Senate Bill No. 21
(By Senator Love)
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[Introduced February 21, 2001; referred to the Committee on
Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article ten, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to awarding service credit
in the public employees retirement system for military
service in the national guard.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, 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. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-15. Military service credit; qualified military service.
(a)(1) In addition to any benefit provided by federal law, any member of the retirement system who has previously served in
or enters the active service of the armed forces of the United
States during any period of compulsory military service shall
receive credited service for said the time spent in the armed
forces of the United States, not to exceed five years if such the
member:
(A) Has been honorably discharged from the armed forces;
(B) Substantiates by appropriate documentation or evidence
his or her active military service and entry therein during any
period of compulsory military service; and
(C) Pays to the members' deposit fund the amount he or she
may have withdrawn therefrom, together with regular interest from
the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment.
(2) Any member of the retirement system who enters the
active service of the armed forces of the United States during
any period of compulsory military service shall receive the
credit provided by this section regardless of whether he or she
was a public employee at the time of entering the military
service.
(3) No member may receive the credit described in this
section for any period for which the member has received credit under section ten-b of this article.
(b) Any member of the retirement system who serves in the
national guard shall receive service credit for time served in
the national guard up to five years.
(b) (c) In any case of doubt as to the period of service to
be credited a member under the provisions of this section, the
board of trustees shall have final power to determine such the
period.
(c) (d) During the period of such armed service and until
the member's return to the employ of a participating public
employer, his or her contributions to the retirement system shall
be suspended and any credit balance remaining in the members'
deposit fund shall be accumulated at regular interest.
(d) (e) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this
section, contributions, benefits and service credit with respect
to qualified military service shall be provided in accordance
with Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes
of this section, "qualified military service" has the same
meaning as in Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. The
retirement board is authorized to determine all questions and
make all decisions relating to this section and, pursuant to the authority granted to the retirement board in section one, article
ten-d of chapter five, may promulgate rules relating to
contributions, benefits and service credit to comply with Section
414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to grant service credit in
the public employees retirement system for military service in
the national guard.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.