H. B. 2146
(By Delegate Williams)
[Introduced January 13, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to state
teachers retirement system generally and providing that at the
time of retirement, a nonactive member of the teachers
retirement system with fifteen or more years of credited
service receive service credit for any unused personal leave
days which were accumulated while an active member of the
retirement system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7A-17. Statement and computation of teachers' service; qualified military service.
(a) Under rules adopted by the retirement board, each teacher
shall file a detailed statement of his or her length of service as
a teacher for which he or she claims credit. The retirement board
shall determine what part of a year is the equivalent of a year of
service. In computing the service, however, it shall credit no
period of more than a month's duration during which a member was
absent without pay, nor shall it credit for more than one year of
service performed in any calendar year.
(b) For the purpose of this article, the retirement board
shall grant prior service credit to new entrants and other members
of the retirement system for service in any of the armed forces of
the United States in any period of national emergency within which
a federal Selective Service Act was in effect. For purposes of
this section, "armed forces" includes women's army corps, women's
appointed volunteers for emergency service, army nurse corps,
spars, women's reserve and other similar units officially parts of
the military service of the United States. The military service is
considered equivalent to public school teaching, and the salary
equivalent for each year of that service is the actual salary of
the member as a teacher for his or her first year of teaching after
discharge from military service. Prior service credit for military
service shall not exceed ten years for any one member, nor shall it
exceed twenty-five percent of total service at the time of
retirement. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this subsection, 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, chapter five of
this code, may promulgate rules relating to contributions, benefits
and service credit to comply with Section 414(u) of the Internal
Revenue Code.
(c) For service as a teacher in the employment of the federal
government, or a state or territory of the United States, or a
governmental subdivision of that state or territory, the retirement
board shall grant credit to the member: Provided, That the member
shall pay to the system double the amount he or she contributed
during the first full year of current employment, times the number
of years for which credit is granted, plus interest at a rate to be
determined by the retirement board. The interest shall be
deposited in the reserve fund and service credit granted at the
time of retirement shall not exceed the lesser of ten years or
fifty percent of the member's total service as a teacher in West
Virginia. Any transfer of out-of-state service, as provided in
this article, shall not be used to establish eligibility for a
retirement allowance and the retirement board shall grant credit for the transferred service as additional service only: Provided,
however, That a transfer of out-of-state service is prohibited if
the service is used to obtain a retirement benefit from another
retirement system: Provided further, That salaries paid to members
for service prior to entrance into the retirement system shall not
be used to compute the average final salary of the member under the
retirement system.
(d) Service credit for members or retired members shall not be
denied on the basis of minimum income rules promulgated by the
teachers retirement board: Provided, That the member or retired
member shall pay to the system the amount he or she would have
contributed during the year or years of public school service for
which credit was denied as a result of the minimum income rules of
the teachers retirement board.
(e) No members shall be considered absent from service while
serving as a member or employee of the Legislature of the state of
West Virginia during any duly constituted session of that body or
while serving as an elected member of a county commission during
any duly constituted session of that body.
(f) No member shall be considered absent from service as a
teacher while serving as an officer with a statewide professional
teaching association, or who has served in that capacity, and no
retired teacher, who served in that capacity while a member, shall
be considered to have been absent from service as a teacher by reason of that service: Provided, That the period of service
credit granted for that service shall not exceed ten years:
Provided, however, That a member or retired teacher who is serving
or has served as an officer of a statewide professional teaching
association shall make deposits to the teachers retirement board,
for the time of any absence, in an amount double the amount which
he or she would have contributed in his or her regular assignment
for a like period of time.
(g) The teachers retirement board shall grant service credit
to any former or present member of the West Virginia public
employees retirement system who has been a contributing member for
more than three years, for service previously credited by the
public employees retirement system and: (1) Shall require the
transfer of the member's contributions to the teachers retirement
system; or (2) shall require a repayment of the amount withdrawn
any time prior to the member's retirement: Provided, That there
shall be added by the member to the amounts transferred or repaid
under this subsection an amount which shall be sufficient to equal
the contributions he or she would have made had the member been
under the teachers retirement system during the period of his or
her membership in the public employees retirement system plus
interest at a rate of six percent compounded annually from the date
of withdrawal to the date of payment. The interest paid shall be
deposited in the reserve fund.
