Senate Bill No. 601
(By Senators Plymale, Fanning, Edgell,
Jackson, McCabe, Prezioso and Sprouse)
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[Introduced February 15, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article twenty-two, chapter eight of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-a, relating to municipal police and firemen's pension
and relief funds; requiring the treasurer to select and
contract with a single qualified actuary to serve as a
technical adviser with respect to same; requiring annual
valuations of same; and specifying requirements for reporting
said valuations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twenty-two, chapter eight of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22. RETIREMENT BENEFITS GENERALLY; POLICEMEN'S PENSION
AND RELIEF FUND; FIREMEN'S PENSION AND RELIEF FUND; PENSION PLANS FOR EMPLOYEES OF WATERWORKS
SYSTEM, SEWERAGE SYSTEM OR COMBINED WATERWORKS AND
SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
§8-22-20a. Hiring of actuary; preparation of actuarial valuations.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, beginning the first day of July, two thousand two, the
state treasurer shall select by competitive bid and contract with
a single qualified actuary who shall be the technical advisor to
the treasurer with regard to the operation of the municipal police
and firemen's pension and relief funds and who shall report
annually to the treasurer with regard to all such funds existing in
this state by virtue of this article. The treasurer is authorized
to pay for costs associated with the actuary's work out of the fund
established pursuant to section fourteen-d, article three, chapter
thirty-three of this code.
(b) With respect to each municipal police or firemen's pension
and relief fund, the actuary shall complete an annual valuation in
accordance with actuarial standards of practice promulgated by the
actuarial standards board of the American academy of actuaries.
The report of the valuation shall include: (1) A summary of the
benefit provisions evaluated; (2) a summary of the census data and
financial information used in the valuation; (3) a description of
the actuarial assumptions, actuarial costs method and asset
valuation method used in the valuation, including a statement of the assumed rate of payroll growth and assumed rate of growth or
decline in the number of the fund members' contribution to the
pension fund; (4) a summary of findings that includes a statement
of the actuarially accrued pension liabilities and unfunded
actuarial accrued pension liabilities; (5) a schedule showing the
effect of any changes in the benefit provisions, actuarial
assumptions or cost methods since the last annual actuarial
valuation; (6) a statement of whether contributions to the pension
fund are in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and
whether they are expected to be sufficient; and (7) such other
matters as determined by the treasurer to be necessary or
appropriate.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the state
treasurer to retain a single qualified actuary to review and
evaluate all municipal police and firefighters' pension plans.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
This bill is recommended for passage during the 2002 Regular
Session by the Joint Committee on Pensions and Retirement.