H. B.
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Martin,
Jenkins, Douglas, Varner, Pettit and Staton)
[Introduced February 3, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Pensions and Retirement then
Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two, five, seven, eight, nine,
eleven, seventeen and twenty-one, article fourteen-d, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, all relating to technical corrections
to the "Deputy Sheriff Retirement Act"; expanding the
definition of "covered employment" to include additional
employment which may be covered by another state retirement
plan; clarifying that a deputy sheriff who elects membership
in the deputy sheriff retirement system may not also accrue
benefits in any other plan administered by the consolidated
public retirement board while that deputy sheriff is an active
member of the deputy sheriff plan; clarifying the assets to be
transferred from the public employees retirement system to the
deputy sheriff retirement system; allowing transferring deputy sheriffs until January 1, 2000, to pay all amounts into the
deputy sheriff retirement system; clarifying that any deputy
sheriff who became totally disabled as a result of duty
related injury or illness which occurred prior to the
inception of the deputy sheriff retirement plan may become a
member of DSRS unless he or she is receiving, or would
receive, in addition to the DSRS benefit, a retirement or
disability benefit from another state retirement system;
clarifying retirement benefits; clarifying adjustment of
benefits where early retirement is elected; specifying
starting dates for annuities; providing additional time
periods in which a deputy sheriff may elect to transfer into
the deputy sheriff plan from PERS; and specifying the credit
to be given to those deputy sheriffs who transfer to the
deputy sheriff retirement system from the public employees
retirement system for certain service in addition to that as
a deputy sheriff.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, five, seven, eight, nine, eleven, seventeen
and twenty-one, article fourteen-d, chapter seven of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14D. DEPUTY SHERIFF RETIREMENT ACT.
§7-14D-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless a federal law or regulation or
the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(a) "Accrued benefit" means on behalf of any member two and
one-quarter percent of the member's final average salary multiplied
by the member's years of credited service. A member's accrued
benefit may not exceed the limits of section 415 of the Internal
Revenue Code.
(b) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all amounts
deducted from the compensation of a member, or paid on his or her
behalf pursuant to article ten-c, chapter five of this code, either
pursuant to section seven of this article or section twenty-nine,
article ten, chapter five of this code as a result of covered
employment together with regular interest on the deducted amounts.
(c) "Active military duty" means full-time active duty with
any branch of the armed forces of the United States, including
service with the national guard or reserve military forces when the
member has been called to active full-time duty and has received no
compensation during the period of that duty from any board on other
than the armed forces.
(d) "Actuarial equivalent" means a benefit of equal value
computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates
as the consolidated public retirement board may adopt from time to
time.
(e) "Annual compensation" means the wages paid to the member during covered employment within the meaning of section 3401(a) of
the Internal Revenue Code but determined without regard to any
rules that limit the remuneration included in wages based upon the
nature or location of employment or services performed during the
plan year plus amounts excluded under section 414(h)(2) of the
Internal Revenue Code and less reimbursements or other expense
allowances, cash or noncash fringe benefits or both, deferred
compensation and welfare benefits. Annual compensation for
determining benefits during any determination period may not exceed
one hundred fifty thousand dollars as adjusted for cost of living
in accordance with section 401(a)(17)(B) of the Internal Revenue
Code.
(f) "Annual leave service" means accrued annual leave.
(g) "Annuity starting date" means the first day of the first
period for which an amount is received as an annuity by reason of
retirement.
(h) "Base salary" means a member's cash compensation exclusive
of overtime from covered employment during the last twelve months
of employment. Until a member has worked twelve months, annualized
base salary is used as base salary.
(I) "Board" means the consolidated public retirement board
created pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this code.
(j) "County commission" has the meaning ascribed to it in
section one, article one, chapter seven of this code.
(k) "Covered employment" means either: (1) Employment as a
deputy sheriff and the active performance of the duties required of
a deputy sheriff;
or (2) the period of time which active duties are
not performed but disability benefits are received under section
thirteen or fourteen of this article
.; or (3) concurrent employment
by a deputy sheriff in a job or jobs in addition to his or her
employment as a deputy sheriff where such secondary employment
requires the deputy sheriff to be a member of another retirement
system which is administered by the consolidated public retirement
board pursuant to article ten-d of chapter five of this code:
Provided, That the deputy sheriff contribute to the fund created in
section six of this article the amount specified as the deputy
sheriff's contribution in section seven of this article.
