H. B. 2359


(By Delegates Hubbard, Dempsey,

Yeager and Flanigan)


[Introduced February 20, 2001 ; referred to the

Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-one, article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the public employees retirement act; and permitting early retirement with full pension rights, when a member has thirty years of service, regardless of age.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-one, article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.

§5-10-21. Deferred retirement and early retirement.
(a) Any member who has five or more years of credited service in force, of which at least three years are contributing service, and who leaves the employ of a participating public employer prior to his or her attaining age sixty years for any reason except his or her disability retirement or death, shall be entitled to an annuity computed according to section twenty-two of this article, as that section was in force as of the date of his or her separation from the employ of a participating public employer: Provided, That he or she does not withdraw his or her accumulated contributions from the members' deposit fund. His or her annuity shall begin the first day of the calendar month next following the month in which his or her application for same is filed with the board of trustees on or after his or her attaining age sixty-two years.
(b) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, and has ten or more years of credited service in force and who has attained age fifty-five as of the date of his or her separation may, prior to the effective date of his or her retirement, but not thereafter after the effective date of his or her retirement, elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first day of any calendar month between his or her date of separation and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his or her life.
(c) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, and has twenty or more years of credited service in force, may elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first day of any calendar month between his or her fifty-fifth birthday and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his or her life.
(d) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and twenty-seven-b, and pursuant to rules promulgated by the board, any member who has thirty or more years of credited service in force, at least three of which are contributing service, and who elects to take early retirement, which for the purposes of this subsection means retirement prior to age sixty, whether an active employee or a separated employee at the time of application, shall be entitled to the full computation of annuity according to section twenty-two of this article, as that section was in force as of the date of retirement application, but with the reduced actuarial equivalent of the annuity the member would have received if his or her benefit had commenced at age sixty when he or she would have been entitled to full computation of benefit without any reduction.
(e) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and twenty-seven-b of this article, any member of the retirement system may retire with full pension rights, without reduction of benefits, if he or she is at least fifty-five years of age and the sum of his or her age plus years of contributing service and limited credited service, as defined in section two of this article, equals or exceeds eighty.
(f) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this section or of this article, any member of the retirement system may retire with full pension rights, without reduction of benefits, if the member has at least thirty years of contributing service, regardless of age.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide public employees retirement with full pension rights when their contributing service equals or exceeds 30 years, regardless of age.

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