H. B. 2120
(By Delegate
Evans, By Request)
[Introduced February 17, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-one, article ten,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the public
employees retirement act; and permitting early retirement
with full pension rights, when a member is at least fifty
years of age and the sum of his or her age plus years of
contributing service equals or exceeds eighty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-one, article ten, 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 10. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-21. Deferred retirement and early retirement.
(a) Any member, who has five or more years of credited service in force, of which at least three years are contributing
service, and who leaves the employ of a participating public
employer prior to his or her attainment of age sixty years, for
any reason except his or her disability retirement or death,
shall be entitled to an annuity computed according to section
twenty-two of this article, as the said section was in force as
of the date of his or her said separation from the employ of a
participating public employer: Provided, That he or she does not
withdraw his or her accumulated contributions from the members'
deposit fund. His or her said annuity shall begin the first day
of the calendar month next following the month in which his or
her application for same an annuity is filed with the board of
trustees on or after his or her attainment of age sixty-two
years.
(b) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement
benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, and
has ten or more years of credited service in force and who has
attained age fifty-five as of the date of his or her separation
may, prior to the effective date of his or her retirement, but
not thereafter, elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his
or her deferred retirement annuity as a reduced annuity
commencing on the first day of any calendar month between his or
her date of separation and his or her attainment of age sixty-two
years and payable throughout his or her life.
(c) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement
benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, and
has twenty or more years of credited service in force, may elect
to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred
retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first
day of any calendar month between his or her fifty-fifth birthday
and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable
throughout his or her life.
(d) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this
section or of this article and pursuant to regulations
promulgated by the board, any member who has thirty or more years
of credited service in force, at least three of which are
contributing service, and who elects to take early retirement,
which for the purposes of this subsection shall mean retirement
prior to age sixty, whether an active employee or a separated
employee at the time of application, shall be entitled to the
full computation of annuity according to section twenty-two of
this article, as the said section was in force as of the date of
retirement application, but with the reduced actuarial equivalent
of the annuity the member would have received if his or her
benefit had commenced at age sixty when he or she would have been
entitled to full computation of benefit without any reduction.
(e) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this
section or of this article, any member of the retirement system may retire with full pension rights, without reduction of
benefits, if such member is at least fifty-five fifty years of
age and the sum of his or her age plus years of contributing
service equals or exceeds eighty.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide public
employees retirement with full pension rights when their age is
at least 50 years and the sum of their age plus years of
contributing service equals or exceeds 80. The current law
provides for age 55 years.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.