Senate Bill No. 368
(By Senator Mitchell)
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[Introduced February 2, 2000; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article ten, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to allowing retired deputy
sheriffs to become members of the public employees retirement
system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article ten, chapter five of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-17. Retirement system membership.
The membership of the retirement system consists of the following persons:
(a) All employees, as defined in section two of this article,
who are in the employ of a political subdivision the day preceding
the date it becomes a participating public employer and who
continue in the employ of the participating public employer on and
after that date shall become members of the retirement system; and
all persons who become employees of a participating public employer
on or after that date shall thereupon become members of the system;
except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c) of this section.
(b) The membership of the retirement system shall not include
any person who is a member of, or who has been retired by, the
state teachers retirement system, the judges retirement system, the
deputy sheriff retirement system, the retirement system of the
division of public safety, West Virginia state police or any
municipal retirement system for either, or both, policemen or
firemen; and the bureau of employment programs, by the commissioner
of the bureau, may elect whether its employees will accept coverage
under this article or be covered under the authorization of a
separate enactment: Provided, That the exclusions of membership
shall not apply to any member of the state Legislature, the clerk
of the House of Delegates, the clerk of the state Senate or to any member of the legislative body of any political subdivision
provided he or she once becomes a contributing member of the
retirement system: Provided, however, That any retired member of
the retirement system of the division of public safety, West
Virginia state police or the retirement system of deputy sheriffs,
or and any retired member of any municipal retirement system for
either, or both, policemen or firemen may on and after the
effective date of this section become a member of the retirement
system as provided in this article, without receiving credit for
prior service as a municipal policeman or fireman or as a member of
the division of public safety: Provided further, That the
membership of the retirement system does not include any person who
becomes employed by the Prestera center for mental health services,
Valley Comprehensive Mental Health Center, Westbrook health
services or eastern panhandle mental health center on or after the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven.
(c) Any member of the state Legislature, the clerk of the
House of Delegates, the clerk of the state Senate and any employee
of the state Legislature whose employment is otherwise classified
as temporary and who is employed to perform services required by
the Legislature for its regular sessions or during the interim between regular sessions and who has been or is so employed during
regular sessions or during the interim between sessions in seven
consecutive calendar years, as certified by the clerk of the House
in which the employee served, or any member of the legislative body
of any other political subdivision shall become a member of the
retirement system provided he or she notifies the retirement system
in writing of his or her intention to be a member of the system and
files a membership enrollment form as prescribed by the board of
trustees, and each person, upon filing his or her written notice to
participate in the retirement system, shall by that act authorize
the clerk of the House of Delegates or the clerk of the state
Senate or such person or legislative agency as the legislative body
of any other political subdivision shall designate to deduct the
member's contribution, as provided in subsection (b), section
twenty-nine of this article, and after the deductions have been
made from the member's compensation, the deductions shall be
forwarded to the retirement system.
(d) If question arises regarding the membership status of any
employee, the board of trustees has the final power to decide the
question.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow retired deputy
sheriffs to become members of the public employees retirement
system.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.