Introduced Version
House Bill 2802 History
OTHER VERSIONS -
Committee Substitute
|
Enrolled Version - Final Version
|
| Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2802
(By Delegates Pethtel, Jones, Craig, Canterbury,
Kump, Lynch and Stowers)
[Introduced
March 4, 2013
; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5V-2, §16-5V-8, §16-5V-11, §16-5V-
20, §16-5V-21 and §16-5V-24 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, and to amend said code by adding thereto two
new sections, designated §16-5V-8a and §16-5V-35, all relating
to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System; modifying
the definition of annual compensation as it relates to
determining benefits; adding a definition for contributing
service to this article; adding a definition for the terms
retire and retirement to this article; making technical
corrections in section two of this article; adding a new
section to this article relating to correction of
participating public employer errors by the board; clarifying
eligibility requirements for commencement of benefits;
specifying that the board must be in receipt of a request for estimation of benefits prior to providing a member with an
explanation of their estimated gross monthly annuity and a
retirement application; providing that a member shall have at
least ten years of contributing service to qualify for nonduty
related disability retirement; specifying that the total
nonduty disability award received by a member shall be based
on their average monthly compensation during the twelve month
period immediately preceding the disability award; providing
that all costs associated with disability benefit examinations
shall be paid from the board's expense fund; providing that
disability benefits shall cease on the first day of the month
following termination of disability by the board; requiring
annual disability recertification for a retirant who is less
than sixty years of age during the first five years of
retirement and once every three years thereafter; providing
that if a member who is receiving a nonduty disability benefit
dies the surviving spouse shall receive the average monthly
compensation received by the member prior to the disability
award; and adding a new section to this article relating to
the annuity calculation for a member who returns to covered
employment after retirement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5V-2, §16-5V-8, §16-5V-11, §16-5V-20, §16-5V-21 and §16-5V-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto two new sections, designated §16-5V-8a and §16-5V-35, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5V. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§16-5V-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless a federal law or regulation or
the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(a) "Accrued benefit" means on behalf of any member two and
six-tenths percent per year of the member's final average salary
for the first twenty years of credited service. Additionally, two
percent per year for twenty-one through twenty-five years and one
percent per year for twenty-six through thirty years will be
credited with a maximum benefit of sixty-seven percent. A member's
accrued benefit may not exceed the limits of Section 415 of the
Internal Revenue Code and is subject to the provisions of section
twelve of this article.
(1) The board may upon the recommendation of the board's
actuary increase the employees' contribution rate to ten and
five-tenths percent should the funding of the plan not reach
seventy percent funded by July 1, 2012. The board shall decrease
the contribution rate to eight and one-half percent once the plan
funding reaches the seventy percent support objective as of any later actuarial valuation date.
(2) Upon reaching the seventy-five percent actuarial funded
level, as of an actuarial valuation date, the board shall increase
the two and six-tenths percent to two and three-quarter percent for
the first twenty years of credited service. The maximum benefit
will also be increased from sixty-seven percent to seventy percent.
(b) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all
retirement contributions deducted from the compensation of a
member, or paid on his or her behalf as a result of covered
employment, together with regular interest on the deducted amounts.
(c) "Active military duty" means full-time active duty with
any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, including
service with the National Guard or reserve military forces when the
member has been called to active full-time duty and has received no
compensation during the period of that duty from any board or
employer other than the Armed Forces.
(d) "Actuarial equivalent" means a benefit of equal value
computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates
as set and adopted by the board in accordance with the provisions
of this article.
(e) "Annual compensation" means the wages paid to the member
during covered employment within the meaning of Section 3401(a) of
the Internal Revenue Code, but determined without regard to any rules that limit the remuneration included in wages based upon the
nature or location of employment or services performed during the
plan year plus amounts excluded under Section 414(h)(2) of the
Internal Revenue Code and less reimbursements or other expense
allowances, cash or noncash fringe benefits or both, deferred
compensation and welfare benefits. Annual compensation for
determining benefits during any determination period may not exceed
$100,000 as adjusted for cost-of-living in accordance with Section
401(a)(17)(B) the maximum compensation allowed as adjusted for cost
of living in accordance with section seven, article ten-d, chapter
five of this code and Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue
Code.
(f) "Annual leave service" means accrued annual leave.