(l) "Credited service" means the sum of a member's years of
service,
active military
service duty, disability service and
annual leave service.
(m) "Deputy sheriff" means an individual employed as a county
law-enforcement deputy sheriff in this state and as defined by
section two, article fourteen, chapter seven of this code.
(n) "Dependent child" means:
(1) An unmarried person under age eighteen who is either:
(A) A natural child of the member;
(B) A legally adopted child of the member;
(C) A child who at the time of the member's death was living with the member while the member was an adopting parent during any
period of probation; or
(D) A stepchild of the member residing in the member's
household at the time of the member's death.
(2) Any unmarried child under age twenty-three: (A) Who is
enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited college or
university; (B) who was claimed as a dependent by the member for
federal income tax purposes at the time of member's death; and (C)
whose relationship with the member is described in subparagraph
(A), (B) or (C), paragraph (1) of this subdivision.
(o) "Dependent parent" means the father or mother of the
member who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of the member's death.
(p) "Disability service" means service received by a member,
expressed in whole years, fractions thereof or both, equal to one
half of the whole years, fractions thereof, or both, during which
time a member receives disability benefits under section thirteen
or fourteen of this article.
(q) "Early retirement age" means age forty or over and
completion of twenty years of service.
(r) "Effective date" means the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-eight.
(s) "Final average salary" means the average of the highest
annual compensation received for covered employment by the member during any five consecutive plan years within the member's last ten
years of service. If the member did not have annual compensation
for the five full plan years preceding the member's attainment of
normal retirement age and during that period the member received
disability benefits under section thirteen or fourteen of this
article then "final average salary" means the average of the
monthly salary determined paid to the member during that period as
determined under section seventeen of this article multiplied by
twelve.
(t) "Fund" means the West Virginia deputy sheriff retirement
fund created pursuant to section six of this article.
(u) "Hour of service" means:
(1) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during which time active duties are
performed. These hours shall be credited to the member for the
plan year in which the duties are performed; and
(2) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during a plan year but where no
duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, incapacity
including disability, layoff, jury duty, military duty, leave of
absence, or any combination thereof, and without regard to whether
the employment relationship has terminated. Hours under this
paragraph shall be calculated and credited pursuant to West
Virginia department of labor regulations. A member will not be credited with any hours of service for any period of time he or she
is receiving benefits under section fourteen or fifteen of this
article; and
(3) Each hour for which back pay is either awarded or agreed
to be paid by the employing county commission, irrespective of
mitigation of damages. The same hours of service shall not be
credited both under paragraph (1) or (2) of this subdivision, and
under this paragraph. Hours under this paragraph shall be credited
to the member for the plan year or years to which the award or
agreement pertains, rather than the plan year in which the award,
agreement or payment is made.
(v) "Member" means a person first hired as a deputy sheriff
after the effective date of this article, as defined in subsection
(r) of this section, or a deputy sheriff first hired prior to the
effective date and who elects to become a member pursuant to
section five or section seventeen of this article. A member shall
remain a member until the benefits to which he or she is entitled
under this article are paid or forfeited.
(w) "Monthly salary" means the portion of a member's annual
compensation which is paid to him or her per month.
(x) "Normal form" means a monthly annuity which is one twelfth
of the amount of the member's accrued benefit which is payable for
the member's life. If the member dies before the sum of the
payments he or she receives equals his or her accumulated contributions on the annuity starting date, the named beneficiary
shall receive in one lump sum the difference between the
accumulated contributions at the annuity starting date and the
total of the retirement income payments made to the member.
(y) "Normal retirement age" means the first to occur of the
following:
(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.
(z) "Partially disabled" means a member's inability to engage
in the duties of deputy sheriff by reason of any medically
determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to
result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for
a continuous period of not less than twelve months. A member may
be determined partially disabled for the purposes of this article
and maintain the ability to engage in other gainful employment
which exists within the state but which ability would not enable
him or her to earn an amount at least equal to two thirds of the annual compensation earned by all active members of this plan
during the plan year ending as of the most recent thirtieth day of
June, as of which plan data has been assembled and used for the
actuarial valuation of the plan.
