Senate Bill No. 694
(By Senator Helmick)
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[Introduced February 23, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eighteen, article ten,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section eleven, article seven-b, chapter eighteen of said
code, all relating to the public employees retirement
system; termination of membership; reentry; extending the
time in which to make repayments for certain members; the
teachers' defined contribution retirement system; and
authorizing transfer of service credit and retirement
account to the public employees retirement system if a
teacher's employment is terminated with a participating
employer and the person is later employed by a state agency.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eighteen, article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section eleven,
article seven-b, chapter eighteen of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 5. GENERAL POWERS AND AUTHORITY OF THE
GOVERNOR,SECRETARY OF STATE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL; BOARD OF
PUBLIC WORKS; MISCELLANEOUS AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, OFFICES,
PROGRAMS, ETC.
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-18. Termination of membership; reentry.
(a) When a member of the retirement system retires or dies,
he or she ceases to be a member. When a member leaves the employ
of a participating public employer for any other reason, he or
she ceases to be a member and forfeits service credited to him or
her at that time. If he or she becomes reemployed by a
participating public employer he or she shall be reinstated as a
member of the retirement system and his or her credited service
last forfeited by him or her shall be restored to his or her
credit: Provided, That he or she must be reemployed for a period
of one year or longer to have the service restored: Provided,
however, That he or she returns to the members' deposit fund the
amount, if any, he or she withdrew from the fund, together with
regular interest on the withdrawn amount from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment, and that the repayment
begins within two years of the return to employment and that the
full amount is repaid within five years of the return to
employment: Provided further, That any member who withdrew from
the fund before the thirty-first day of December, one thousand
nine hundred sixty-nine, and has reentered the system may repay
the full amount on or before the thirty-first day of December,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.
(b) Effective on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven, and continuing through the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, any employee of the
Prestera center for mental health services, valley comprehensive
mental health center, Westbrook health services and eastern
panhandle mental health center who is a member of the retirement
system may elect to withdraw from membership without forfeiting
service credited to him or her.
(c) The Prestera center for mental health services, valley
comprehensive mental health center, Westbrook health services and
eastern panhandle mental health center, and their successors in
interest, shall provide for their employees a pension plan in
lieu of the public employees retirement system on or before the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, and
continuing thereafter during the existence of the named mental health centers and their successors in interest.
(d) The administrative bodies of the Prestera center for
mental health services, valley comprehensive mental health
center, Westbrook health services and eastern panhandle mental
health center shall, on or before the first day of May, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, give written notice to each
employee who is a member of the public employees retirement
system of the option to withdraw from or remain in the system.
The notice shall include a copy of this section and a statement
explaining the member's options regarding membership. The notice
shall include a statement in plain language giving a full
explanation and actuarial projection figures in support of the
explanation regarding the individual member's current account
balance, vested and nonvested, and his or her projected return
upon remaining in the public employees retirement system until
retirement, disability or death, in comparison with the projected
return upon withdrawing from the public employees retirement
system and joining a private pension plan provided by the
community mental health center and remaining therein until
retirement, disability or death. The administrative bodies shall
keep in their respective records a permanent record of each
employee's signature confirming receipt of the notice.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 7B. TEACHERS' DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7B-11. Termination of membership.
Any member whose employment with a participating employer
terminates after the completion of six complete years of
employment service shall be eligible to terminate his or her
annuity account and receive a distribution from the member's
annuity account, in an amount equal to the member's contribution
plus one third of the employer contributions and any earnings
thereon. Any member whose employment with a participating
employer terminates after the completion of nine complete years
of employment service shall be eligible to terminate his or her
annuity account and receive a distribution from the member's
annuity account, in an amount equal to the member's contribution
plus two thirds of the employer's contributions and any earnings
thereon. Any member whose employment with a participating
employer terminates after the completion of twelve complete years
of employment service shall be eligible to terminate his or her
annuity account and receive a distribution of all funds
contributed and accumulated in his or her annuity account. Any
member whose employment with a participating employer terminates
prior to the completion of six complete years of employment
service shall be eligible to terminate his or her annuity account
and receive a distribution from the member's annuity account, in an amount equal to the member's contribution plus any earnings
thereon: Provided, That on the death or permanent, total
disability of any member, that member shall be eligible to
terminate his or her annuity account and receive all funds
contributed to or accumulated in his or her annuity account.
The remaining balance, if any, in the member's account after
the distribution shall be remitted and paid into a suspension
account, hereby created, to be administered by the board. The
board shall promulgate rules regarding the distribution of any
balance in the special account created by this section:
Provided, That any funds in the account shall be used solely for
the purpose of reducing employer contributions in future years.
Any account balances remitted to the suspension account
herein shall be maintained by the board in said the suspension
account in the name of the terminated employee for a period of
five years following initial remittance to the suspension
account. For each said terminated employee at the culmination of
the aforesaid five-year period, the board shall certify in
writing to each contributing employer the amount of the account
balances plus earnings thereon attributable to each separate
contributing employers previously terminated employees' accounts
which have been irrevocably forfeited due to the elapse of a
five-year period since termination pursuant to section sixteen of this article.
Upon certification to the several contributing employers of
the aggregate account balances plus earnings thereon which have
been irrevocably forfeited pursuant to this section, the several
contributing employers shall be permitted in the next succeeding
fiscal year or years to reduce their total aggregate contribution
requirements pursuant to section seventeen of this article, for
the then current fiscal year by an amount equal to the aggregate
amounts irrevocably forfeited and certified as such to each
contributing employer.
Upon the utilization of the amounts irrevocably forfeited to
any contributing employer as a reduction in the then current
fiscal year contribution obligation and upon notification
provided by the several contributing employers to the board of
their intention to utilize irrevocably forfeited amounts, the
board shall direct the distribution of said the irrevocably
forfeited amounts from the suspension account to be deposited on
behalf of the contributing employer to the member annuity
accounts of its then current employees pursuant to section
seventeen of this article.
If a member's employment terminates within the time periods
provided for in this section and the member is then later
employed by a state agency, the member may transfer the service time and retirement account, including all contributions made to
that account by both the member and employer, from the defined
contribution system to the public employees retirement system and
shall receive full credit towards retirement for the service
earned as a teacher.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend the time in
which certain members of the retirement system have to repay
contributions that were withdrawn, when the member reenters the
retirement system. If the person withdrew from the system before
December 31, 1969, and reenters the system, that person may pay
back funds withdrawn, together with interest, on or before
December 31, 1999, in order to get credit for retirement. It
also permits the transfer of service credit and retirement
account to the public employees retirement system from the
teachers' defined contribution retirement system if a teacher's
employment is terminated with a participating employer in the
defined contribution system and that person is later employed by
a state agency.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.