H. B. 2390
(By Delegate Michael)
[Introduced February 13, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-7A-17 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to allowing the purchase of service
credit in the State Teachers' Retirement System for temporary
employment under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
(CETA); and specifying the cost of the service credit
purchased.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-7A-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7A. STATE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7A-17. Statement and computation of teachers' service;
qualified military service.
(a) Under rules adopted by the retirement board, each teacher
shall file a detailed statement of his or her length of service as
a teacher for which he or she claims credit. The retirement board shall determine what part of a year is
the equivalent
of a year of
service. In computing the service, however, it shall credit no
period of more than a month's duration during which a member was
absent without pay, nor
shall it credit for more than one year of
service performed in any calendar year.
(b) For the purpose of this article, the retirement board
shall grant prior service credit to new entrants and other members
of the retirement system for service in any of the Armed Forces of
the United States in any period of national emergency
within which
a federal Selective Service Act was in effect. For purposes of
this section, "Armed Forces" includes Women's Army Corps, women's
appointed volunteers for emergency service, Army Nurse Corps,
SPARS, Women's Reserve and other similar units officially parts of
the military service of the United States. The military service is
considered equivalent to public school teaching, and the salary
equivalent for each year of that service is the actual salary of
the member as a teacher for his or her first year of teaching after
discharge from military service. Prior service credit for military
service shall not exceed ten years for any one member, nor shall it
exceed twenty-five percent of total service at the time of
retirement. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this
subsection, contributions, benefits and service credit
with respect
to qualified military service shall be provided in accordance with
Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes of this section, "qualified military service" has the same meaning as
in
Section 414(u) of the Internal Revenue Code. The retirement board
is authorized to
determine all questions and make all decisions
relating to this section and, pursuant to the authority granted to
the retirement board in section one, article ten-d, chapter five
of this code, may promulgate rules relating to contributions,
benefits and service credit to comply with Section 414(u) of the
Internal Revenue Code. No military service credit may be used in
more than one retirement system administered by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board.
(c) For service as a teacher in the employment of the federal
government, or a state or territory of the United States, or a
governmental subdivision of that state or territory, the retirement
board shall grant credit to the member,
Provided, That if the
member shall pay to the system double the amount he or she
contributed during the first full year of current employment, times
the number of years for which credit is granted, plus interest
at
a rate to be determined by the retirement board. The interest
shall be deposited in the reserve fund and service credit granted
at the time of retirement shall not exceed the lesser of ten years
or fifty percent of the member's total service as a teacher in West
Virginia. Any transfer of out-of-state service, as provided in
this article, shall not be used to establish eligibility for a
retirement allowance and the retirement board shall grant credit for the transferred service as additional service only.
Provided,
however, That However, a transfer of out-of-state service is
prohibited if the service is used to obtain a retirement benefit
from another retirement system.
Provided further, That In
addition, salaries paid to members for service prior to entrance
into the retirement system shall not be used to compute the average
final salary of the member under the retirement system.
(d) Service credit for members or retired members shall not be
denied on the basis of minimum income rules promulgated by the
Teachers' Retirement Board,
Provided, That if the member or retired
member shall pay to the system the amount he or she would have
contributed during the year or years of public school service for
which credit was denied as a result of the minimum income rules of
the Teachers Retirement Board.
(e) No members shall be considered absent from service while
serving as a member or employee of the Legislature of the State of
West Virginia during any duly constituted session of that body or
while serving as an elected member of a county commission during
any duly constituted session of that body.
(f) No member shall be considered absent from service as a
teacher while serving as an officer with a statewide professional
teaching association, or who has served in that capacity, and no
retired teacher, who served in that capacity while a member, shall
be considered to have been absent from service as a teacher by reason of that service.
Provided, That However, the period of
service credit granted for that service shall not exceed ten years,
Provided, however, if that a member or retired teacher who is
serving or has served as an officer of a statewide professional
teaching association shall make deposits to the Teachers Retirement
Board, for the time of any absence, in an amount double the amount
which he or she would have contributed in his or her regular
assignment for a like period of time.
(g) The Teachers Retirement Board shall grant service credit
to any former or present member of the West Virginia Public
Employees Retirement System who has been a contributing member for
more than three years, for service previously credited by the
Public Employees Retirement System and: (1) Shall require the
transfer of the member's contributions to the Teachers Retirement
System; or (2) shall require a repayment of the amount withdrawn
any time prior to the member's retirement.
