Senate Bill No. 18
(By Senators White and Deem)
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[Introduced January 14, 1998;
referred to the Committee on Pensions; then to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections twenty-five and twenty-six,
article seven-a, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
all relating to the state teachers retirement system;
allowing for retirement at age fifty, with full pension
rights, when a member's years of contributing service equals
or exceeds thirty; and increasing the "multiplier" in
computation of annuities from two percent to two and one- half percent of the member's average salary multiplied by
total service credit.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections twenty-five and twenty-six, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7A-25. Eligibility for retirement allowance.
Any member who has attained the age of sixty years or who
has had thirty-five years of total service as a teacher in West
Virginia, regardless of age, shall be eligible for an annuity.
No new entrant nor present member shall be eligible for an
annuity, however, if either has less than five years of service
to his or her credit.
Any member who has attained the age of fifty-five years and
who has served thirty years as a teacher in West Virginia shall
be eligible for an annuity.
Any member who has served at least thirty but less than
thirty-five years as a teacher in West Virginia and is less than
fifty-five years of age shall be eligible for an annuity, but the
same shall be the reduced actuarial equivalent of the annuity the
member would have received if such member were age fifty-five at
the time such annuity was applied for.
Any member may retire with full pension rights, without
reduction of benefits, who has attained the age of fifty years
if the member has at least thirty years of contributing service.
The request for any annuity shall be made by the member in writing to the retirement board, but in case of retirement for
disability, the written request may be made by either the member
or the employer.
A member shall be eligible for annuity for disability if he
or she satisfies the conditions in both (a) and (b) as follows:
(a) His or her service as a teacher in West Virginia must
total at least ten years, and service as a teacher must have been
terminated because of disability, which disability must have
caused absence from service for at least six months before his or
her application for disability annuity is approved.
(b) An examination by a physician or physicians selected by
the retirement board must show that the member is at the time
mentally or physically incapacitated for service as a teacher,
that for such the service the disability is total and likely to
be permanent, and that he or she should be retired in consequence
thereof.
Continuance of the disability of the retired teacher shall
be established by medical examination, as prescribed in the
preceding paragraph, annually for five years after retirement,
and thereafter at such times as the retirement board may require.
Payment of the disability annuity provided in this article shall
cease immediately if the retirement board finds that the
disability of the retired teacher no longer exists, or if the retired teacher refuses to submit to medical examination as
required by this section.
§18-7A-26. Computation of annuities.
Annuitants whose annuities were approved by the retirement
board effective before the first day of July, first, one thousand
nine hundred eighty, shall be paid the annuities which were
approved by the retirement board.
Annuities approved by the board effective after the
thirtieth day of June, thirty, one thousand nine hundred eighty,
shall be computed as provided herein.
Upon establishment of eligibility for a retirement
allowance, a member shall be granted an annuity which shall be
the sum of the following:
(a) Two and one-half percent of the member's average salary
multiplied by his or her total service credit as a teacher. In
this paragraph "average salary" shall mean the average of the
highest annual salaries received by the member during any five
years contained within his or her last fifteen years of total
service credit: Provided, That the highest annual salary used in
this calculation for certain members employed by the West
Virginia board of regents at institutions of higher education
under its control shall be four thousand eight hundred dollars,
as provided by section fourteen-a of this article and chapter;
(b) The actuarial equivalent of the voluntary deposits of
the member in his or her individual account up to the time of his
or her retirement, with regular interest.
The disability annuities of all teachers retired for
disability shall be based upon a disability table prepared by a
competent actuary approved by the retirement board.
Upon the death of an annuitant who qualified for an annuity
as a surviving spouse or because of permanent disability, the
estate of the deceased or beneficiary designated for such this
purpose, shall be paid the difference, if any, between the
member's contributions with regular interest thereon, and the sum
of the annuity payments.
All annuities shall be paid in twelve monthly payments. In
computing the monthly payments, fractions of a cent shall be
deemed considered a cent. The monthly payments shall cease with
the payment for the month within which the beneficiary dies, and
shall begin with the payment for the month succeeding the month
within which the annuitant became eligible under this article for
the annuity granted; in no case, however, shall an annuitant
receive more than four monthly payments which are retroactive
after the board receives his or her application for annuity.
Beginning with the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, the monthly payments shall be made on the twenty-fifth day of each month, except the month of December,
when the payment shall be made on the eighteenth day of December.
If the date of payment falls on a holiday, Saturday or Sunday,
then the payment shall be made on the preceding workday.
In case the retirement board receives data affecting the
approved annuity of a retired teacher, the annuity shall be
changed in accordance with the data, the change being effective
with the payment for the month within which the board received
the new data.
Any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and who
has served at least twenty-five years as a teacher prior to the
first day of July, one, one thousand nine hundred forty-one,
shall be eligible for prior service credit and for prior service
pensions as prescribed in this section.
Any person who has attained the age of fifty and who has
served at least thirty years as a teacher prior to the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, shall be
eligible for prior service credit and for prior service pensions
as prescribed in this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow members of the
teachers retirement system to retire with full pension rights at
age 50 if the years of contributing service equals or exceeds
thirty. It also increases the "multiplier" in computation of
annuities from 2.0 to 2.5 percent of the member's average salary multiplied by total service credit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.