A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-eight, article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, as amended, relating to reemployment after retirement and retirement options for holders of elected public office; and increasing the amount a retirant may earn from employment with a participating employer and still remain retired.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-eight, 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:

(a) The Legislature finds that a compelling state interest exists in maintaining an actuarially sound retirement system, and that this interest necessitates that certain limitations be placed upon an individual's ability to retire from the system and to then later return to state employment as an employee with a participating public employer while contemporaneously drawing an annuity from the system. The Legislature hereby further finds and declares that the interests of the public are served when persons having retired from state service are permitted, within certain limitations, to render post-retirement employment in positions of public service, either in elected or appointed capacities.

(b)(c)In the event a retirant becomes regularly employed on a full-time basis by a participating public employer, payment of his or her annuity shall be suspended during the period of his or her reemployment and he or she shall become a contributing member to the retirement system. If his or her reemployment is for a period of one year or longer, his or her annuity shall be recalculated and he or she shall be granted an increased annuity due to such additional employment, said annuity to be computed according to section twenty-two of this article. A retirant may accept temporary full-time or temporary part-time employment from a participating employer so long as he or she does not receive annual compensation in excess of ten twelve thousand dollars, without losing his or her retirement annuity.
(b)(d) In the event a retirant a member retires and is then later elected to a public office or is then later appointed to hold an elected public office, he or she has the option, notwithstanding subsection (a)(c) of this section, to either:
(1) Continue to receive payment of his or her annuity while holding such public office, in addition to the salary he or she may be entitled to as such office holder; or
(2) Suspend the payment of his or her annuity and become a contributing member of the retirement system as provided in subsection (a)(c) of this section.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, a member who is participating in the system as an elected public official may not retire from his or her elected position and commence to receive an annuity from the system and then be re-appointed to the same position unless and until a continuous six month period has passed since his or her retirement from such position.

(e) A member who is participating in the system simultaneously as both a regular, full-time employee of a participating public employer, and as an elected or appointed member of the legislative body of the state or any political subdivision, may, upon meeting the age and service requirements of this article, elect to retire from his or her regular full time state employment and may commence to receive an annuity from the system without terminating his or her position as a member of the legislative body of the state or political subdivision: Provided, That the retired member may not, during the term of his or her retirement and continued service as a member of the legislative body of the state or of a political subdivision, be eligible to continue his or her participation as a contributing member of the system, and the member may not continue to accrue any additional service credit or benefits in the system related to such continued service.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-seven-b of this article, any publicly elected member of the legislative body of any political subdivision or of the state, the clerk of the House of Delegates, and the clerk of the state Senate may elect to commence receiving in-service retirement distributions from this system upon attaining the age of seventy and one-half, if such member is eligible to retire under the provisions of section twenty or section twenty-one, and if such member elects to stop actively contributing to the system while receiving such in-service distributions.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify retirement options for retired PERS members and also for retired PERS members who are subsequently elected to public office.

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