H. B. 2381
(By Delegate Williams, By Request)
[Introduced February 7, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article sixteen, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to eliminating the
requirement that elected officials work regularly full time
for a county, city or town in order to be eligible for
coverage under the public employees insurance act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, 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.
§5-16-2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases as used in this article,
unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context,
shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Advisory board" means the public employees insurance
agency advisory board created by this article.
(2) "Agency" means the public employees insurance agency
created by this article.
(3) "Director" means the director of the public employees
insurance agency created by this article.
(4) "Employee" means any person, including an elected
officers officer, who works regularly full time in the service of
the state of West Virginia and, for the purpose of this article
only, the term "employee" also means any person, including an
elected officers officer, who works regularly full time in the
service of a county board of education; 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; 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; any comprehensive community mental health center
or comprehensive mental retardation facility established,
operated or licensed by the secretary of health and human
resources pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter
twenty-seven of this code, and which is supported in part by
state, county or municipal funds; any person who works regularly
full time in the service of the university of West Virginia board
of trustees or the board of directors of the state college
system; and any person who works regularly full time in the
service of a combined city-county health department created
pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code. Any
matters of doubt as to who is an employee within the meaning of
this article shall be decided by the director.
(5) "Employer" means the state of West Virginia, its boards,
agencies, commissions, departments, institutions or spending
units; a county board of education; 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; 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; any comprehensive community mental health center or
comprehensive mental retardation facility established, operated
or licensed by the secretary of health and human resources
pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-seven of
this code, and which is supported in part by state, county or
municipal funds; and a combined city-county health department
created pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code.
Any matters of doubt as to who is an "employer" within the
meaning of this article shall be decided by the director. The
term "employer" shall not include within its meaning the national
guard.
(6) "Finance board" means the public employees insurance
agency finance board created by this article.
(7) "Retired employee" shall mean an employee of the state
who retired after the twenty-ninth day of April, one thousand
nine hundred seventy-one, and an employee of the university of West Virginia board of trustees or the board of directors of the
state college system or a county board of education who retires
on or after the twenty-first day of April, one thousand nine
hundred seventy-two, and all additional eligible employees who
retire on or after the effective date of this article and meet
the minimum eligibility requirements for their respective state
retirement system: Provided, That for the purposes of this
article such employees who are not covered by a state retirement
system shall, in the case of education employees, meet the
minimum eligibility requirements of the state teachers retirement
system, and in all other cases, meet the minimum eligibility
requirements of the public employees retirement system.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the
requirement that certain persons work "regularly and full time"
in order to be eligible for coverage under the public employees
insurance act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.