Introduced Version
House Bill 4045 History
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H. B. 4045
(By Delegate Spencer)
[Introduced
January 14, 2008
; referred to the
Committee on
Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5-10C-3, §5-10C-4 and §5-10C-5 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
government employees retirement plans; adding the West
Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System to, and
clarifying that all other retirement systems administered by
the Consolidated Public Retirement Board are included in, the
definition of retirement systems for purposes of the employer
pick-up provisions; clarifying that all participating public
employers in retirement systems covered by this article are
included in the definition of participating public employer;
setting forth requirements for member contributions to be
picked up for federal tax purposes by participating public
employers in retirement systems covered by this article, in
accordance with revised guidance relating to same from the
Internal Revenue Service.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-10C-3, §5-10C-4 and §5-10C-5 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 10C. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT PLANS.
§5-10C-3. Definitions.
The following words and phrases as used in this article,
unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context,
have the following meanings:
(1) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all amounts
credited to a member's individual account in the members' deposit
fund and includes both contributions deducted from the compensation
of a member and contributions of a member picked up and paid by the
member's participating public employer, plus applicable interest
thereon.
(2) "Board of trustees" means, as appropriate: The board of
trustees of the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System
created in article ten, chapter five of this code; the retirement
board of the West Virginia department of public safety death,
disability and retirement fund created in section twenty-six,
article two, chapter fifteen of this code; the retirement board of
the state teachers and board of regents retirement system created
in article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code; the governing
board of the board of regents supplemental and additional retirement plans created in section four-a, article twenty-three,
chapter eighteen of this code; the retirement board of the judges'
retirement system created in article nine, chapter fifty-one of
this code; or the board of trustees of the firemen's and
policemen's pension and relief funds created in article twenty-two,
chapter eight of this code The Consolidated Public Retirement
Board created in article ten-d, chapter five of this code; the
Higher Education Policy Commission; the West Virginia Council for
Community and Technical College Education; the institutional
governing boards responsible for the higher education retirement
plan and supplemental retirement plan; or the boards of trustees of
the firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds created in
article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code.
(3) "Employee" means any person, whether appointed, elected,
or under contract, providing services for a public employer, for
which compensation is paid and who is a member of the applicable
retirement system.
(4) "Member" means any employee who is included person who has
accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in a
retirement system.
(5) "Member contributions" means, as appropriate: The
contributions required by section twenty-nine, article ten, chapter
five of this code, from employees who are members of the West
Virginia Public Employees Retirement System; the contributions required by section twenty-six, article two, chapter fifteen of
this code, from employees who are members of the West Virginia
department of public safety State Police Death, Disability and
Retirement Fund; the contributions required by section seven,
article fourteen-d, chapter seven of this code, from employees who
are members of the Deputy Sheriff Sheriff's Retirement System; the
contributions required by section fourteen, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of this code, from employees who are members of
the State Teachers Retirement System; the contributions authorized
or required by section fourteen-a, article seven-a, chapter
eighteen or by section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter
eighteen, from employees who are members of the West Virginia board
of regents retirement plans higher education retirement plan and
supplemental retirement plan; the contributions required by section
four, article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code, from employees
who are members of the Judges' Retirement System; or the
contributions required by section sixteen nineteen, article
twenty-two, chapter eight of this code, from employees who are
members of the municipal firemen's and policemen's pension and
relief funds; the contributions required by section nine, article
seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code, from employees who are
members of the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System;
the contributions required by section five, article two-a, chapter
fifteen of this code, from the employees who are members of the West Virginia State Police Retirement System; or the contributions
required by section eight, article five-v, chapter sixteen of this
code, from employees who are members of the West Virginia Emergency
Medical Services Retirement System.
(6) "Participating public employer" means the State of West
Virginia, any board, commission, department, institution or
spending unit, and shall include any agency with full-time
employees, created by rule of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which
for the purpose of this article shall be considered a department of
state government, and county boards of education with respect to
teachers employed by them; any political subdivision in the state
which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this
article, under the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement
System; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to
cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the deputy
sheriff retirement system; any political subdivision in the state
which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this
article, under the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System; and any political subdivision in this state
which is subject to the provisions of article twenty-two, chapter
eight of this code.
(7) "Political subdivision" means the State of West Virginia,
a county, city or town in the state; a school corporation or
corporate unit; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted
by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part
by counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law
with the performance of a governmental function and whose
jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or
towns, any agency or organization established by, or approved by
the division Department of Health and Human Resources for the
provision of community health or mental retardation services, and
which is supported in part by state, county or municipal funds.