Provided, That There
shall be added by the member to the amounts transferred or repaid
under this subsection an amount which shall be sufficient to equal
the contributions he or she would have made had the member been
under the Teachers Retirement System during the period of his or
her membership in the Public Employees Retirement System plus
interest at a rate to be determined by the board compounded
annually from the date of withdrawal to the date of payment. The
interest paid shall be deposited in the reserve fund.
(h) For service as a teacher in an elementary or secondary
parochial school, located within this state and fully accredited by
the West Virginia Department of Education, the retirement board
shall grant credit to the member,
Provided, That if the member
shall pay to the system double the amount contributed during the
first full year of current employment, times the number of years
for which credit is granted, plus interest at a rate to be
determined by the retirement board. The interest shall be
deposited in the reserve fund and service granted at the time of
retirement shall not exceed the lesser of ten years or fifty
percent of the member's total service as a teacher in the West
Virginia public school system. Any transfer of parochial school
service, as provided in this section, may not be used to establish
eligibility for a retirement allowance and the board shall grant
credit for the transfer as additional service only.
Provided,
however, That However, a transfer of parochial school service is
prohibited if the service is used to obtain a retirement benefit
from another retirement system.
(i)
Active members who previously worked For previous
temporary employment in CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training
Act)
may receive the retirement board shall grant service credit
for time served in that capacity.
Provided, That In order to
receive service credit under
the provisions of this subsection the
following conditions must be met: (1)
The member must have moved from temporary employment with the participating employer to
permanent full-time employment with the participating employer
within one hundred twenty days following the termination of the
member's CETA employment; (2) The board must receive evidence that
establishes to a reasonable degree of certainty as determined by
the board that the
member former temporary employee previously
worked in CETA; and
(3) (2) the
member former temporary employee
shall pay to the board an amount equal to
what the employer and
employee contribution
would have been had the former temporary
employee been a member during the time period of his or her
temporary employment in CETA plus interest at the amount set by the
board for the amount of service credit sought pursuant to this
subsection.
Provided, however, That However, the maximum service
credit that may be obtained under the provisions of this subsection
is two years.
Provided further, That a member must apply and pay
for the service credit allowed under this subsection and provide
all necessary documentation by the thirty-first day of March, two
thousand three: And provided further, That In addition, the board
shall exercise due diligence to notify affected employees
and
previous temporary employees in CETA of
the provisions of this
subsection.
(j) If a member is not eligible for prior service credit or
pension
as provided in under this article, then his or her prior
service shall not be considered a part of his or her total service.
(k) A member who withdrew from membership may regain his or
her former membership rights as specified in section thirteen of
this article only in case he or she has served two years since his
or her last withdrawal.
(l) Subject to
the provisions of subsections (a) through (l),
inclusive, of this section, the board shall verify as soon as
practicable the statements of service submitted. The retirement
board shall issue prior service certificates to all persons
eligible for the certificates under
the provisions of this article.
The certificates shall state the length of the prior service
credit, but in no case shall the prior service credit exceed forty
years.
(m) Notwithstanding any
contrary 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 that member to be absent from his
or her teaching 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.
Provided, 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, however, That
However, nothing in this section 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 June 1, 2000.
Provided further, That Also,
any member to which
the provisions of this subsection
apply applies
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. The periods of time upon which the
member paid his or her contribution shall then be included for
purposes of determining his or her final average salary as well as
for determining years of service.
And provided further, That In
addition, a member
using utilizing the provisions of this
subsection is not required to pay interest on any contributions he
or she may decide to make.
(n) The Teachers Retirement Board shall grant service credit
to any former member of the State Police Death, Disability and
Retirement System who has been a contributing member for more than
three years, for service previously credited by the State Police
Death, Disability and Retirement System; and: (1) Shall require
the transfer of the member's contributions to the Teachers
Retirement System; or (2) shall require a repayment of the amount
withdrawn any time prior to the member's retirement.
Provided,
That In addition, the member shall add to the amounts transferred or repaid under this paragraph an amount which is sufficient to
equal the contributions he or she would have made had the member
been under the Teachers Retirement System during the period of his
or her membership in the State Police Death, Disability and
Retirement System plus interest at a rate to be determined by the
board compounded annually from the date of withdrawal to the date
of payment. The interest paid shall be deposited in the reserve
fund.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the purchase of
service credit in the State Teachers' Retirement System for
temporary employment under the Comprehensive Employment and
Training Act (CETA)and to specify the cost of the service credit
purchased.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.