H. B. 2936
(By Delegates Craig and Reynolds)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5-10-21 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that home confinement
officers covered under the Public Employees Retirement System
may retire at age fifty with full benefits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-10-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT.
§5-10-21. Deferred retirement and early retirement.
(a) Any member who has five or more years of credited service
in force, of which at least three years are contributing service,
and who leaves the employ of a participating public employer prior
to his or her attaining age sixty years for any reason except his
or her disability retirement or death, is entitled to an annuity
computed according to section twenty-two of this article, as that
section was in force as of the date of his or her separation from
the employ of a participating public employer:
Provided, That he or she does not withdraw his or her accumulated contributions from
the members' deposit fund:
Provided, however, That on and after
the first day of July, two thousand two, any person who becomes a
new member of this retirement system shall, in qualifying for
retirement under this section, have five or more years of service,
all of which years shall be actual, contributory ones. His or her
annuity shall begin the first day of the calendar month next
following the month in which his or her application for same is
filed with the Board of Trustees on or after his or her attaining
age sixty-two years.
(b) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits
in accordance with subsection (a) of this section and has ten or
more years of credited service in force and who has attained age
fifty-five as of the date of his or her separation, may, prior to
the effective date of his or her retirement, but not thereafter,
elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred
retirement annuity as a reduced annuity commencing on the first day
of any calendar month between his or her date of separation and his
or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his
or her life.
(c) Any member who qualifies for deferred retirement benefits
in accordance with subsection (a) of this section and has twenty or
more years of credited service in force may elect to receive the
actuarial equivalent of his or her deferred retirement annuity as
a reduced annuity commencing on the first day of any calendar month
between his or her fifty-fifth birthday and his or her attainment of age sixty-two years and payable throughout his or her life.
(d) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this
section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and
twenty-seven-b of this article, and pursuant to rules promulgated
by the board, any member who has thirty or more years of credited
service in force, at least three of which are contributing service,
and who elects to take early retirement, which for the purposes of
this subsection means retirement prior to age sixty, whether an
active employee or a separated employee at the time of application,
is entitled to the full computation of annuity according to section
twenty-two of this article, as that section was in force as of the
date of retirement application, but with the reduced actuarial
equivalent of the annuity the member would have received if his or
her benefit had commenced at age sixty when he or she would have
been entitled to full computation of benefit without any reduction.
(e) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this
section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and
twenty-seven-b of this article, any member of the retirement system
may retire with full pension rights, without reduction of benefits,
if he or she is at least fifty-five years of age and the sum of his
or her age plus years of contributing service and limited credited
service, as defined in section two of this article, equals or
exceeds eighty. The member's annuity shall begin the first day of
the calendar month immediately following the calendar month in
which his or her application for the annuity is filed with the
board.
(f) Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this
section or of this article, except sections twenty-seven-a and
twenty-seven-b of this article, any home confinement officer who is
a member of the retirement system may retire with full pension
rights, without reduction of benefits, if the home confinement
officer remains a member of the retirement system and the first to
occur of the following is met:
(1) Attainment of age fifty years and the completion of twenty
or more years of service;
(2) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age fifty years and when the sum of current age plus years of
service equals or exceeds seventy years;
(3) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age sixty years and completion of five years of service; or
(4) Attainment of age sixty-two years and completion of five
or more years of service.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow home confinement
officers under the public retirement system to retire at age fifty
with full benefits.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.