(aa) "Public employees retirement system" means the West
Virginia public
employee's employees' retirement system created by
article ten, chapter five of this code.
(bb) "Plan" means the West Virginia deputy sheriff death,
disability and retirement plan established by this article.
(cc) "Plan year" means the twelve month period commencing on
the first day of July and ending the following thirtieth day of
June of any designated year.
(dd) "Regular interest" means the rate or rates of interest
per annum, compounded annually, as the board shall from time to
time adopt.
(ee) "Retirement income payments" means the annual retirement
income payments payable under the plan.
(ff) "Spouse" means the person to whom the member is legally
married on the annuity starting date.
(gg) "Surviving spouse" means the person to whom the member
was legally married at the time of the member's death and who
survived the member.
(hh) "Totally disabled" means a member's inability to engage
in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to
result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for
a continuous period of not less than twelve months.
For purposes of this subdivision:
(1) A member is totally disabled only if his or her physical
or mental impairment or impairments is so severe that he or she is
not only unable to perform his or her previous work as a deputy
sheriff but also cannot, considering his or her age, education and
work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful
employment which exists in the state regardless of whether: (A)
The work exists in the immediate area in which the member lives;
(B) a specific job vacancy exists; or (C) the member would be hired
if he or she applied for work.
(2) "Physical or mental impairment" is an impairment that
results from an anatomical, physiological, or psychological
abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical and
laboratory diagnostic techniques.
A member's receipt of social security disability benefits
creates a rebuttable presumption that the member is totally
disabled for purposes of this plan. Substantial gainful employment
rebuts the presumption of total disability.
(ii) "Year of service". A member shall, except in his or her
first and last years of covered employment, be credited with year
of service credit based upon the hours of service performed as covered employment and credited to the member during the plan year
based upon the following schedule:
Hours of ServiceYear of Service Credited
Less than 5000
500 to 999 1/3
1,000 to 1,4992/3
1,500 or more1
During a member's first and last years of covered employment,
the member shall be credited with one twelfth of a year of service
for each month during the plan year in which the member is credited
with an hour of service. A member is not entitled to credit for
years of service for any time period during which he or she
received disability payments under section fourteen or fifteen of
this article. Except as specifically excluded, years of service
include covered employment prior to the effective date.
Years of service which are credited to a member prior to his
or her receipt of accumulated contributions upon termination of
employment pursuant to section thirteen of this article or section
thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code, shall be
disregarded for all purposes under this plan unless the member
repays the accumulated contributions with interest pursuant to
section twelve of this article or had prior to the effective date
made the repayment pursuant to section eighteen, article ten,
chapter five of this code.
§7-14D-5. Members.
(a) Any deputy sheriff first employed by a county in covered
employment after the effective date of this article shall be a
member of this retirement system and plan and
may does not qualify
for membership in any other retirement system administered by the
board, so long as he or she remains employed in covered employment.
(b) Any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on the
effective date of this article shall within six months of that
effective date notify in writing both the county commission in the
county in which he or she is employed and the board of his or her
desire to become a member of the plan
.: Provided, That this time
period is extended to the thirtieth day of January, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-nine in accordance with the decision of the
supreme court of appeals in West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs'
Association, et al v. James L. Simms, et al, No. 25212: Provided
however, That any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on
the effective date of this article has an additional time period
consisting of the ten day period following the day after which the
amended provisions of this section become law to notify in writing
both the county commission in the county in which he or she is
employed and the board of his or her desire to become a member of
the plan. Any deputy sheriff who elects to become a member of the
plan ceases to be a member or have any credit for
covered
employment in any other retirement system administered by the board and shall continue to be ineligible for membership in any other
retirement system administered by the board so long as the deputy
sheriff remains employed in covered employment
in this plan:
Provided further, That any deputy sheriff who elects during the
time period from July one, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight
to January thirtieth, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine to
transfer from the public employees retirement system to the plan
created in this article shall contribute to the plan created in
this article at the rate set forth in section seven of this of this
article retroactive to the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight. Any deputy sheriff who does not
affirmatively elect to become a member of the plan continues to be
eligible for any other retirement system as is from time to time
offered to other county employees but is ineligible for this plan
regardless of any subsequent termination of employment and rehire.
