H. B. 4730


(By Delegates Marshall, Yeager, Proudfoot and L. White)

[Introduced February 25, 2000; referred to the

Committee on Education then Finance.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section one-d, article one, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to raising the allowable earnings limit of higher education faculty who retired under the severance plan.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one-d, article one, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GOVERNANCE.

 §18B-1-1d. Increasing flexibility and capacity for change.
(a) Retirement and separation incentives. -- Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the contrary, each state institution of higher education may include in their strategic plans, pursuant to section one-c of this article, policies that offer various incentives for voluntary, early or phased retirement of employees, or voluntary separation from employment, when necessary to implement programmatic changes effectively pursuant to the findings, directives, goals and objectives of this article: Provided, That such incentives for voluntary, early or phased retirement of employees, or voluntary separation from employment must be submitted by the governing board to the legislative joint committee on pensions and retirement and approved before such policies are adopted as part of the institution's strategic plan. The policies may include the following provisions:
(1) Payment of a lump sum to an employee to resign or retire;
(2) Continuation of full salary to an employee for a predetermined period of time prior to the employee's resignation or retirement and a reduction in the employee's hours of employment during the predetermined period of time;
(3) Continuation of insurance coverage pursuant to the provisions of article sixteen, chapter five of this code for a predetermined period;
(4) Continuation of full employer contributions to an employee's retirement plan during a phased retirement period; and
(5) That an employee retiring pursuant to an early or phased retirement plan may begin collecting an annuity from the employee's retirement plan prior to the statutorily designated retirement date without terminating their service with the institution.
No incentive provided for in this section shall be granted except in furtherance of programmatic changes undertaken pursuant to the findings, directives, goals and objectives set forth in this article.
No incentive proposed by an institution pursuant to this section shall become a part of the institution's approved strategic plan or be implemented without approval of the legislative joint committee on pensions and retirement.
Any costs associated with any incentive adopted or implemented in accordance with this section shall be borne entirely by the institutions and no incentive shall be granted that imposes costs on the retirement systems of the state or the public employees insurance agency unless those costs are paid entirely by the institutions.
The Legislature further finds and declares that there is a compelling state interest in restricting the availability and application of these incentives to individual employees determined by the institutions to be in furtherance of the aims of this section and nothing herein shall be interpreted as granting a right or entitlement of any such incentive to any individual or group of individuals. Any employee granted incentives shall be ineligible for reemployment by the institutions during or after the negotiated period of their incentive concludes including contract employment in excess of five thousand dollars per fiscal year amounts equivalent to those specified by the social security administration's earnings test for retirees ages sixty-five through sixty-nine.
The West Virginia network for educational telecomputing may utilize the incentives contained in any policy approved by the legislative joint committee on pensions and retirement pursuant to this section.
(b) Pilot flexibility initiative. -- The board of directors is directed to submit a plan for a pilot flexibility initiative to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability on or before the first day of October, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. The plan shall include at least the following: (1) A system whereby the state institutions of higher education in the state college system may apply to the board of directors for a waiver of board policies and rules; (2) a detailed application for institutions seeking to participate in the pilot flexibility initiative which shall set forth at a minimum: (i) A statement of the specific goals and objectives that the institution proposes to accomplish if the application is approved; (ii) the specific board policies and rules which the institution seeks to have waived for all or a portion of the waiver period; and (iii) proposed rules and policies under which the institution would operate during the period of waiver; (3) the process by which the board of directors will review the application; (4) the person or body who shall have the final authority to approve the application of not more than two institutions; (5) the time period for which the waiver will be granted; (6) the specific board policies and rules which the institution may request to have waived; (7) the process by which the rules and policies of the institutions participating in the pilot flexibility initiative may modify its rules and policies; and (8) the person or body to whom the institutions shall be reporting during the period of waiver.
(c) It is the intent of this Legislature to review the pilot flexibility plan and after such review to establish a pilot flexibility initiative in the legislative session of one thousand nine hundred ninety-six.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to attract back into limited teaching service the higher education faculty who retired under the severance plan.

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