(g) "Annuity starting date" means the first day of the month
for which an annuity is payable after submission of a retirement
application. For purposes of this subsection, if retirement income
payments commence after the normal retirement age, "retirement"
means the first day of the month following or coincident with the
latter of the last day the member worked in covered employment or
the member's normal retirement age and after completing proper
written application for "retirement" on an application supplied by
the board.
(h) "Board" means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(i) "Contributing service" means service rendered by a member
while employed by a participating public employer for which the
member made contributions to the plan.
_____(i)(j) "County commission or political subdivision" has the
meaning ascribed to it in this code.
(j) (k) "Covered employment" means either: (1) Employment as
a full-time emergency medical technician, emergency medical
technician/paramedic or emergency medical services/registered nurse
and the active performance of the duties required of emergency
medical services officers; or (2) the period of time during which
active duties are not performed but disability benefits are
received under this article; or (3) concurrent employment by an
emergency medical services officer in a job or jobs in addition to
his or her employment as an emergency medical services officer
where the secondary employment requires the emergency medical
services officer to be a member of another retirement system which
is administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board
pursuant to this code: Provided, That the emergency medical
services officer contributes to the fund created in this article
the amount specified as the member's contribution in section eight
of this article.
(k) (l) "Credited service" means the sum of a member's years
of service, active military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave service.
(l) (m) "Dependent child" means either:
(1) An unmarried person under age eighteen who is:
(A) A natural child of the member;
(B) A legally adopted child of the member;
(C) A child who at the time of the member's death was living
with the member while the member was an adopting parent during any
period of probation; or
(D) A stepchild of the member residing in the member's
household at the time of the member's death; or
(2) Any unmarried child under age twenty-three:
(A) Who is enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited
college or university;
(B) Who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of member's death; and
(C) Whose relationship with the member is described in
paragraph (A), (B) or (C), subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(m) (n) "Dependent parent" means the father or mother of the
member who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of the member's death.
(n) (o) "Disability service" means service received by a
member, expressed in whole years, fractions thereof or both, equal
to one half of the whole years, fractions thereof, or both, during which time a member receives disability benefits under this
article.
(o) (p) "Early retirement age" means age forty-five or over
and completion of twenty years of contributory service.
(p) (q) "Effective date" means January 1, 2008.
(q) (r) "Emergency medical services officer" means an
individual employed by the state, county or other political
subdivision as a medical professional who is qualified to respond
to medical emergencies, aids the sick and injured and arranges or
transports to medical facilities, as defined by the West Virginia
Office of Emergency Medical Services. This definition is construed
to include employed ambulance providers and other services such as
law enforcement, rescue or fire department personnel who primarily
perform these functions and are not provided any other credited
service benefits or retirement plans. These persons may hold the
rank of emergency medical technician/basic, emergency medical
technician/paramedic, emergency medical services/registered nurse,
or others as defined by the West Virginia Office of Emergency
Medical Services and the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(r) (s) "Employer error" means an omission, misrepresentation
or violation of relevant provisions of the West Virginia Code or of
the West Virginia Code of State Rules or the relevant provisions of
both the West Virginia Code and of the West Virginia Code of State Rules by the participating public employer that has resulted in an
underpayment or overpayment of contributions required. A deliberate
act contrary to the provisions of this article by a participating
public employer does not constitute employer error.
(s) (t) "Final average salary" means the average of the
highest annual compensation received for covered employment by the
member during any five consecutive plan years within the member's
last ten years of service while employed, prior to any disability
payment. If the member did not have annual compensation for the
five full plan years preceding the member's attainment of normal
retirement age and during that period the member received
disability benefits under this article, then "final average salary"
means the average of the monthly salary determined paid to the
member during that period as determined under section twenty-two of
this article multiplied by twelve. "Final average salary" does not
include any lump sum payment for unused, accrued leave of any kind
or character.
(t) (u) "Full-time employment" means permanent employment of
an employee by a participating public employer in a position which
normally requires twelve months per year service and requires at
least one thousand forty hours per year service in that position.
(u) (v) "Fund" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical
Services Retirement Fund created by this article.