(c) Any deputy sheriff who was employed as a deputy sheriff
prior to the effective date, but was not employed on the effective
date of this article, shall become a member upon rehire as a deputy
sheriff. For purposes of this section, the member's years of
service and credited service prior to the effective date shall not
be counted for any purposes under this plan unless: (1) The deputy
sheriff has not received the return of his or her accumulated
contributions in the public employees retirement fund system
pursuant to section thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code; or (2) the accumulated contributions returned to the member from
the public employees retirement system have been repaid pursuant to
section twelve of this article. If the conditions of subdivision
(1) or (2) of this subsection are met, all years of the deputy
sheriff's covered employment shall be counted as years of service
for the purposes
of this article.
Each transferring deputy sheriff
shall be given credited service for the purposes of this article
for all covered employment transferred from the public employees
retirement system regardless of whether such credited service (as
that term is defined in section two, article ten, chapter five of
this code) was earned as a deputy sheriff. All service in the
public employees retirement system accrued by a transferring deputy
sheriff shall be transferred into the plan created by this article
and the transferring deputy sheriff shall be given the same credit
for the purposes of this article for all such covered service which
is transferred from the public employees retirement system as that
transferring deputy sheriff would have received from the public
employees retirement system if such transfer had not occurred. In
connection with each deputy sheriff receiving credit for prior
employment provided in this subsection, a transfer from public
employees retirement system to this plan shall be made pursuant to
the procedures described in section eight of this article.
(d) Once made, the election made under this section is
irrevocable. All deputy sheriffs first employed after the effective date and deputy sheriffs electing to become members as
described in this section shall be members as a condition of
employment and shall make the contributions required by section
seven of this article.
§7-14D-7. Members' contributions; employer contributions.
There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each member
and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary.
Any active member who has
concurrent employment in an additional job or jobs and such
additional employment requires the deputy sheriff to be a member of
another retirement system which is administered by the consolidated
public retirement board pursuant to article ten-d of chapter five
of this code shall contribute to the fund the sum of eight and one- half percent of his or her monthly salary earned as a deputy
sheriff as well as the sum of eight and one-half percent of his or
her monthly salary earned from any additional employment which
additional employment requires the deputy sheriff to be a member of
another retirement which is administered by the consolidated public
retirement board pursuant to article ten-d of chapter five of this
code. An additional nine and one-half percent of the monthly
salary of each member shall be paid to the fund by the county
commission of the county in which the member is employed in covered
employment. If the board finds that the benefits provided by this
article can be actually funded with a lesser contribution, then the board shall reduce the required member and employer contributions
proportionally.
§7-14D-8. Transfer from public employees retirement system.
(a) The consolidated retirement board shall, within ninety
days of the effective date of the transfer of a deputy
sheriff from
the public employees retirement system to the plan, transfer assets
from the public employees retirement system trust fund into the
West Virginia deputy sheriff trust fund.
The amount to be
transferred from the public employees retirement system includes
all contributions made by each transferring deputy plus the
employers matching contribution for the retiring deputy and an
amount representing the normal amount of interest the transferring
deputy earned on all his or her contributions and the contributions
his or her employer made on behalf of the transferring deputy.
(b) The amount of assets to be transferred for each
transferring deputy
sheriff shall be computed as of the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, using the
actuarial valuation assumptions in effect for the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, actuarial valuation
of public employees retirement system, and updated with seven and
one-half percent annual interest to the date of the actual asset
transfer. The market value of the assets of the transferring deputy
sheriff in the public employees retirement system shall be
determined as of the end of the month preceding the actual transfer. To determine the computation of the asset share to be
transferred the board shall:
(1) Compute the market value of the public employees
retirement system assets;
(2) Compute the accrued liability for all public employees
retirement system retirees, beneficiaries, disabled retirees and
terminated inactive members;
(3) Reduce the market value of public employees retirement
system assets by the accrued liability determined in subdivision
(2) of this subsection;
(4) Compute the entry age method accrued liability for all
active public employees retirement system members;
(5) Compute the share of accrued liability as determined
pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection, that is
attributable to those deputy sheriffs in public employees
retirement system who have elected to transfer to the plan;
(6) Compute the percentage of active's accrued liability
computed to the deputy sheriffs by dividing subdivision (5) by
subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(7) Determine the asset share to be transferred from public
employees retirement system to the plan by multiplying subdivision
(3) times subdivision(6) of this subsection.
