H. B. 2215
(By Delegates Preece, Whitman, Dempsey,
Kominar and Tomblin)
[Introduced January 24, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement the Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-five, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to eligibility
for retirement under the state teachers retirement system
and providing that certain members may retire at any age
with full benefits if the member's age and years of service
total eighty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-five, article seven-a, chapter eighteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7A-25. Eligibility for retirement allowance.
(a) Any member who has attained the age of sixty years or
who has had thirty-five years of total service as a teacher in
West Virginia, regardless of age, shall be is eligible for an
annuity. No new entrant nor or present member shall be is
eligible for an annuity, however, if either he or she has less
than five years of service to his or her credit.
(b) Any member who has attained the age of fifty-five years
and who has served thirty years as a teacher in West Virginia
shall be is eligible for an annuity.
(c) Any member who has served at least thirty but less than
thirty-five years as a teacher in West Virginia and is less than
fifty-five years of age shall be is eligible for an annuity, but
the same shall be only for the reduced actuarial equivalent of
the annuity which the member would have received if such member
he or she were age fifty-five at the time such annuity was
applied for he or she applied for the annuity.
(d) Any active contributing member may retire without
reduction of benefits at any age if the sum of the member's age plus years of contributing service equals or exceeds eighty.
(e) The request for any annuity shall must be made by the
member in writing to the retirement board, but in case of
retirement for disability, the written request may be made by
either the member or the employer.
(f) A member shall be is eligible for an annuity for
disability if he or she satisfies the conditions in both (a) and
(b) subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection as follows:
(a) (1) His or her service as a teacher in West Virginia
must total at least ten years, and service as a teacher must have
been terminated because of disability, which disability must have
caused absence from service for at least six months before his or
her application for disability annuity is approved.
(b) (2) An examination by a physician or physicians selected
by the retirement board must show that the member is at the time
mentally or physically incapacitated for service as a teacher,
that for such service the disability is total and likely to be
permanent, and that he or she should be retired in consequence
thereof.
(g) Continuance of the disability of the retired teacher shall be established by medical examination, as prescribed in the
preceding paragraph, annually for five years after retirement,
and thereafter at such times as the retirement board may require.
Payment of the disability annuity provided in this article shall
cease immediately if the retirement board finds that the
disability of the retired teacher no longer exists, or if the
retired teacher refuses to submit to medical examination as
required by this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow contributing
members of the teachers retirement system to retire at any age
without a reduction in benefits if the sum of the member's age
and years of service equals or exceeds eighty.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.