(v) (w) "Hour of service" means:
(1) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during which time active duties are
performed. These hours shall be credited to the member for the plan
year in which the duties are performed; and
(2) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during a plan year but where no
duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, incapacity
including disability, layoff, jury duty, military duty, leave of
absence or any combination thereof and without regard to whether
the employment relationship has terminated. Hours under this
subdivision shall be calculated and credited pursuant to West
Virginia Division of Labor rules. A member will not be credited
with any hours of service for any period of time he or she is
receiving benefits under section nineteen or twenty of this
article; and
(3) Each hour for which back pay is either awarded or agreed
to be paid by the employing county commission or political
subdivision, irrespective of mitigation of damages. The same hours
of service shall not be credited both under subdivision (1) or (2)
of this subsection and under this subdivision. Hours under this
paragraph shall be credited to the member for the plan year or
years to which the award or agreement pertains, rather than the plan year in which the award, agreement or payment is made.
(w) (x) "Member" means a person first hired as an emergency
medical services officer by an employer which is a participating
public employer of the Public Employees Retirement System or the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement System after the effective
date of this article, as defined in subsection (p) of this section,
or an emergency medical services officer of an employer which is a
participating public employer of the Public Employees Retirement
System first hired prior to the effective date and who elects to
become a member pursuant to this article. A member shall remain a
member until the benefits to which he or she is entitled under this
article are paid or forfeited.
(x) (y) "Monthly salary" means the W-2 reportable compensation
received by a member during the month.
(y) (z) "Normal form" means a monthly annuity which is one
twelfth of the amount of the member's accrued benefit which is
payable for the member's life. If the member dies before the sum of
the payments he or she receives equals his or her accumulated
contributions on the annuity starting date, the named beneficiary
shall receive in one lump sum the difference between the
accumulated contributions at the annuity starting date and the
total of the retirement income payments made to the member.
(z) (aa) "Normal retirement age" means the first to occur of the following:
(1) Attainment of age fifty years and the completion of twenty
or more years of regular contributory service, excluding active
military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave
service;
(2) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age fifty years and when the sum of current age plus regular
contributory years of service equals or exceeds seventy years;
(3) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age sixty years and completion of ten years of regular contributory
service; or
(4) Attainment of age sixty-two years and completion of five
or more years of regular contributory service.
(aa) (bb) "Participating public employer" means any county
commission or political subdivision in the state which has elected
to cover its emergency medical services officers, as defined in
this article, under the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System.
(bb) (cc) "Political subdivision" means a county, city or town
in the state; any separate corporation or instrumentality
established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted
by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part
by counties, cities or towns; and any public corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental function and whose
jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or
towns: Provided, That any public corporation established under
section four, article fifteen, chapter seven of this code is
considered a political subdivision solely for the purposes of this
article.
(cc) (dd) "Plan" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical
Services Retirement System established by this article.
(dd) (ee) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period commencing
on January 1 of any designated year and ending the following
December 31.
(ee) (ff) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West
Virginia Public Employee's Retirement System created by West
Virginia Code.
(ff) (gg) "Regular interest" means the rate or rates of
interest per annum, compounded annually, as the board adopts in
accordance with the provisions of this article.
(gg) (hh) "Required beginning date" means April 1 of the
calendar year following the later of: (1) The calendar year in
which the member attains age seventy and one-half; or (2) the
calendar year in which he or she retires or otherwise separates
from covered employment.
(hh) (ii) "Retirant" means any member who commences an annuity payable by the plan.
(jj) "Retire" or "retirement" means a member's withdrawal from
the employ of a participating public employer and the commencement
of an annuity by the plan.
_____(ii) (kk) "Retirement income payments" means the monthly
retirement income payments payable under the plan.
(jj) (ll) "Spouse" means the person to whom the member is
legally married on the annuity starting date.
(kk) (mm) "Surviving spouse" means the person to whom the
member was legally married at the time of the member's death and
who survived the member.
(ll) (nn) "Totally disabled" means a member's inability to
engage in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically
determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to
result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for
a continuous period of not less than twelve months.
For purposes of this subsection:
(1) A member is totally disabled only if his or her physical
or mental impairment or impairments is so severe that he or she is
not only unable to perform his or her previous work as an emergency
medical services officer but also cannot, considering his or her
age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of
substantial gainful employment which exists in the state regardless of whether: (A) The work exists in the immediate area in which the
member lives; (B) a specific job vacancy exists; or © the member
would be hired if he or she applied for work. For purposes of this
article, substantial gainful employment is the same definition as
used by the United States Social Security Administration.
(2) "Physical or mental impairment" is an impairment that
results from an anatomical, physiological or psychological
abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical and
laboratory diagnostic techniques. The board may require submission
of a member's annual tax return for purposes of monitoring the
earnings limitation.
