Senate Bill No. 373
(By Senators Bailey and Wooton)
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[Introduced February 2, 1998; referred to the Committee
.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-five, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the state
teachers retirement system; and retirement plan selection by
teachers retired due to disability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-five, article seven-a, chapter eighteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted 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 is eligible for an annuity. No new entrant nor present member shall be is 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 is 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 is eligible for an annuity, but
the same shall be annuity is the reduced actuarial equivalent of
the annuity the member would have received if such the member
were age fifty-five at the time such annuity was applied for. was
age fifty-five at the time of application for the annuity.
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 is 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 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.
A member who has retired because of a disability may select an
option of payment under the provisions of section twenty-eight of
this article. 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit teachers who are
retired because of disabilities to select payment of retirement
benefits under the same options provided to other teachers who
retire as the result of age and years of service.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.