Senate Bill No. 41
(By Senators Bailey, Minard, Hunter, Love, Ross, Mitchell,
Caldwell, Sharpe, Rowe and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 14, 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 the public employees
retirement act; and counting military service credit as
contributing service for computation of retirement benefits.
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 contributing service credit for said 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have withdrawn therefrom, together with regular interest from the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 contributing
service 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 contributing service credit
described in this section for any period for which the member has received credit under section ten-b of this article.
(b) 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) 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) 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 military service
credit up to five years towards contributing service for
computation of retirement benefits under the West Virginia Public
Employees Retirement Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.