Senate Bill No. 128
(By Senators Love and Schoonover)
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[Introduced February 26, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article sixteen,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to public employees
insurance; payment of costs by employer and employee;
coverage for employee's spouse and dependents; short term
continuance of coverage for involuntary employee
termination; extended insurance coverage for retired
employees with accrued annual leave and sick leave;
increased retirement benefits for retired employees with
accrued annual and sick leave; additional eligible retired
employees; option for health insurance coverage without life
insurance coverage made available to retirees; and extended
insurance coverage for surviving spouse and dependents of
participating and retired employees with accrued annual leave and sick leave.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article sixteen, 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 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-13. Payment of costs by employer and employee; coverage for employee's spouse and dependents generally; short term continuance of coverage for involuntary employee termination; extended insurance coverage for retired employees with accrued annual leave and sick leave; increased retirement benefits for retired employees with accrued annual and sick leave; additional eligible retired employees; option for health insurance coverage without life insurance coverage made available to retirees; health insurance for surviving dependents of deceased employees.
(a) The director is hereby authorized to provide under any
contract or contracts entered into under the provisions of this
article that the costs of any such group hospital and surgical
insurance, group major medical insurance, group prescription drug insurance, group life and accidental death insurance benefit plan
or plans may be paid by the employer and employee. In addition,
each employee shall be entitled to have his or her spouse and
dependents, as defined by the rules of the public employees
insurance agency, included in any group hospital and surgical
insurance, group major medical insurance or group prescription
drug insurance coverage:
Provided, That such spouse and
dependent coverage shall be limited to excess or secondary
coverage for each spouse and dependent who has primary coverage
from any other source. For purposes of this section, the term
"primary coverage" means individual or group hospital and
surgical insurance coverage or individual or group major medical
insurance coverage or group prescription drug coverage in which
the spouse or dependent is the named insured or certificate
holder. The director may require proof regarding spouse and
dependent primary coverage and shall adopt rules governing the
nature, discontinuance and resumption of any employee's coverage
for his or her spouse and dependents.
(b) Should a participating employee be terminated from
employment involuntarily or in reduction of work force, the
employee's insurance coverage provided under this article shall
continue for a period of three months at no additional cost to
the employee. An employee discharged for misconduct
shall mayis not be eligible for extended benefits under this section.
Coverage may be extended up to the maximum period of three
months, while administrative remedies contesting the charge of
misconduct are pursued. If the discharge for misconduct be
upheld, the full cost of the extended coverage shall be
reimbursed by the employee. If the employee is again employed or
recalled to active employment within twelve months of his or her
prior termination, he or she
shall may not be considered a new
enrollee and
shall may not be required to again contribute his or
her share of the premium cost, if he or she had already fully
contributed such share during the prior period of employment.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (f)
of this
section, for higher education full-time faculty employed on an
annual contract basis other than for twelve months, when a
participating employee, who has elected to participate in the
plan before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-eight, is compelled or required by law to retire before
reaching the age of sixty-five, or when a participating employee
voluntarily retires as provided by law, that employee's accrued
annual leave and sick leave, if any, shall be credited toward an
extension of the insurance coverage provided by this article,
according to the following formulae:
Such The insurance coverage
for a retired employee shall continue one additional month for every two days of annual leave or sick leave, or both, which the
employee had accrued as of the effective date of his or her
retirement. For a retired employee, his or her spouse and
dependents,
such the insurance coverage shall continue one
additional month for every three days of annual leave or sick
leave, or both, which the employee had accrued as of the
effective date of his or her retirement:
Provided, That upon
the death of the participating employee or the retired employee,
any accrued annual leave and sick leave of the deceased shall be
credited toward an extension of the insurance coverage for the
surviving spouse and dependents as provided by this subsection.
