H. B. 4163
(By Delegate Martin)
[Introduced January 26, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article nine, chapter
fifty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to clarifying
meaning of "prior military service credit" for members of
judicial retirement system, and to credit time spent as
governor's counsel under certain circumstances.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article nine, chapter fifty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR JUDGES OF COURTS OF RECORD.
§51-9-6. Eligibility for and payment of benefits.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in sections five, twelve
and thirteen of this article, and subject to the provisions of
subsection (e) of this section, any person who is now serving, or
who shall hereafter serve, as a judge of any court of record of
this state and shall have served as such judge for a period of
not less than sixteen full years and shall have reached the age
of sixty-five years, or who has served as judge of such court or
of that court and other courts of record of the state for a
period of sixteen full years or more (whether continuously or not
and whether said service be entirely before or after this article
became effective, or partly before and partly after said date,
and whether or not said judge shall be in office on the date he
or she shall become eligible to benefits hereunder) and shall
have reached the age of sixty-five years, or who is now serving,
or who shall hereafter serve, as a judge of any court of record
of this state and shall have served as such judge for a period of
not less than twenty-four full years, regardless of age, shall,
upon a determination and certification of his or her eligibility
as provided in section nine hereof, be paid from the fund annual
retirement benefits, so long as he or she shall live, in an
amount equal to seventy-five percent of the annual salary of the office from which he or she has retired based upon such salary of
such office and as such salary may be changed from time to time
during the period of his or her retirement and the amount of his
or her retirement benefits shall be based upon and be equal to
seventy-five percent of the highest annual salary of such office
for any one calendar year during the period of his or her
retirement, and shall be payable in monthly installments:
Provided, That such retirement benefits shall be paid only after
such judge has resigned as such or for any reason other than his
or her impeachment, his or her service as such has ended:
Provided, however, That every such person seeking to retire and
to receive the annual retirement benefits provided by this
subsection must have served a minimum of twelve years as a
sitting judge of any such court of record.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
any person who is now serving or who shall hereafter serve as a
judge of any court of record of this state and who shall have
accumulated sixteen years or more of credited service, at least
twelve years of which is as a sitting judge of a court of record,
and who has attained the age of sixty-two years or more but less than the age of sixty-five years may elect to retire from his or
her office and to receive the pension to which he or she would
otherwise be entitled to receive at age sixty-five, but with an
actuarial reduction of pension benefit to be established as a
reduced annuity receivable throughout retirement. The reduced
percentage (less than seventy-five percent) actuarially computed,
determined and established at time of retirement in respect of
this reduced pension benefit shall also continue and be
applicable to any subsequent new annual salary set for the office
from which such judge has retired and as such salary may be
changed from time to time during the period of his or her
retirement.
(c) In determining eligibility for the benefits provided by
this section, active full-time duty of at least one thousand
forty hours or at least one hundred twenty days per calendar year
(including leaves and furloughs) in the armed forces of the
United States shall be eligible for qualification as credited
military service for the purposes of this article by any judge
with twelve or more years actual service as a sitting judge of a
court of record, such awardable military service to not exceed
five years.
(d) If a judge of a court of record who is presently sitting
as such on the effective date of the amendments to this section
enacted by the Legislature at its regular session held in the
year one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, and who has served
for a period of not less than twelve full years and has made
payments into the judges' retirement fund as provided in this
article for each month during which he or she served as judge,
following the effective date of this section, any portion of time
which he or she had served as governor's counsel or as
prosecuting attorney in any county in this state shall qualify as
years of service, if such judge shall pay those sums required to
be paid pursuant to the provisions of section four of this
article: Provided, That any term of office as prosecuting
attorney, or part thereof, commencing after the thirty-first day
of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, shall not
hereafter in any way qualify as eligible years of service under
this retirement system.
(e) Any retirement benefit accruing under the provisions of
this section shall not be paid if otherwise barred under the
provisions of article ten-a, chapter five of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the meaning of
"prior military service credit" for members of the judicial
retirement system, and to credit time spent as governor's counsel
under certain circumstances.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.