Senate Bill No. 235
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, Jackson, Ross, Sharpe,
Blatnik, Plymale, Schoonover and Kimble)
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[Introduced February 1, 1995; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen, article ten,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to retirement
credit for former constables and justices of the peace;
requiring no more than a two thousand five hundred dollar
contribution from former justices of the peace and no more
than two thousand dollars for former constables; and
deleting requirement that former justices of the peace or
constables be current public employees in order to receive
the retirement credit.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen, article ten, 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 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-14. Service credit.
(a) The board of trustees shall credit each member with the
prior service and contributing service to which he or she is
entitled based upon such rules and regulations as the board of
trustees shall from time to time adopt: Provided, That in no
case shall less than ten days of service rendered by a member in
any calendar month be credited as a month of service; nor shall
less than ten months of service rendered in any calendar year be
credited as a year of service; nor shall more than one year of
service be credited any member for all service rendered by him or
her in any calendar year; nor shall any member who was not in the
employ of a political subdivision within a period of thirty years
immediately preceding the date the political subdivision became
a participating public employer be credited with prior service:
Provided, however, That said member is not required to have been
employed by a participating public employer of this state within
a period of fifteen years subsequent to the date that
participating public employer elected to become a participating employer.
(b) The board of trustees shall grant service credit to
employees of boards of health, the clerk of the House of
Delegates and the clerk of the state Senate, or to any former and
present member of the state teachers retirement system who have
been contributing members for more than three years, for service
previously credited by the state teachers retirement system and
shall require the transfer of the member's contributions to the
system and shall also require a deposit, with interest, of any
withdrawals of contributions any time prior to said member's
retirement. Repayment of withdrawals shall be as directed by the
board of trustees.
(c) Court reporters who are acting in an official capacity,
although paid by funds other than the county commission or state
auditor, may receive prior service credit for such time as served
in such this capacity.
(d) Employees of the state Legislature whose term of
employment is otherwise classified as temporary and who are
employed to perform services required by the Legislature for its
regular sessions or during the interim between regular sessions
and who have been or are so employed during regular sessions or during the interim between sessions for eight or more years, may
receive service credit for the time as served in that capacity.
(e) Former justices of the peace and constables who continue
to actively serve as employees or elected officials of state or
local governments that are participating public employers shall
be entitled to credit for retirement purposes for those years of
service as a justice of the peace or constable: Provided, That
they have a minimum of five years contributing service:
Provided, however, That former constables shall be required to
compensate the retirement fund in an amount of two thousand
dollars and former justices of the peace shall be required to
compensate the retirement fund in an amount of two thousand five
hundred dollars: Provided further, That former constables and
justices of the peace shall have until the thirtieth day of June,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, to make the contribution
required herein. and they compensate the retirement fund in an
amount equal to the amount which they would have contributed for
a like period of time, according to a formula determined by the
retirement board, plus an amount equal to the determined
employer's contribution for the same period For purposes of
calculating the contributions retirement benefit, the salary for constables shall be deemed to be five thousand dollars per year
and the salary for justices of the peace shall be deemed to be
seven thousand five hundred dollars per year. In addition, they
shall deposit the compounded yearly interest on the aggregate of
the employee and employer contributions at a rate or rates to be
determined by the retirement board: Provided, however, That
those former justices of the peace and constables who elect to
seek credit under this subsection shall be allowed until the
thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, to
compensate the retirement fund as provided herein.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow former
constables and justices of the peace to receive the currently
provided for retirement credit without having to contribute more
than $2000 and $2,500 respectively. The bill also deletes the
current requirement that former constables and justices of the
peace must still be working in public employment to receive the
credit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.