(c) Once a deputy sheriff has elected to transfer from the
public employees retirement system, transfer
of that amount as calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of
this section by the public employees retirement system
of that
deputy's contributions, including all amounts contributed by the
deputy's employer for that deputy with interest upon both the
deputy's and the employer's contributions shall operate as a
complete bar to any further liability to the transferring from the
public employees retirement system, and constitutes an agreement
whereby the transferring deputy
sheriff forever indemnifies and
holds harmless the public employees retirement system from
providing him or her any form of retirement benefit whatsoever
until such time as that deputy
sheriff obtains other employment
which would make him or her eligible to re-enter the public
employees retirement system with no credit whatsoever for the
amounts transferred to the deputy sheriff's retirement system.
(d) The board shall cause a judicial determination to be made
regarding the transfer of assets from the public employees
retirement system to the deputy sheriff's retirement system by
causing a suit to be filed in the supreme court of this state
seeking a writ of mandamus on or before the thirty-first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight.
(e) Any deputy sheriff who elected, on or before the thirtieth
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, to transfer
to the plan created by this article, has until the first day of
January, two thousand to pay any amounts required by section seven of this article as a result of the deputy sheriff's transfer to the
deputy sheriff retirement fund.
§7-14D-9. Retirement; commencement of benefits.
A member may retire and commence to receive retirement income
payments
upon attaining on the first day of the calendar month
coincident with or next following the later of the date the member
ceases employment and the date the member attains early or normal
retirement age
, in an amount as provided under section eleven of
this article, by filing with the board his or her voluntary
petition in writing for retirement:
Provided, That retirement
income payments shall commence no later than the first day of April
following the member's seventy and one-half year birthday or the
cessation of covered employment, whichever later occurs. Upon
receipt of the petition, the board shall promptly provide the
member with an explanation of his or her optional forms of
retirement benefits and upon receipt of properly executed forms
from the member, the board shall process member's request for and
commence payments as soon as administratively feasible.
§7-14D-11. Retirement benefits.
This section provides for the adjustment of a member's accrued
benefit to reflect the difference in age, in years and months,
between the member's annuity starting date and the date the member
attains normal retirement age. This age adjustment shall be made
based upon the normal form of benefit and shall be the actuarial equivalent of the accrued benefit at the member's normal retirement
age. The member shall receive the age adjusted retirement income
in the normal form or in an actuarial equivalent amount in an
optional form as provided under section twelve of this chapter.
The first day of the calendar month of birth shall be used in lieu
of any birth date that does not fall on the first day of a calendar
month.
(a)
Normal retirement. -- A member
who ceases covered employment,
has attained normal retirement age, and whose annuity starting date
is within forty-five days of the later of the two, shall receive
retirement income payments equal to his or her accrued benefit in
the normal form or retirement income payments in an optional form
as provided under section twelve of this article which is the
actuarial equivalent of his or her accrued benefit in the normal
form. whose annuity starting date is the date the member attains
normal retirement age, is entitled to his or her accrued benefit
without adjustment for age at commencement. To the extent that a
member's starting date is later than his normal retirement age, the
amount of that member's retirement income benefit shall be adjusted
as provided in subsection (C) below.
(b)
Early retirement. -- A member who ceases covered employment and
has attained early retirement age while in covered employment may
elect to receive retirement income payments commencing
at age fifty
or older which is the actuarial equivalent of the member's accrued benefit which would have been payable at the member's normal
retirement age based upon his or her final average salary and years
of credited service determined at the cessation of his or her
covered employment. Payments will be in the normal form or in an
optional form as allowed in section twelve of this article which is
the actuarial equivalent of the normal form as reduced for early
commencement of benefits. on the first day of the month coincident
with or following the date the member ceases covered employment.
"Normal retirement age" for such a member is the first day of the
calendar month coincident with or next following the month in which
the member attains the age of fifty years. If the member's annuity
starting date is prior to the date the member attains normal
retirement age, his accrued benefit is reduced to the actuarial
equivalent benefit amount based on the years and months by which
his or her annuity starting date precedes the date he or she
attains normal retirement age. If the member's annuity starting
date is later than the date the member attains the age of fifty
years, the accrued benefit is adjusted as provided in subsection
(c) of this section.
