H. B. 2121
(By Delegate Kuhn)
[Introduced Janaury 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, 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; computation of service; and
providing for teachers who were absent from service while on
education leave of absence to receive service credit.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, 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-17. Statement and computation of teachers' service.
(a) Under rules adopted by the retirement board, each
teacher shall file a detailed statement of his or her length of service as a teacher for which he or she claims credit. The
retirement board shall determine what part of a year is the
equivalent of a year of service. In computing the service,
however, it shall credit no period of more than a month's
duration during which a member was absent without pay, nor shall
it credit for more than one year of service performed in any
calendar year.
(b) For the purpose of this article, the retirement board
shall grant prior service credit to new entrants and other
members of the retirement system for service in any of the armed
forces of the United States in any period of national emergency
within which a federal Selective Service Act was in effect. For
purposes of this section, "armed forces" includes women's army
corps, women's appointed volunteers for emergency service, army
nurse corps, spars, women's reserve and other similar units
officially parts of the military service of the United States.
The military service is considered equivalent to public school
teaching, and the salary equivalent for each year of that service
is the actual salary of the member as a teacher for his or her
first year of teaching after discharge from military service.
Prior service credit for military service shall not exceed ten
years for any one member, nor shall it exceed twenty-five percent
of total service at the time of retirement.
(c) For service as a teacher in the employment of the federal government, or a state or territory of the United States,
or a governmental subdivision of that state or territory, the
retirement board shall grant credit to the member: Provided,
That the member shall pay to the system double the amount he or
she contributed during the first full year of current employment,
times the number of years for which credit is granted, plus
interest at a rate to be determined by the retirement board.
The interest shall be deposited in the reserve fund and
service credit granted at the time of retirement shall not exceed
the lesser of ten years or fifty percent of the member's
total service as a teacher in West Virginia. Any transfer of
out-of-state service, as provided in this article, shall not be
used to establish eligibility for a retirement allowance and the
retirement board shall grant credit for the transferred service
as additional service only: Provided, however, That a transfer
of out-of-state service is prohibited if the service is used to
obtain a retirement benefit from another retirement system:
Provided further, That salaries paid to members for service prior
to entrance into the retirement system shall not be used to
compute the average final salary of the member under the
retirement system.
(d) Service credit for members or retired members shall not
be denied on the basis of minimum income rules promulgated by the teachers retirement board: Provided, That the member or retired
member shall pay to the system the amount he or she would have
contributed during the year or years of public school service for
which credit was denied as a result of the minimum income rules
of the teachers retirement board.
(e) No members shall be considered absent from service while
serving as a member or employee of the Legislature of the state
of West Virginia during any duly constituted session of that body
or while serving as an elected member of a county commission
during any duly constituted session of that body.
(f) No member shall be considered absent from service as a
teacher while serving as an officer with a statewide professional
teaching association, or who has served in that capacity, and no
retired teacher, who served in that capacity while a member,
shall be considered to have been absent from service as a teacher
by reason of that service, and no teacher who has been granted an
educational leave of absence may be considered to have been
absent from service as a teacher by reason of such educational
leave of absence: Provided, That the period of service credit
granted for that service shall not exceed ten years: Provided,
however, That a member or retired teacher who is serving or has
served as an officer of a statewide professional teaching
association or who was absent from service as a teacher by reason of an educational leave of absence shall make deposits to the
teachers retirement board, for the time of any absence, in an
amount double the amount which he or she would have contributed
in his or her regular assignment for a like period of time.
The teachers retirement board shall grant service credit to
any former or present member of the West Virginia public
employees retirement system who has been a contributing member
for more than three years, for service previously credited by the
public employees retirement system and: (1) Shall require the
transfer of the member's contributions to the teachers retirement
system; or (2) shall require a repayment of the amount withdrawn
any time prior to the member's retirement: Provided, That there
shall be added by the member to the amounts transferred or repaid
under this subsection an amount which shall be sufficient to
equal the contributions he or she would have made had the member
been under the teachers retirement system during the period of
his or her membership in the public employees retirement system
plus interest at a rate of six percent compounded annually from
the date of withdrawal to the date of payment. The interest paid
shall be deposited in the reserve fund.
(g) For service as a teacher in an elementary or secondary
parochial school, located within this state and fully accredited
by the West Virginia department of education, the retirement
board shall grant credit to the member: Provided, That the member shall pay to the system double the amount contributed
during the first full year of current employment, times the
number of years for which credit is granted, plus interest at a
rate to be determined by the retirement board. The interest
shall be deposited in the reserve fund and service granted at
the time of retirement shall not exceed the lesser of ten years
or fifty percent of the member's total service as a teacher in
the West Virginia public school system. Any transfer of
parochial school service, as provided in this section, may not be
used to establish eligibility for a retirement allowance and the
board shall grant credit for the transfer as additional service
only: Provided, however, That a transfer of parochial school
service is prohibited if the service is used to obtain a
retirement benefit from another retirement system.
(h) If a member is not eligible for prior service credit or
pension as provided in this article, then his or her prior
service shall not be considered a part of his or her total
service.
(i) A member who withdrew from membership may regain his or
her former membership rights as specified in section thirteen of
this article only in case he or she has served two years since
his or her last withdrawal.
(j) Subject to the provisions of subsection (a) through (i)
of this section, the board shall verify as soon as practicable the statements of service submitted. The retirement board shall
issue prior service certificates to all persons eligible for the
certificates under the provisions of this article. The
certificates shall state the length of the prior service credit,
but in no case shall the prior service credit exceed forty years.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the
contrary, when a member is or has been elected to serve as a
member of the Legislature, and the proper discharge of his or her
duties of public office require that member to be absent from his
or her teaching or administrative duties, the time served in
discharge of his or her duties of the legislative office are
credited as time served for purposes of computing service credit:
Provided, That the board may not require any additional
contributions from that member in order for the board to credit
him or her with the contributing service credit earned while
discharging official legislative duties.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for teachers
who were absent from service while on education leave of absence
to receive service credit in the State Teachers Retirement
System.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.