(8) "Retirement system" means, as appropriate: The West
Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created in article ten,
chapter five of this code; the West Virginia department of public
safety State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund created
in sections twenty-six through thirty-eight, article two, chapter
fifteen of this code; the West Virginia Deputy sheriff Sheriff's
Retirement System created in article fourteen-d, chapter seven of
this code; the State Teachers Retirement System created in article
seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia Board of
Regents higher education retirement plans plan and supplemental
retirement plan created in section fourteen-a, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen and section four-a, article twenty-three, chapter
eighteen of this code; the Judges' Retirement System created in
article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code; or the firemen's or
policemen's pension and relief fund funds created in section sixteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code; the
Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System created in article
seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia State
Police Retirement System created in article two-a, chapter fifteen
of this code; or the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System created in article five-v, chapter sixteen of
this code.
(9) "Teacher" has the meaning ascribed to it in section three,
article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code.
§5-10C-4. Pick-up of members' contributions by participating
public employers.
(a) The State of West Virginia for its public employees and
county boards of education for its teachers shall pick-up and pay
the contributions which such the employees are required by law to
make to the retirement system in which they are a member for all
compensation earned by its member employees after the thirtieth day
of June, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six. Any political
subdivision that is a participating public employer in the West
Virginia Public Employees Retirement System shall pick-up and pay
the contributions which such the employees are required by law to
make to the retirement system in which they are members for all
compensation earned by its member employees after the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. Counties shall
pick-up and pay the contributions which such the employees are required by law to make to the deputy sheriff retirement system in
which they are members for all compensation earned by its member
employees after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight. Any election made by a political subdivision
to pick-up and pay employee contributions prior to the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, remains in effect
and is not altered or amended by the amendments made to this
section during the regular legislative session, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-five. Unless a different commencement date for
pick-up is specifically stated in this section, all participating
public employers under this article, with respect to retirement
systems subject to this article, shall pick-up and pay the
contributions which their employees are required by law to make to
the retirement system in which they are a member, from and after
the commencement of the required employee contributions.
(b) When the participating public employer picks up and pays
the contributions of its member employees, the contributions,
although designated by statute as employee contributions, shall be
treated as employer contributions in determining the tax treatment
thereof under article twenty-one, chapter eleven of this code, and
the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the
contributions shall not be included in the gross income of the
employee in determining his or her tax treatment under those
provisions until they are distributed or made available to the employee or his or her beneficiary. The participating public
employer shall pay these employee contributions from the same
source of funds used in paying compensation to the employee, by
effecting an equal cash reduction in the gross salary of the
employee, or by an off-set against future salary increases, or by
a combination of reduction in gross salary and off-set against
future salary increases. In no event shall any employee of a
participating public employer have the right to opt out of pick-up,
or to elect to receive the picked-up and contributed amounts
directly instead of having them paid by the participating public
employer into the retirement system pursuant to this article.
(c) When employee contributions are picked up and paid by the
participating public employer, they shall be treated by the board
of trustees in the same manner and to the same extent as employee
contributions made prior to the date on which employee
contributions are picked up by the participating public employer.
(d) The amount of employee contributions picked up by the
participating public employer shall be paid to the retirement
system in the manner and form, and in the frequency required by the
board of trustees and shall be accompanied by supporting data that
the board of trustees may prescribe. When paid to the retirement
system, each of these amounts shall be credited to the deposit fund
account of the member for whom the contribution was picked up and
paid by the participating public employer.
§5-10C-5. Savings clause.
In enacting this article, it is the intent of the Legislature
that the retirement plan created pursuant to this article and those
created pursuant to article ten, chapter five; article fourteen-d,
chapter seven; article two, chapter fifteen; article seven-a,
chapter eighteen; and article nine, chapter fifty-one; section
four-a, article twenty-three, chapter eighteen; section sixteen,
article twenty-two, chapter eight; article seven-b, chapter
eighteen; article two-a, chapter fifteen; and article five-v,
chapter sixteen of this code qualify under section 401 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1954 1986, as amended, and that the member
contributions picked up by the participating public employer
qualify under subsection (h), section 414 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1954 1986, as amended. Should the United States Internal
Revenue Service not approve of certain sections or phraseology of
certain sections of this article as being in compliance with the
statutes or rules governing the Internal Revenue Service, the
respective boards of trustees, in the adoption of the deferred
compensation plan, shall adopt such terminology with respect to
those sections as will comply therewith.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that all
retirement systems administered by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board are included for employer pick-up provisions for
federal tax purposes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.