COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4110
(By Delegate Yeager, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates
Mezzatesta, Jenkins, Hubbard, Smith and Hall)
[Originating in the Committee on Finance]
[March 2, 1998]
A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing
the service credit within the teachers retirement system for
teachers who serve as an officer with a statewide professional
association and providing that members elected to public
office be awarded one hundred eighty days credit for one
hundred thirty-three days service where the duties of public
office require the member be absent from his or her assigned
duties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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.
Under such rules and regulations as the retirement board may
adopt, 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 such 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.
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" shall include 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. Such military service
shall be deemed equivalent to public school teaching, and the
salary equivalent for each year of such service shall be 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.
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 such state or territory, the retirement
board shall grant credit to the member: Provided,
That 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. Such interest shall be
deposited in the reserve fund and service credit so 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 such transferred service as additional service only: Provided,
however,
That a transfer of out-of-state service shall be
prohibited if such service is used to obtain a retirement benefit
from another retirement system: Provided further,
That salaries
paid to members for service prior to entrance into the retirement
system shall not be used to compute the average final salary of
such member under the retirement system.
Service credit for members or retired members shall not be
denied on the basis of minimum income regulations rules promulgated by the teachers retirement board: Provided,
That 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 such minimum income
regulations of the teachers retirement board.
No members shall be deemed 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: Provided,
That the member makes
contributions to the system equal to what would have been
contributed during the period of absence had he or she performed
his or her duties.
No member shall be deemed absent from service as a teacher
while serving as an officer with a statewide professional teaching
association, or who has served in such capacity, and no retired
teacher, who served in such capacity while a member, shall be
deemed to have been absent from service as a teacher by reason of
such service: Provided,
That the period of service credit granted
for such service shall not exceed six eight years: Provided,
however,
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 such 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.
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
paragraph 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 of six percent compounded annually from the date of
withdrawal to the date of payment. The interest paid shall be
deposited in the reserve fund.
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 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. Such interest shall be deposited in the
reserve fund and service so 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 such
transfer as additional service only: Provided, however,
That a
transfer of parochial school service is prohibited if such service
is used to obtain a retirement benefit from another retirement
system.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary,
service of one hundred thirty-three days by a member shall be
deemed in all respects the equivalent of one hundred eighty days of
service by that member where the member is or has been elected to
public office and the proper discharge his or her duties of public
office require that member to be absent from his or her teaching
duties, and the board may not require any additional contributions
from that member in order for the board to credit him or her with
a full year of contributing credit for the one hundred thirty-three
days.
If a member is not eligible for prior service credit or
pension as provided in this article, then his or her prior service shall not be deemed a part of his or her total service.
A member who withdrew from membership shall be permitted to
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.
Subject to the above provisions, 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 therefor under the provisions of this article.
Such certificates shall state the length of such prior service
credit, but in no case shall the prior service credit exceed forty
years.