Senate Bill No. 425
(By Senators Foster, Dempsey and Unger)
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[Introduced March 2, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §7-14D-5, §7-14D-7 and §7-14D-13 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to the
Deputy Sheriff Retirement System; concurrent contributions by
members and employers; credit for nondeputy sheriff service in
the Public Employees Retirement System prior to transfer; and
treatment of withdrawals not repaid prior to transfer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §7-14D-5, §7-14D-7 and §7-14D-13 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 14D. DEPUTY SHERIFF RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§7-14D-5. Members.
(a) Any deputy sheriff first employed by a county in covered
employment after the effective date of this article shall be a
member of this retirement system and plan and does not qualify for
membership in any other retirement system administered by the Board
so long as he or she remains employed in covered employment.
(b) Any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on the
effective date of this article shall within six months of that
effective date notify in writing both the county commission in the
county in which he or she is employed and the Board of his or her
desire to become a member of the plan:
Provided, That this time
period is extended to the thirtieth day of January, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-nine, in accordance with the decision of the
Supreme Court of Appeals in
West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs'
Association, et al v. James L. Sims, et al, No. 25212:
Provided,
however, That any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on
the effective date of this article has an additional time period
consisting of the ten-day period following the day after which the
amended provisions of this section become law to notify in writing
both the county commission in the county in which he or she is
employed and the Board of his or her desire to become a member of
the plan. Any deputy sheriff who elects to become a member of the
plan ceases to be a member or have any credit for covered
employment in any other retirement system administered by the Board
and shall continue to be ineligible for membership in any other
retirement system administered by the Board so long as the deputy
sheriff remains employed in covered employment in this plan:
Provided further, That any deputy sheriff who elects during the time period from the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-eight, to the thirtieth day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, or who so elects during the ten-day time
period occurring immediately following the day after the day the
amendments made during the one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine
legislative session become law, to transfer from the Public
Employees Retirement System to the plan created in this article
shall contribute to the plan created in this article at the rate
set forth in section seven of this article retroactive to the first
day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. Any deputy
sheriff who does not affirmatively elect to become a member of the
plan continues to be eligible for any other retirement system as is
from time to time offered to other county employees but is
ineligible for this plan regardless of any subsequent termination
of employment and rehire.
(c) Any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on the
effective date of this article who has timely elected to transfer
into this plan as provided in subsection (b) of this section shall
be given credited service at the time of transfer for all credited
service then standing to the deputy sheriff's service credit in the
Public Employees Retirement System regardless of whether the
credited service (as that term is defined in section two, article
ten, chapter five of this code) was earned as a deputy sheriff.
All the credited service standing to the transferring deputy sheriff's credit in the Public Employees Retirement System at the
time of transfer into this plan shall be transferred into the plan
created by this article, and the transferring deputy sheriff shall
be given the same credit for the purposes of this article for all
service transferred from the Public Employees Retirement System as
that transferring deputy sheriff would have received from the
Public Employees Retirement System as if the transfer had not
occurred. In connection with each transferring deputy sheriff
receiving credit for prior employment as provided in this
subsection, a transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System
to this plan shall be made pursuant to the procedures described in
section eight of this article: Provided, That a member of this
plan who has elected to transfer from the Public Employees
Retirement System into this plan pursuant to subsection (b) of this
section may not, after having transferred into and become an active
member of this plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan
any service credit relating to periods of nondeputy sheriff service
which were withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System
prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(c) (d) Any deputy sheriff who was employed as a deputy
sheriff prior to the effective date
of this article, but was not
employed as a deputy sheriff on the effective date of this article,
shall become a member upon rehire as a deputy sheriff. For
purposes of this
section subsection, the member's years of service and credited service
in the Public Employees Retirement System
prior to the effective date
of this article shall not be counted
for any purposes under this plan unless: (1) The deputy sheriff
has not received the return of his or her accumulated contributions
in the Public Employees Retirement
fund System pursuant to section
thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code; or (2) the
accumulated contributions returned to the member from the Public
Employees Retirement System have been repaid pursuant to section
thirteen of this article. If the conditions of subdivision (1) or
(2) of this subsection are met, all years of the deputy sheriff's
covered employment shall be counted as years of service for the
purposes of this article.
Each transferring deputy sheriff shall
be given credited service for the purposes of this article for all
covered employment transferred from the public employees retirement
system regardless of whether the credited service (as that term is
defined in section two, article ten, chapter five of this code) was
earned as a deputy sheriff. All service in the public employees
retirement system accrued by a transferring deputy sheriff shall be
transferred into the plan created by this article and the
transferring deputy sheriff shall be given the same credit for the
purposes of this article for all covered service which is
transferred from the public employees retirement system as that
transferring deputy sheriff would have received from the public
employees retirement system if the transfer had not occurred. In connection with each deputy sheriff receiving credit for prior
employment provided in this subsection, a transfer from public
employees retirement system to this plan shall be made pursuant to
the procedures described in section eight of this article.