(c)
Late retirement. -- A member whose annuity starting date is
more than forty-five days after the later of his or her attainment
of normal retirement age or the cessation of his or her covered
employment shall receive retirement income payments equal to the
accrued benefit in the normal form which is the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which he or she would be entitled had
the retirement income payments commenced within forty-five days of
the later of his or her attainment of normal retirement age or
cessation of covered employment. later than the date the member
attains normal retirement age shall receive retirement income
payments in the normal form which is the actuarial equivalent of
the benefit to which he or she would have been entitled had the
retirement income payments commenced at the member's normal
retirement age.
(d) Retirement benefits shall be paid monthly in an amount equal to
one twelfth of the retirement income payments elected and at those
times established by the board. Notwithstanding any other
provision of the plan, a member who is married on the annuity
starting date will receive his or her retirement income payments in
the form of a sixty-six and two-thirds percent joint and survivor
annuity with his or her spouse unless prior to the annuity starting
date the spouse waives the form of benefit.
§7-14D-17. Prior disability.
Any deputy sheriff who became totally disabled as a
result of illness or injury incurred in the line of duty prior to
the effective date of this article may be a member of the plan at
his or her election and is entitled to disability, death and
retirement benefits under this article in lieu of any other
disability, death or retirement benefits provided
solely in conjunction with a retirement system by of the this state or his or
her county of employment:
Provided, That the deputy
sheriff would
have been eligible for disability under section fourteen of this
article had that section been in effect at the time of the
disability. The amounts of the benefits shall be determined as if
the disability first commenced after the effective date of this
article with monthly compensation equal to that average monthly
compensation which the member was receiving in the plan year prior
to the initial disability.
For the purposes of this section,
benefits paid pursuant to chapter twenty-three of this code are not
death or retirement benefits provided solely in conjunction with a
retirement system of this state or county of this state.
§7-14D-21. Burial benefit.
Any member who dies as a result of any service
related illness or injury after the effective date is entitled to
a lump sum burial benefit of five thousand dollars. If the member
is married, the burial benefit will be paid to the member's spouse.
If the member is not married, the burial benefit will be paid to
the member's estate for the purposes of paying burial expenses,
settling the member's final affairs, or both. Any unspent balance
shall be distributed as a part of the member's estate. If the
member is not entitled to a death benefit under sections
nineteen
eighteen and
twenty nineteen of this article, then if greater, the
amount payable to the member's estate shall be his or her accumulated contributions.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to effect
technical corrections to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement Act (DSRS),
which passed last year.
This bill expands the definition of "covered employment" to
include service by a deputy in an additional job which may be
covered by another State retirement program, such as PERS. This
allows any deputy sheriff who is employed in an additional job
which is covered by another State retirement plan to accrue those
hours toward a benefit in the Deputy Sheriff retirement plan. Any
such deputy sheriff is required to contribute 8.5% of his or her
pay received while in covered employment in order to obtain credit
in the Deputy Sheriff plan.
The bill clarifies that a deputy sheriff who elects to be a
member in the Deputy Sheriff retirement plan may not have credit
for any covered employment in any other retirement system
administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board at the
same time the deputy sheriff is an active member of DSRS. The bill
also clarifies the amount to be transferred to the Deputy Sheriff
plan from the Public Employees Retirement System and the credit to
be given in DSRS for those deputy sheriffs who are transferring
from PERS to DSRS and allows those deputies who elected in to DSRS
by July 31, 1998, and the county employing these deputies did not
withhold at the 8.5% rate required by DSRS, to have until January
1, 2000 to pay the difference to DSRS.
The bill clarifies that any deputy sheriff who became totally
disabled as a result of duty related injury or illness may be a
member of DSRS unless he or she is receiving, or would receive, in
addition to the DSRS benefit, a retirement or disability benefit
from another State retirement system.
The bill explains the starting dates for the annuities with
respect to the form of retirement selected by a deputy sheriff.
Finally, the bill provides another ten day window immediately
following the day the bill becomes law for a deputy sheriff to
transfer from PERS.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