(mm) (oo) "Year of service" means a member shall, except in
his or her first and last years of covered employment, be credited
with years of service credit based upon the hours of service
performed as covered employment and credited to the member during
the plan year based upon the following schedule:
Hours of Service Year of Service Credited.
Less than 500 ........................... 0
500 to 999 .............................. 1/3
1,000 to 1,499 ...........................2/3
1,500 or more ........................... 1
During a member's first and last years of covered employment,
the member shall be credited with one twelfth of a year of service for each month during the plan year in which the member is credited
with an hour of service for which contributions were received by
the fund. A member is not entitled to credit for years of service
for any time period during which he or she received disability
payments under section nineteen or twenty of this article. Except
as specifically excluded, years of service include covered
employment prior to the effective date.
Years of service which are credited to a member prior to his
or her receipt of accumulated contributions upon termination of
employment pursuant to section eighteen of this article or section
thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code, shall be
disregarded for all purposes under this plan unless the member
repays the accumulated contributions with interest pursuant to
section eighteen of this article or has prior to the effective date
made the repayment pursuant to section eighteen, article ten,
chapter five of this code.
§16-5V-8. Members' contributions; employer contributions.
(a) There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each
member and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary. An additional amount shall be
paid to the fund by the county commission or political subdivision
in which the member is employed in covered employment in an amount
determined by the board: Provided, That in no year may the total of the employer contributions provided in this section, to be paid by
the county commission or political subdivision, exceed ten and
one-half percent of the total payroll for the members in the employ
of the county commission or political subdivision.
(b) Any active member who has concurrent employment in an
additional job or jobs and the additional employment requires the
emergency medical services officer to be a member of another
retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this
code shall contribute to the fund the sum of eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary earned as an emergency medical
services officer as well as the sum of eight and one-half percent
of his or her monthly salary earned from any additional employment
which additional employment requires the emergency medical services
officer to be a member of another retirement system which is
administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board pursuant
to article ten-d, chapter five of this code. An additional percent
of the monthly salary of each member shall be paid to the fund by
the concurrent employer by which the member is employed in an
amount determined by the board: Provided, That in no year may the
total of the employer contributions provided in this section, to be
paid by the concurrent employer, exceed ten and one-half percent of
the payroll for the concurrent member employees.
(c) All required deposits shall be remitted to the board no
later than fifteen days following the end of the calendar month for
which the deposits are required. If the board upon the
recommendation of the board actuary finds that the benefits
provided by this article can be actuarially funded with a lesser
contribution, then the board shall reduce the required member and
employer contributions proportionally. Any county commission or
political subdivision which fails to make any payment due the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund by the fifteenth day
following the end of each calendar month in which contributions are
due may be required to pay the actuarial rate of interest lost on
the total amount owed for each day the payment is delinquent.
Accrual of the loss of earnings owed by the delinquent county
commission or political subdivision commences after the fifteenth
day following the end of the calendar month in which contributions
are due and continues until receipt of the delinquent amount.
Interest compounds daily and the minimum surcharge is $50.
(d) If any change or employer error in the records of any
participating public employer or the retirement system results in
any member receiving from the system more or less than he or she
would have been entitled to receive had the records been correct,
the board shall correct the error and as far as is practicable
shall adjust the payment of the benefit in a manner that the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which the member was
correctly entitled shall be paid. Any employer error resulting in
an underpayment to the retirement system may be corrected by the
member remitting the required employee contribution and the
participating public employer remitting the required employer
contribution. Interest shall accumulate in accordance with the
Legislative Rule 162 CSR 7 retirement board reinstatement interest,
and any accumulating interest owed on the employee and employer
contributions resulting from the employer error shall be the
responsibility of the participating public employer. The
participating public employer may remit total payment and the
employee reimburse the participating public employer through
payroll deduction over a period equivalent to the time period
during which the employer error occurred.
§16-5V-8a. Correction of errors; underpayments; overpayments.
_____(a) General rule: If any change or employer error in the
records of any participating public employer or the plan results in
any member, retirant or beneficiary receiving from the plan more or
less than he or she would have been entitled to receive had the
records been correct, the board shall correct the error. If
correction of the error occurs after the effective retirement date
of a retirant, and as far as is practicable, the board shall adjust
the payment of the benefit in a manner that the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which the retirant was correctly
entitled shall be paid.
