Senate Bill No. 213
(By Senators Plymale, Fanning, Walker,
Sprouse, Jackson, Edgell, McCabe, Snyder, Ross, Minard, Hunter,
Ball, Love, Dawson and Helmick)
[Introduced January 26, 2000; referred to the Committee on
Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections eighteen and nineteen, article
fourteen-d, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to
the deputy sheriff retirement act; and calculation of death
benefits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections eighteen and nineteen, article fourteen-d,
chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 14D. WEST VIRGINIA DEPUTY SHERIFF RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§7-14D-18. Awards and benefits to surviving spouse -- When member dies in performance of duty, etc.
(a) The surviving spouse of any member who, after the
effective date of this article while in covered employment, has
died or dies, by reason of injury, illness or disease resulting
from an occupational risk or hazard inherent in or peculiar to the
service required of members, while the member was or is engaged in
the performance of his or her duties as a deputy sheriff, or the
survivor spouse of a member who dies from any cause while receiving
benefits pursuant to section fourteen of this article, is entitled
to receive and shall be paid from the fund benefits as determined
in subsection (b) of this section: To the surviving spouse
annually, in equal monthly installments during his or her lifetime
an amount equal to the greater of: (i) Two thirds of the base
salary annual compensation received in the preceding twelve-month
period by the deceased member; or (ii) if the member dies after his
or her early or normal retirement age, the monthly amount which the
spouse would have received had the member retired the day before
his or her death, elected a one hundred percent joint and survivor
annuity with the spouse as the joint annuitant, and then died.
(b) Benefits for a surviving spouse received under this
section, section twenty and section twenty-one of this article are in lieu of receipt of any other benefits under this article for the
spouse or any other person or under the provisions of any other
state retirement system based upon the member's covered employment.
§7-14D-19. Same -- When member dies from nonservice-connected
causes.
(a) In any case where a member who has been a member for at
least ten years, while in covered employment after the effective
date of this article, has died or dies from any cause other than
those specified in section eighteen of this article and not due to
vicious habits, intemperance or willful misconduct on his or her
part, the fund shall pay annually in equal monthly installments to
the surviving spouse during his or her lifetime, a sum equal to the
greater of: (i) One half of the base salary annual compensation
received in the preceding twelve-month employment period by the
deceased member; or (ii) if the member dies after his or her early
or normal retirement age, the monthly amount which the spouse would
have received had the member retired the day before his or her
death, elected a one hundred percent joint and survivor annuity
with the spouse as the joint annuitant, and then died. Where the
member is receiving disability benefits under section fourteen of
this article at the time of his or her death, the most recent monthly compensation determined under section seventeen of this
article shall be substituted for the base salary annual
compensation in (i) of this section.
(b) Benefits for a surviving spouse received under this
section, section twenty and section twenty-one of this article are
in lieu of receipt of any other benefits under this article for the
spouse or any other person or under the provisions of any other
state retirement system based upon the member's covered employment.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to use full annual
compensation instead of base salary for the basis upon which death
benefits are calculated under the Deputy Sheriff Retirement Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.