Senate Bill No. 123
(By Senators Bailey, Kimble, Helmick, Fanning, Schoonover,
Ball, Chafin, Oliverio, Love, Ross, Sharpe, Walker and Bowman)
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[Introduced February 25, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article ten, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to the West Virginia public
employees retirement act; and military service credit being
considered as contributed service.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, 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.
§5-10-15. Military service credit.
Any member of the retirement system who entered or enters
the active service of the armed forces of the United States during any period of compulsory military service shall receive
credited contributing service credit for said time spent in the
armed forces of the United States, not to exceed five years if
such the member pays to the members' deposit fund the amount he
may have withdrawn therefrom, together with regular interest from
the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment. In any case of
doubt as to the period of contributing service to be so credited
a member, the board of trustees shall have has final power to
determine such the period. During the period of such armed
service and until his the employee's return to the employ of a
participating public employer, his the employee's contributions
to the retirement system shall be suspended and any balance
remaining to his the employee's credit in the members' deposit
fund shall be accumulated at regular interest.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to grant military service
credit up to five years towards contributing service for
computation of retirement benefits under the West Virginia.
Public Employees Retirement Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.