_____(b) Underpayments: Any error resulting in an underpayment to
the retirement system of required contributions may be corrected by
the member or retirant remitting the required employee contribution
and the participating public employer remitting the required
employer contribution. Interest shall accumulate in accordance with
the Legislative Rule 162 CSR 7 concerning retirement board refund,
reinstatement, retroactive service, loan and employer error
interest factors and any accumulating interest owed on the employee
and employer contributions resulting from an employer error shall
be the responsibility of the participating public employer. The
participating public employer may remit total payment and the
employee reimburse the participating public employer through
payroll deduction over a period equivalent to the time period
during which the employer error occurred. If the correction of an
error involving an underpayment of required contributions to the
retirement system will result in increased payments to a retirant,
including increases to payments already made, any adjustments shall
be made only after the board receives full payment of all required
employee and employer contributions, including interest.
_____(c) Overpayments: (1) When mistaken or excess employer
contributions, including any overpayments, have been made to the retirement system by a participating public employer, due to error
or other reason, the board shall credit the participating public
employer with an amount equal to the erroneous contributions, to be
offset against the participating public employer's future liability
for employer contributions to the system. Earnings or interest
shall not be credited to the employer.
_____(2) When mistaken or excess employee contributions, including
any overpayments, have been made to the retirement system, due to
error or other reason, the board shall have sole authority for
determining the means of return, offset or credit to or for the
benefit of the employee of the amounts, and may use any means
authorized or permitted under the provisions of Section 401(a), et
seq. of the Internal Revenue Code and guidance issued thereunder
applicable to governmental plans. Alternatively, in its full and
complete discretion, the board may require the participating public
employer to pay the employee the amounts as wages, with the board
crediting the participating public employer with a corresponding
amount to offset against its future contributions to the plan:
Provided, That the wages paid to the employee shall not be
considered compensation for any purposes under this article.
Earnings or interest shall not be returned, offset, or credited
under any of the means utilized by the board for returning mistaken
or excess employee contributions, including any overpayments, to an employee.
§16-5V-11. Retirement; commencement of benefits.
(a) Except for duty disability retirement, no member may
retire before January 1, 2011.
(b) A On or after the date a member attains early or normal
retirement age, a member may retire and commence to receive
retirement income payments on the first day of the calendar month
following termination of employment and receipt of his or her
written application for his or her voluntary petition for
retirement coincident with or next following the later of the date
the member ceases employment, or the date the member attains early
or normal retirement age, retirement in an amount as provided under
this article: Provided, That retirement income payments under this
plan are subject to the provisions of this article. Upon receipt of
the petition a request for estimation of benefits, the board shall
promptly provide the member with an explanation of his or her
optional forms of retirement benefits and upon the estimated gross
monthly annuity. Upon receipt of properly executed retirement
application forms from the member, the board shall process member's
request for and commence payments as soon as administratively
feasible.
§16-5V-20. Awards and benefits for disability -- Due to other
causes.
(a) Any member who after the effective date of this article
and with ten or more years of contributing service and who during
covered employment: (1) Has been or becomes totally disabled from
any cause other than those set forth in section nineteen of this
article and not due to vicious habits, intemperance or willful
misconduct on his or her part; and (2) in the opinion of two
physicians after medical examination, one of whom shall be named by
the board, he or she is by reason of the disability unable to
perform adequately the duties required of an emergency medical
services officer, is entitled to receive and shall be paid from the
fund in monthly installments, the compensation set forth in, either
subsection (b) or (c) of this section.
(b) If the member is totally disabled, he or she shall receive
sixty-six and two-thirds percent of his or her average monthly
compensation for the twelve-month period immediately preceding the
disability award, or the shorter period, if the member has not
worked all twelve months during the twelve month period immediately
preceding the disability award, the average of the months in which
compensation was received for the twelve month period shall be
used.
(c) If the member remains totally disabled until attaining
sixty years of age, then the member shall receive the retirement
benefit provided in sections sixteen and seventeen of this article.
(d) The board shall propose legislative rules for promulgation
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code concerning member disability payments so
as to ensure that the payments do not exceed one hundred percent of
the average current salary for the position last held by the
member.
(e) The disability benefit payments will begin the first day
of the month following termination of employment and receipt of the
disability retirement application by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board. Provided, That no member may receive disability
benefit payments set forth in this section before January 1, 2011.