(h) For service as a teacher in an elementary or secondary
parochial school, located within this state and fully accredited by
the West Virginia department of education, the retirement board
shall grant credit to the member: Provided, That the member shall
pay to the system double the amount contributed during the first
full year of current employment, times the number of years for
which credit is granted, plus interest at a rate to be determined
by the retirement board. The interest shall be deposited in the
reserve fund and service granted at the time of retirement shall
not exceed the lesser of ten years or fifty percent of the member's
total service as a teacher in the West Virginia public school
system. Any transfer of parochial school service, as provided in
this section, may not be used to establish eligibility for a
retirement allowance and the board shall grant credit for the
transfer as additional service only: Provided, however, That a
transfer of parochial school service is prohibited if the service
is used to obtain a retirement benefit from another retirement
system.
(i) Active members who previously worked in CETA
(Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) may receive service
credit for time served in that capacity: Provided, That in order
to receive service credit under the provisions of this subsection
the following conditions must be met: (1) The member must have
moved from temporary employment with the participating employer to
permanent full-time employment with the participating employer within one hundred twenty days following the termination of the
member's CETA employment; (2) the board must receive evidence that
establishes to a reasonable degree of certainty as determined by
the board that the member previously worked in CETA; and (3) the
member shall pay to the board an amount equal to the employer and
employee contribution plus interest at the amount set by the board
for the amount of service credit sought pursuant to this
subsection: Provided, however, That the maximum service credit
that may be obtained under the provisions of this subsection is two
years: Provided further, That a member must apply and pay for the
service credit allowed under this subsection and provide all
necessary documentation by the thirty-first day of March, two
thousand three: And provided further, That the board shall
exercise due diligence to notify affected employees of the
provisions of this subsection.
(j) If a member is not eligible for prior service credit or
pension as provided in this article, then his or her prior service
shall not be considered a part of his or her total service.
(k) A member who withdrew from membership may regain his or
her former membership rights as specified in section thirteen of
this article only in case he or she has served two years since his
or her last withdrawal.
(l) Subject to the provisions of subsections (a) through (l),
inclusive, of this section, the board shall verify as soon as
practicable the statements of service submitted. The retirement board shall issue prior service certificates to all persons
eligible for the certificates under the provisions of this article.
The certificates shall state the length of the prior service
credit, but in no case shall the prior service credit exceed forty
years.
(m) Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the
contrary, when a member is or has been elected to serve as a member
of the Legislature, and the proper discharge of his or her duties
of public office require that member to be absent from his or her
teaching or administrative duties, the time served in discharge of
his or her duties of the legislative office are credited as time
served for purposes of computing service credit: Provided, That
the board may not require any additional contributions from that
member in order for the board to credit him or her with the
contributing service credit earned while discharging official
legislative duties: Provided, however, That nothing herein may be
construed to relieve the employer from making the employer
contribution at the member's regular salary rate or rate of pay
from that employer on the contributing service credit earned while
the member is discharging his or her official legislative duties.
These employer payments shall commence as of the first day of June,
two thousand: Provided further, That any member to which the
provisions of this subsection apply may elect to pay to the board
an amount equal to what his or her contribution would have been for
those periods of time he or she was serving in the Legislature. The periods of time upon which the member paid his or her
contribution shall then be included for purposes of determining his
or her final average salary as well as for determining years of
service: And provided further, That a member utilizing the
provisions of this subsection is not required to pay interest on
any contributions he or she may decide to make.
(n) The teachers retirement board shall grant service credit
to any former member of the state police death, disability and
retirement system who has been a contributing member for more than
three years, for service previously credited by the state police
death, disability and retirement system; and: (1) Shall require
the transfer of the member's contributions to the teachers
retirement system; or (2) shall require a repayment of the amount
withdrawn any time prior to the member's retirement: Provided,
That the member shall add to the amounts transferred or repaid
under this paragraph an amount which is sufficient to equal the
contributions he or she would have made had the member been under
the teachers retirement system during the period of his or her
membership in the state police death, disability and retirement
system plus interest at a rate of six percent compounded annually
from the date of withdrawal to the date of payment. The interest
paid shall be deposited in the reserve fund.
(o) A nonactive member of the state teachers retirement system
with fifteen or more years of credited service shall, at the time
of retirement, receive service credit for any unused personal leave days which were accumulated while an active member of the
retirement system.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that a nonactive
member of the teachers retirement system (old) with fifteen or more
years of credited service will, at the time of retirement, receive
service credit for any unused personal leave days which were
accumulated while an active member of the retirement system.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.