(d) (e) Once made, the election made under this section is
irrevocable. All deputy sheriffs first employed after the
effective date and deputy sheriffs electing to become members as
described in this section shall be members as a condition of
employment and shall make the contributions required by section
seven of this article.
(e) (f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
any individual who is a leased employee shall not be eligible to
participate in the plan. For purposes of this plan, a "leased
employee" means any individual who performs services as an
independent contractor or pursuant to an agreement with an employee
leasing organization or similar organization. If a question arises
regarding the status of an individual as a leased employee, the
board has final power to decide the question.
§7-14D-7. 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.
Any active member who has
concurrent employment in an additional job or jobs and the
additional employment requires the deputy sheriff 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 a deputy
sheriff 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 deputy sheriff to be a member of
another retirement which is administered by the consolidated public
retirement board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this
code. An additional amount shall be paid to the Fund by the county
commission of the county 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 contributions provided
for in this
section, to be paid by the county commission, exceed ten and
one-half percent of the total payroll for the members in the employ
of the county commission for the preceding fiscal year. If the
Board finds that the benefits provided by this article can be
actually funded with a lesser contribution, then the Board shall
reduce the required member or employer contributions or both. The
sums withheld each calendar month shall be paid to the Fund no
later than
ten fifteen days following the end of the calendar
month.
(b) Any active member who has concurrent employment in an
additional job or jobs and the additional employment requires the
deputy sheriff 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 make an
additional contribution to the Fund of eight and one-half percent
of his or her monthly salary earned from any additional employment
which requires the deputy sheriff to be a member of another
retirement which is administered by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board pursuant to said article. An additional amount
shall be paid to the Fund by the concurrent employer for which the
member is employed in an amount determined by the board: Provided,
That in no year may the total of the contributions provided in this
section, to be paid by the concurrent employer, exceed ten and
one-half percent of the monthly salary of the employee. If the
board finds that the benefits provided by this article can be
actually funded with a lesser contribution, then the board shall
reduce the required member or employer contributions or both. The
sums withheld each calendar month shall be paid to the Fund no
later than fifteen days following the end of the calendar month.
§7-14D-13. Refunds to certain members upon discharge or
resignation; deferred retirement; forfeitures.
(a) Any member who terminates covered employment and is not
eligible to receive disability benefits under this article is, by
written request filed with the Board, entitled to receive from the
Fund the member's accumulated contributions. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, upon withdrawal the member shall
forfeit his or her accrued benefit and cease to be a member.
(b) Any member
of this plan who
withdraws accumulated
contributions from either this plan or the public employees
retirement system and thereafter becomes reemployed ceases
employment in covered employment and active participation in this
plan and who thereafter becomes reemployed in covered employment
shall not receive any credited service for
any prior withdrawn
accumulated contributions from either this plan or the Public
Employees Retirement System relating to the prior
covered
employment unless following his or her return to covered employment
and active participation in this plan, the member redeposits in
the
fund this plan the amount of the
withdrawn accumulated
contributions submitted on salary earned while a deputy sheriff,
together with interest on the accumulated contributions at the rate
determined by the Board from the date of withdrawal to the date of
redeposit. Upon repayment he or she shall receive the same credit
on account of his or her former service
in covered employment as if
no refund had been made. The repayment
authorized by this
subsection shall be made in a lump sum within sixty months of the
deputy sheriff's reemployment
in covered employment or if later,
within sixty months of the effective date of this article.
(c) A member of this plan who has elected to transfer from the
Public Employees Retirement System into this plan pursuant to subsection (b), section five of this article may not, after having
transferred into and become an active member of this plan,
reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service credit
relating to periods of nondeputy sheriff service which were
withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System plan prior to
his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(c) (d) Every member who completes sixty months of covered
employment is eligible, upon cessation of covered employment, to
either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions in accordance
with subsection (a) of this section or to choose not to withdraw
his or her accumulated contribution and to receive retirement
income payments upon attaining normal retirement age.
(d) (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
forfeitures under the plan shall not be applied to increase the
benefits any member would otherwise receive under the plan.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify concurrent
contributions by members and employers; to establish that all
Public Employees Retirement System service credit was transferred
into the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System at its creation; and to
clarify that a member may reinstate previously withdrawn covered
employment pursuant to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement Plan.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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