§16-5V-21. Same -- Physical examinations; termination of
disability.
(a) The board may require any member who has applied for or is
receiving disability benefits under this article to submit to a
physical examination, mental examination or both, by a physician or
physicians selected or approved by the board. and may cause all
All costs incident to the any examination and approved by the board
to by a board selected physician shall be paid from the board's
expense fund. The costs may include hospital, laboratory, X-ray,
medical and physicians' fees. A report of the findings of any
physician shall be submitted in writing to the board for its
consideration. If, from the report, independent information, or from the report and any hearing on the report, the board is of the
opinion and finds that: (1) The member has become reemployed as an
emergency medical services officer; (2) a physician who has
examined the member has found that considering the opportunities
for emergency medical services in West Virginia, the member could
be so employed as an emergency medical services officer; or (3)
other facts exist to demonstrate that the member is no longer
totally disabled, then the disability benefits shall cease the
first day of the month following board action. Benefits shall cease
once the member has been found to be no longer totally disabled.
(b) The board shall require annual recertification for a
disabled retirant, who has not attained age sixty, at least once
each year during the first five years following his or her
retirement and at least once in each three year period thereafter.
_______________________(b) (c) If a retirant refuses to submit to a medical
examination or submit a statement by his or her physician
certifying continued disability in any period, his or her
disability annuity may be discontinued by the board until the
retirant complies. If the refusal continues for one year, all the
retirant's rights in and to the annuity may be revoked by the
board.
§16-5V-24. Awards and benefits to surviving spouse -- When member
dies from nonservice-connected causes.
(a) If a member who has been a member for at least ten years,
while in covered employment after the effective date of this
article, has died or dies from any cause other than those specified
in section twenty-three of this article and not due to vicious
habits, intemperance or willful misconduct on his or her part, the
fund shall pay annually in equal monthly installments to the
surviving spouse during his or her lifetime, a sum equal to the
greater of: (1) One half of the annual compensation received in the
preceding twelve-month employment period by the deceased member; or
(2) if the member dies after his or her early or normal retirement
age, the monthly amount which the spouse would have received had
the member retired the day before his or her death, elected a one
hundred percent joint and survivor annuity with the spouse as the
joint annuitant, and then died. Where the member is receiving
disability benefits under this article at the time of his or her
death, the most recent monthly compensation determined under
section twenty-two of this article average monthly compensation
received in the plan year prior to disability shall be substituted
for the annual compensation in subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(b) Benefits for a surviving spouse received under this
section, or other sections of this article are in lieu of receipt
of any other benefits under this article for the spouse or any
other person or under the provisions of any other state retirement system based upon the member's covered employment.
§16-5V-35. Return to covered employment by retirant.
_______________________The annuity of any member who retires under the provisions of
this article and who resumes service in covered employment shall be
suspended while the member continues in covered employment. The
monthly annuity payment for the month in which the service resumes
shall be pro-rated to the date of commencement of service, and the
member shall again become a contributing member during resumption
of service. At the conclusion of resumed service in covered
employment the member shall have his or her annuity recalculated to
take into account the entirety of service in covered employment.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to modify the definition of
"annual compensation" in Article 5V; to add a definition for
"contributing service" to Article 5V; to add a definition for the
terms "retire" and "retirement" to Article 5V; to renumber
subsections (i) through (oo), Section 2; to delete provisions
relating to correction of employer errors in Section 8 and to add
a new section relating to correction of employer errors to Article
5V; to clarify eligibility requirements for commencement of
benefits; to require a member to request a benefit estimate from
the board prior to receiving an explanation of benefits and
retirement packet; to require that a member have at least ten years
of contributing service to qualify for nonduty disability; to
specify that the total nonduty disability award be based upon the
average monthly compensation received during the twelve month
period immediately preceding disability; to provide that all costs
associated with disability benefit examinations be paid from the
board's expense fund; to cease disability benefits on the first day
of the month following termination of disability by the board; to
require annual disability recertification for a retirant who is
less than sixty years of age; to provide that if a member dies while receiving a nonduty disability benefit the surviving spouse
shall receive the average monthly compensation received by the
member prior to disability; and to add a new section to Article 5V
relating to the annuity calculation for a member who returns to
covered employment after retirement.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage during
the 2013 Regular Session of the Legislature by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board.
§16-5V-8a and §16-5V-35 are new; they have been completely
underscored.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.