Senate Bill No. 664

(By Senators Bowman and McKenzie)

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[Introduced February 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-7A-25 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to teacher disability retirement; and setting earned income limitations.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-7A-25 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

§18-7A-25. Eligibility for retirement allowance.
(a) Any member who has attained the age of sixty years or who has had thirty-five years of total service as a teacher in West Virginia, regardless of age, is eligible for an annuity. No new entrant nor present member is eligible for an annuity, however, if either has less than five years of service to his or her credit.
(b) Any member who has attained the age of fifty-five years and who has served thirty years as a teacher in West Virginia is eligible for an annuity.
(c) Any member who has served at least thirty but less than thirty-five years as a teacher or nonteaching member in West Virginia and is less than fifty-five years of age is eligible for an annuity, but the annuity shall be the reduced actuarial equivalent of the annuity the member would have received if the member were age fifty-five at the time such annuity was applied for.
(d) The request for any annuity shall be made by the member in writing to the retirement board, but in case of retirement for disability, the written request may be made by either the member or the employer.
(e) A member is eligible for annuity for disability if he or she satisfies the conditions in either subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection and meets the conditions of subdivision (3) of this subsection as follows:
(1) His or her service as a teacher or nonteaching member in West Virginia must total at least ten years and service as a teacher or nonteaching member must have been terminated because of disability, which disability must have caused absence from service for at least six months before his or her application for disability annuity is approved.
(2) His or her service as a teacher or nonteaching member in West Virginia must total at least five years and service as a teacher or nonteaching member must have been terminated because of disability, which disability must have caused absence from service for at least six months before his or her application for disability annuity is approved and the disability is a direct and total result of an act of student violence directed toward the member.
(3) An examination by a physician or physicians selected by the retirement board must show that the member is at the time mentally or physically incapacitated for service as a teacher, that for that service the disability is total and likely to be permanent and that he or she should be retired in consequence of the disability.
(f) Continuance of the disability of the retired member shall be established by medical examination, as prescribed in subdivision (3), subsection (e) of this section, annually for five years after retirement, and thereafter at such times required by the retirement board. Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, a member who has retired because of a disability may select an option of payment under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article: Provided, That any option selected under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this article shall be in all respects the actuarial equivalent of the straight life annuity benefit the disability retiree receives or would receive if the options under said section were not available and that no beneficiary or beneficiaries of the disability annuitant may receive a greater benefit, nor receive any benefit for a greater length of time, than the beneficiary or beneficiaries would have received had the disability retiree not made any election of the options available under said section. In determining the actuarial equivalence, the board shall take into account the life expectancies of the member and the beneficiary: Provided, however, That the life expectancies may at the discretion of the board be established by an underwriting medical director of a competent insurance company offering annuities. Payment of the disability annuity provided in this article shall cease immediately if the retirement board finds that the disability of the retired teacher no longer exists, or if the retired teacher refuses to submit to medical examination as required by this section.
(g) After the first day of July, two thousand seven, any teacher retiring because of a disability, shall at least once each year during the first five years following the retirement on account of disability, undergo a medical examination to be made by or under the direction of a physician designated by the retirement board or shall submit a statement signed by the disability retirant's physician certifying continued disability, or both. In addition, any teacher retiring because of a disability after the first day of July, two thousand seven, shall annually file a copy of the disability retirants' annual statement of earnings with the retirement board. If the retirant refuses to submit to the medical examination or provide the certification or statement of earnings in any period, his or her disability annuity may be discontinued by the retirement board until the retirant complies. If the refusal continues for one year, all of the retirant's rights in and to the annuity may be revoked by the retirement board. If, upon medical examination of a disability retirant, the physician reports to the retirement board that the retirant is physically able and capable of resuming employment with a participating public employer, the retirant shall be returned to the employ of the participating public employer from whose employment he or she retired and his or her disability annuity shall terminate: Provided, That the retirement board concurs in the physician's report. A disability retirant who is returned to the employ of a participating public employer shall again become a member of the retirement system and the retirant's credited service in force at the time of his or her retirement shall be restored. If a review of the disability retirant's annual statement of earnings or other financial information as required by the retirement board determines that the disability retirant's earned income for the preceding year exceeds the substantial gainful activity amount as defined by the United States Social Security Administration, the disability retirant's annuity shall be terminated by the retirement board, upon recommendation of the retirement board's disability review committee, on the first day of the month following the retirement board's action. Any person who wishes to reapply for disability retirement and whose disability retirement annuity has been terminated by the retirement board may do so within ninety days of the effective date of termination by requesting an examination at the applicant's expense.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set the same earned income limit for new teacher disability retirees as is set for public employee disability retirees.

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