H. B. 4296

(By Delegates Douglas, Butcher, Caputo, Prunty, Willison, Varner and Stalnaker)
[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization]
[January 28, 2000]


A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article six, chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to continuing the West Virginia investment management board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article six, chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. WEST VIRGINIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT BOARD.
§12-6-3. West Virginia investment management board created; body corporate; board created; trustees; nomination and appointment of trustees, qualifications and terms of appointment, advice and consent; annual and other meetings; designation of representatives and committees; board meetings with committees regarding investment policy statement required; open meetings, qualifications.
(a) There is hereby created the West Virginia investment management board. The board is created as a public body corporate and established to provide prudent fiscal administration, investment and management for the pension funds, workers' compensation and coal-workers' pneumoconiosis funds and other state funds.
(b) The board shall be governed by a board of trustees, consisting of thirteen members:
(1) Nominations made to the West Virginia trust fund board and the West Virginia board of investments shall remain in effect and are hereby specifically reauthorized and those members shall be members of the investment management board and shall serve out the remainder of their respective terms subject to the advice and consent of the Senate: Provided, That prior appointments which have been confirmed by the Senate are hereby specifically reauthorized without further action of the Senate.
(2) Any appointment is effective immediately upon appointment by the governor with respect to voting, constituting a quorum, receiving compensation and expenses, and all other rights and privileges of the trustee position. All appointees must have experience in pension management, institutional management or financial markets, and one trustee must be an attorney experienced in finance and investment matters, and one trustee must be a certified public accountant.
(3) The governor, the state auditor and the state treasurer or their designees shall serve as members of the board. They shall serve by virtue of their office and are not entitled to compensation under the provisions of this article. The governor, the auditor and the treasurer or their designees shall be subject to all duties, responsibilities and requirements of the provisions of this article, including, but not limited to, the provisions of subsections (e) and (f), section four of this article.
(c)At the end of each trustee's term, the governor may reappoint or appoint a successor who shall serve for six-year terms. No more than six of the ten appointed trustees may belong to the same political party.
(d) In the event of a vacancy among the trustees, an appointment shall be made by the governor to fill the unexpired term.
(e) The governor may remove any trustee, other than trustees who serve by virtue of their elective office, in case of gross negligence or misfeasance and may declare that position vacant and may appoint a person for the vacancy as provided in subsection (d) of this section.
(f) Each trustee, other than those enumerated in subsection (b), subdivision (3) of this section, shall be entitled to receive, and, at the trustee's option, the board shall pay to the trustee, compensation in the amount of five thousand dollars per year and additional compensation in the amount of five hundred dollars per meeting attended by the trustee in excess of the four quarterly meetings required by this section. In addition, all trustees shall receive reasonable and necessary expenses actually incurred in discharging trustee duties pursuant to this article.
(g) The board shall meet quarterly and may include in its bylaws procedures for the calling and holding of additional meetings. For any quarterly or additional meeting in which the board shall review or modify its securities list or its investment objectives pursuant to subsection (f), section twelve of this article, the board shall give ten days notice in writing to the designated representative of each participant plan selected pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (i) of this section, and the meeting shall be open to the members and beneficiaries of the participant plans for that portion of the meeting in which the board undertakes the review or modification.
(h) The board shall hold an annual meeting within forty-five days after the issuance of the year-end financial report. The annual meeting may also serve as a quarterly meeting. The annual meeting shall be open to the public, and the board shall receive oral and written comments from representatives, members and beneficiaries of the participant plans and from other citizens of the state. At the annual meeting, the board shall adopt a fee schedule and a budget reflecting fee structures for the year.
(i) Pursuant to subsection (j) of this section, the board shall meet with committees representing the participant plans to discuss the board's drafting, reviewing or modifying the written investment policy of the trust with respect to that committee's participant plan pursuant to section twelve of this article. Representatives and committees shall be designated as follows:
(1) The West Virginia consolidated public retirement board shall promulgate procedural rules by which each pension system named in paragraphs (1) through (6), inclusive, subsection (c), section nine-a of this article, shall designate an individual representative of each said pension system, and the West Virginia workers' compensation commission shall promulgate procedural rules by which the pneumoconiosis fund and the workers' compensation fund shall designate an individual representative of each said fund.
(2) On or before the first day of June of each year, the consolidated public retirement board shall submit in writing to the board the names of the six designated representatives, and the workers' compensation commission shall so submit the names of the two representatives.
(3) Each designated representative shall provide to the board his or her current address, updated each year on or before the first day of July, to which address the board shall provide notice of meetings of the board pursuant to subsection (g) of this section.
(4) Each designated representative shall submit in writing to the board on or before the first day of July of each year, the names of no more than three persons comprising a committee representing the beneficiaries of that representative's participant plan.
(j) At its annual meeting, the board shall meet with each of the seven committees, formed pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (i) of this section, for the purpose of receiving input from the committees regarding the board's drafting, reviewing or modifying its written investment policy statement for investment of the consolidated pension plan funds. In developing the investment policy statement, the trustees shall receive each committee's stated objectives and policies regarding the risk tolerances and return expectations of each participant plan, with attention to the factors enumerated in subsection (g), section twelve of this article, in order to provide for the continuing financial security of the trust and its participant plans. The board may meet with the committees or any of them at its quarterly and additional meetings for the same purpose.
(k) All meetings of the board shall be open to the representatives of the participant plans as appointed pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (i) of this section. The representatives shall be subject to any rules, bylaws, guidelines, requirements and standards promulgated by the board. The representatives shall observe standards of decorum established by the board. The representatives shall be subject to the same code of conduct applicable to the trustees and shall be subject to all board rules and bylaws. The representatives shall also be subject to any requirements of confidentiality applicable to the trustees. Each representative shall be liable for any act which he or she undertakes which violates any rule, bylaw or statute governing ethical standards, confidentiality or other standard of conduct imposed upon the trustees or the representatives. Any meeting of the board may be closed, upon adoption of a motion by any trustee, when necessary to preserve the attorney-client privilege, to protect the privacy interests of individuals, to review personnel matters or to maintain confidentiality when confidentiality is in the best interest of the beneficiaries of the trust.
(l) Pursuant to the provisions of article ten, chapter four of this code, the West Virginia investment management board shall continue to exist until the first day of July, two thousand-two.



Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, under scoring indicates new language that would be added.

This bill is recommended by the Joint Committee on Government Operations for passage during the 2000 Regular Session.