H. B. 3157
(By Delegate Stalnaker)
[Introduced March 23, 2005; Referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then the Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-7B-11 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to directing the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board to propose rules; providing that
forfeited amounts are paid directly to employer where a
participating employer no longer contributes
to fund; and
providing for retroactive employer contributions to the
Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System where a
member serves in the Legislature.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-7B-11 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7B. TEACHERS' DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7B-11. Termination of membership.
(a) Any member whose employment with a participating employer
terminates after the completion of six complete years of employment service shall be eligible to terminate his or her annuity account
and receive a distribution from the member's annuity account, in an
amount equal to the member's contribution plus one third of the
employer contributions and any earnings thereon. Any member whose
employment with a participating employer terminates after the
completion of nine complete years of employment service shall be
eligible to terminate his or her annuity account and receive a
distribution from the member's annuity account, in an amount equal
to the member's contribution plus two thirds of the employer's
contributions and any earnings thereon. Any member whose
employment with a participating employer terminates after the
completion of twelve complete years of employment service shall be
eligible to terminate his or her annuity account and receive a
distribution of all funds contributed and accumulated in his or her
annuity account. Any member whose employment with a participating
employer terminates prior to the completion of six complete years
of employment service shall be eligible to terminate his or her
annuity account and receive a distribution from the member's
annuity account, in an amount equal to the member's contribution
plus any earnings thereon: Provided, That on the death or
permanent, total disability of any member, that member shall be
eligible to terminate his or her annuity account and receive all
funds contributed to or accumulated in his or her annuity account.
(b) (1) Upon termination of employment, regardless of whether the member has taken a distribution of all or a portion of his or
her vested account, the The remaining balance, if any, in the
member's employer account after the distribution that is not vested
shall be remitted and paid into a suspension account, hereby
created, to be administered by the Board. The Board shall
promulgate propose rules for legislative approval in accordance
with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code rules
regarding the distribution of any balance in the special account
created by this section: Provided, That any funds in the account
shall be used solely for the purpose of reducing employer
contributions in future years.
(2) Any account balances remitted to the suspension account
herein shall be maintained by the Board in said the suspension
account in the name of the terminated employee for a period of five
years following initial remittance to the suspension account the
member's termination of employment. For each said terminated
employee at the culmination of the aforesaid five-year period, the
Board shall certify in writing to each contributing employer the
amount of the account balances balance plus earnings thereon
attributable to each separate contributing employers employer's
previously terminated employees' accounts which have employee's
account which has been irrevocably forfeited due to the elapse of
a five-year period since termination pursuant to section sixteen of
this article.
(c) Upon certification to the several contributing employers
of the aggregate account balances plus earnings thereon which have
been irrevocably forfeited pursuant to this section, the several
contributing employers shall be permitted in the next succeeding
fiscal year or years to reduce their total aggregate contribution
requirements pursuant to section seventeen of this article, for the
then current fiscal year by an amount equal to the aggregate
amounts irrevocably forfeited and certified as such to each
contributing employer: Provided, That should the participating
employer no longer be contributing to the defined contribution
system, any funds in the account shall be paid directly to the
employer.
(d) Upon the utilization use of the amounts irrevocably
forfeited to any contributing employer as a reduction in the then
current fiscal year contribution obligation and upon notification
provided by the several contributing employers to the Board of
their intention to utilize use irrevocably forfeited amounts, the
Board shall direct the distribution of said the irrevocably
forfeited amounts from the suspension account to be deposited on
behalf of the contributing employer to the member annuity accounts
of its then current employees pursuant to section seventeen of this
article: Provided, That notwithstanding any provision of this
article to the contrary, when a member is or has been elected to
serve as a member of the Legislature, and the proper discharge of his or her duties of public office require requires that member to
be absent from his or her teaching, nonteaching or administrative
duties, the time served in discharge of his or her duties of the
legislative office are credited as time served for purposes of
computing service credit, regardless when this time was served:
Provided, however, That the Board may not require any additional
contributions from that member in order for the Board to credit him
or her with the contributing service credit earned while
discharging official legislative duties: Provided further, That
nothing herein may be construed to relieve the employer from making
the employer contribution at the member's regular salary rate or
rate of pay from that employer on the contributing service credit
earned while the member is discharging his or her official
legislative duties. These employer payments shall commence as of
the first day of July, two thousand three one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four: And provided further, That any member to which the
provisions of this subsection apply may elect to pay to the Board
an amount equal to what his or her contribution would have been for
those periods of time he or she was serving in the Legislature.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to
direct the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board to propose rules. The bill also provides
that forfeited amounts are paid directly to employer where a
participating employer no longer contributes
to fund and further
provides for retroactive employer contributions to the Teachers'
Defined Contribution Retirement System where a member serves in the
Legislature.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.