(d) Notwithstanding the preceding subsection, except as
otherwise provided in subsection (f)
of this section, for higher
education full-time faculty employed on an annual contract basis
other than for twelve months, when a participating employee who
elects to participate in the plan on and after the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, is compelled or
required by law to retire before reaching the age of sixty-five,
or when such a participating employee voluntarily retires as
provided by law, that employee's annual leave or sick leave, if
any, shall be credited toward one half of the premium cost of the
insurance provided by this article, for periods and scope of
coverage determined according to the following formulae: (1) One additional month of single retiree coverage for every two days of
annual leave or sick leave, or both, which the employee had
accrued as of the effective date of his or her retirement; or (2)
one additional month of coverage for a retiree, his or her spouse
and dependents for every three days of annual leave or sick
leave, or both, which the employee had accrued as of the
effective date of his or her retirement:
Provided, That upon the
death of the participating employee or the retired employee, a
maximum of thirty days accrued annual leave and sick leave of the
deceased shall be credited toward an extension of the insurance
coverage for the surviving spouse and dependents as provided by
this subsection. The remaining premium cost shall be borne by
such the retired employee if he or she elects
such the coverage.
For purposes of this subsection, an employee who has been a
participant under spouse or dependent coverage and who reenters
the plan within twelve months after termination of his or her
prior coverage shall be considered to have elected to participate
in the plan as of the date of commencement of the prior coverage.
For purposes of this subsection, an employee
shall may not be
considered a new employee after returning from extended
authorized leave on or after the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-eight.
(e) In the alternative to the extension of insurance coverage through premium payment provided in the two preceding
subsections, the participating employee's accrued annual leave
and sick leave may be applied, on the basis of two days
retirement service credit for each one day of accrued annual and
sick leave, toward an increase in the employee's retirement
benefits with
such the days constituting additional credited
service in computation of
such the benefits under any state
retirement system. However,
such the credited service
shall may
not be used in meeting initial eligibility for retirement
criteria, but only as additional service credited in excess
thereof.
(f) When a participating employee, who is a higher education
full-time faculty member employed on an annual contract basis
other than for twelve months, is compelled or required by law to
retire before reaching the age of sixty-five, or when such a
participating employee voluntarily retires as provided by law,
that employee's insurance coverage, as provided by this article,
shall be extended according to the following formulae:
Such The
insurance coverage for a retired higher education full-time
faculty member, formerly employed on an annual contract basis
other than for twelve months, shall continue beyond the effective
date of his or her retirement one additional year for each three
and one-third years of teaching service, as determined by uniform guidelines established by the university of West Virginia board
of trustees and the board of directors of the state college
system, for individual coverage, or one additional year for each
five years of teaching service for "family" coverage.
(g) Any employee who retired prior to the twenty-first day
of April, one thousand nine hundred seventy-two, and who also
otherwise meets the conditions of the "retired employee"
definition in section two of this article, shall be eligible for
insurance coverage under the same terms and provisions of this
article. The retired employee's premium contribution for any
such coverage shall be established by the finance board.
(h) All retirees under the provisions of this article,
including those defined in section two of this article; those
retiring prior to the twenty-first day of April, one thousand
nine hundred seventy-two; and those hereafter retiring shall be
eligible for and permitted to obtain health insurance coverage.
The retired employee's premium contribution for any such coverage
shall be established by the finance board.
(i) A surviving spouse and dependents of a deceased
employee, who was either an active or retired employee just prior
to such decease, shall be entitled to be included in any group
insurance coverage provided under this article, and such spouse
and dependents shall bear the premium cost of such insurance coverage. The finance board shall establish the premium cost of
any such coverage.
(j) (i) In construing the provisions of this section or any
other provisions of this code, the Legislature declares that it
is not now nor has it ever been the Legislature's intent that
elected public officials be provided any sick leave, annual leave
or personal leave, and the enactment of this section is based
upon the fact and assumption that no statutory or inherent
authority exists extending sick leave, annual leave or personal
leave to elected public officials and the very nature of such
positions preclude the arising or accumulation of such, so as to
be thereafter usable as premium paying credits for which
such the
officials may claim extended insurance benefits.
(k) (j) An employee, eligible for coverage under the
provisions of this article who has twenty years of service with
any agency or entity participating in the public employees
insurance program or who has been covered by the public employees
insurance program for twenty years may, upon leaving employment
with a participating agency or entity, continue to be covered by
the program if the employee pays one hundred and five percent of
the cost of retiree coverage:
Provided, That the employee shall
elect to continue coverage under this subsection within two years
of the date the employment with a participating agency or entity is terminated.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to credit the surviving
spouse and dependents with the accrued annual and sick leave of
the deceased participating or retired public employee for the
purpose of extended insurance coverage.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.