Senate Bill No. 15
(By Senator Bowman)
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[Introduced January 14, 1998;
referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the
Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-six, article seven-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the state
teachers retirement system; and revising the computation of
annuities thereunder by revising the method by which a
teacher's final average salary is computed.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-six, 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-26. Computation of annuities.
(a) Annuitants whose annuities were approved by the retirement board effective before the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred eighty, shall be paid the annuities which
were approved by the retirement board.
(b) Annuities approved by the board effective after June
thirty, one thousand nine hundred eighty, shall be computed as
provided herein.
(c) Upon establishment of eligibility for a retirement
allowance, a member shall be granted an annuity which
shall be is
the sum of the following:
(a) (1) Two percent of the member's
final average salary
multiplied by his
or her total service credit as a teacher. In
this paragraph "
final average salary"
shall mean means the
average of the highest annual salaries received by the member
during any five years contained within his last fifteen years of
total service credit: Provided, That the highest annual salary
used in this calculation for certain members employed by the West
Virginia board of regents at institutions of higher education
under its control shall be four thousand eight hundred dollars,
as provided by section fourteen-a of this article and chapter;
either: (i) The average of the highest annual compensation
received by a member during any period of three consecutive years
of his or her credited service contained within his or her ten
years of credited service immediately preceding the date his or
her employment with a participating employer last terminated; or (ii) if he or she has less than five years of credited service,
the average of the annual rate of compensation received by him or
her during his or her total years of credited service.
(b) (2) The actuarial equivalent of the voluntary deposits
of the member in his
or her individual account up to the time of
his
or her retirement, with regular interest.
(d) The disability annuities of all teachers retired for
disability
shall be are based upon a disability table prepared by
a competent actuary approved by the retirement board.
(e) Upon the death of an annuitant who qualified for an
annuity as a surviving spouse or because of permanent disability,
the estate of the deceased or beneficiary designated for
such
that purpose, shall be paid the difference, if any, between the
member's contributions with regular interest thereon, and the sum
of the annuity payments.
(f) All annuities
shall be are paid in twelve monthly
payments. In computing the monthly payments, fractions of a cent
shall be deemed are considered a cent. The monthly payments
shall cease with the payment for the month within which the
beneficiary dies, and
shall begin with the payment for the month
succeeding the month within which the annuitant became eligible
under this article for the annuity granted; in no case, however,
shall may an annuitant receive more than four monthly payments
which are retroactive after the board receives his
or her application for annuity. Beginning with the first day of July
one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the monthly payments
shall
be are made on the twenty-fifth day of each month, except the
month of December, when the payment
shall be is made on the
eighteenth day of December. If the date of payment falls on a
holiday, Saturday or Sunday, then the payment
shall be is made on
the preceding workday.
(g) In case the retirement board receives data affecting the
approved annuity of a retired teacher, the annuity shall be
changed in accordance with the data, the change being effective
with the payment for the month within which the board received
the new data.
(h) Any person who has attained the age of sixty-five and
who has served at least twenty-five years as a teacher prior to
July one, one thousand nine hundred forty-one,
shall be is
eligible for prior service credit and for prior service pensions
as prescribed in this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that final
average salary for both public employees retirement and teachers
retirement is computed using the same formula.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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