shall, in the case of education
employees, meet the minimum eligibility requirements of the state
teachers retirement system, and in all other cases, meet the
minimum eligibility requirements of the public employees
retirement system.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the
requirement that certain persons work "regularly and full time"
in order to be eligible for coverage under the public employees
insurance act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.