H. B. 2522
(By Delegates Spencer, Stemple, Duke,
Canterbury, Browning, Craig and Stephens)
[Introduced January 24, 2007; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §5-10D-6a, relating
to voluntary election by eligible public safety officers for
distributions from retirement plans for payment of qualified
health insurance premiums.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §5-10D-6a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10D. CONSOLIDATED PUBLIC RETIREMENT BOARD.
§5-10D-6a. Voluntary election by eligible retired public safety
officers to have amounts from eligible retirement
plan distributed to pay for qualified health
insurance premiums.
(a) Effective on or after the first day of January, two thousand seven, any eligible retired public safety officer who is
a participant or member under any eligible retirement plan
administered by the board, may voluntarily elect to have amounts
from an eligible retirement plan distributed in order to pay for
qualified health insurance premiums. Such election shall be made
in writing in a form and manner authorized by the board, and
shall be consistent with the provisions of Section 402(l)(6) of
the Internal Revenue Code as it may be amended from time to time.
(b) The definitions of the following terms contained in
Section 402(l)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, as it may be
amended from time to time, shall apply for purposes of this
section:
(1) "Eligible retirement plan";
(2)"Eligible retired public safety officer";
(3)"Public safety officer"; and
(4)"Qualified health insurance premiums."
(c) The amount which a participant or member may elect to
have distributed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall
not exceed three thousand dollars per taxable year of the
participant or member (or such other limitation amount as is
specified in Section 402(l)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, as
it may be amended or as the limitation may be adjusted from time
to time), and any amounts so elected to be distributed shall be
paid by the board directly to the provider in payment of the qualified health insurance premiums.
(d) For purposes of this section, all eligible retirement
plans administered by the board shall be treated as a single
plan.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to implement new
amendments of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 by authorizing
the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board to offer
tax-free distributions from governmental retirement plans to pay
premiums for health and long-term care insurance for public
safety officers.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.