Senate Bill No. 348
(By Senators Plymale, Oliverio, Snyder, Prezioso, Dugan, Scott,
Jackson, Deem, Boley and Walker)
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[Introduced March 17, 1997;
referred to the Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two, seventeen and eighteen,
article ten, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to
removing mental health centers from the public employees
retirement system except for the purpose of continuing
participation by current members; giving current members
optional withdrawal without losing service credit; requiring
mental health centers now participating in the public
employees retirement system to provide private pension plans
for current employees at their option and for future employees
within a time certain; and requiring mental health centers to
provide to current members notice of their option to withdraw
including comparative actuarial projections of individual accounts.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, seventeen and eighteen, article ten,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
§5-10-2. Definitions.
(4) "Political subdivision" means the state of West Virginia, a
county, city or town in the state; a school corporation or
corporate unit; any separate corporation or instrumentality
established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted
by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part
by counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law
with the performance of a governmental function and whose
jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or
towns, any agency or organization established by, or approved by
the department of mental health for provision of community health
or mental retardation services, and which is supported in part by
state, county or municipal funds Provided, That: any mental health
agency participating in the public employees retirement system on
or before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and
ninety-seven, shall be deemed a political subdivision solely for
the purpose of permitting those employees who are members of the
public employees retirement system to remain members and continue
to participate in the retirement system at their option after the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven.
§5-10-17. Retirement system membership.
The membership of the retirement system shall consist of the
following persons:
(a) All employees, as defined in section two of this article,
who are in the employ of a political subdivision the day preceding
the date it becomes a participating public employer and who
continue in the employ of the said participating public employer on
and after the said date shall become members of the retirement
system; and all persons who become employees of a participating
public employer on or after the said date shall thereupon become
members of the system; except as provided in subdivisions (b) and
(c) of this section.
(b) The membership of the retirement system shall not include
any person who is a member of, or who has been retired by, the
state teachers retirement system, the judges retirement system, the
retirement system of the division of public safety, or any
municipal retirement system for either, or both, policemen or
firemen; and the bureau of employment programs, by the commissioner
of such bureau, may elect whether its employees will accept
coverage under this article or be covered under the authorization
of a separate enactment: Provided, That such exclusions of
membership shall not apply to any member of the state Legislature,
the clerk of the House of Delegates, the clerk of the state Senate
or to any member of the legislative body of any political
subdivision provided he or she once becomes a contributing member
of the retirement system: Provided, however, That any retired member of the retirement system of the division of public safety,
and any retired member of any municipal retirement system for
either, or both, policemen or firemen may on and after the
effective date of this section become a member of the retirement
system as provided in this article, without receiving credit for
prior service as a municipal policeman or fireman or as a member of
the division of public safety: Provided, further, That the
membership of the retirement system shall not include any person
who becomes employed by the Prestera Center for Mental Health
Services, Valley Comprehensive Mental Health Center, Westbrook
Health Services, and Eastern Panhandle Mental Health Center on or
after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and ninety- seven.
(c) Any member of the state Legislature, the clerk of the
House of Delegates, the clerk of the state Senate and any employee
of the state Legislature whose employment is otherwise classified
as temporary and who is employed to perform services required by
the Legislature for its regular sessions or during the interim
between regular sessions and who has been or is so employed during
regular sessions or during the interim between sessions for ten or
more years, or any member of the legislative body of any other
political subdivision shall become a member of the retirement
system provided he or she notifies the retirement system in writing
of his or her intention to be a member of the system and files a
membership enrollment form as the board of trustees shall
prescribe, and each person, upon filing his or her written notice to participate in the retirement system, shall by said act
authorize the clerk of the House of Delegates or the clerk of the
state Senate or such person or legislative agency as the
legislative body of any other political subdivision shall designate
to deduct such member's contribution, as provided in subsection
(b), section twenty-nine of this article, and after said deductions
have been made from said member's compensation, such deductions
shall be forwarded to the retirement system.
(d) Should any question arise regarding the membership status
of any employee, the board of trustees has the final power to
decide the question.
§5-10-18. Termination of membership; reentry.
(a) When a member of the retirement system retires or dies,
he or she ceases to be a member. When a member leaves the employ
of a participating public employer for any other reason, he or she
ceases to be a member and forfeits service credited to him at that
time. If he or she becomes reemployed by a participating public
employer he or she shall be reinstated as a member of the
retirement system and his or her credited service last forfeited by
him shall be restored to his or her credit: Provided,
That he or
she must be reemployed for a period of one year or longer to have
such service restored: Provided, however,
That he or she returns
to the members' deposit fund the amount, if any, he or she withdrew
therefrom, together with regular interest thereon from the date of
withdrawal to the date of repayment, and that such repayment begins within two years of the return to employment and that the full
amount be repaid within five years of the return to employment.
(b) Effective on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred and ninety-seven, and continuing through the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight, any employee of
the Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, Valley
Comprehensive Mental Health Center, Westbrook Health Services, and
Eastern Panhandle Mental Health Center who is a member of the
retirement system may elect to withdraw from membership without
forfeiting service credited to him or her.
(c) The Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, Valley
Comprehensive Mental Health Center, Westbrook Health Services, and
Eastern Panhandle Mental Health Center, and their successors in
interest, shall provide for their employees a pension plan in lieu
of the public employees retirement system on or before the first
day of July, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven and
continuing thereafter during the existence of the named mental
health centers and their successors in interest.
(d) The administrative bodies of the Prestera Center for
Mental Health Services, Valley Comprehensive Mental Health Center,
Westbrook Health Services, and Eastern Panhandle Mental Health
Center shall, on or before the first day of May, one thousand nine
hundred and ninety-seven, give written notice to each employee who
is a member of the Public Employees Retirement System of the option
to withdraw from or remain in the system. The notice shall include
a copy of this section and a statement explaining the member's options regarding membership. The notice shall include a statement
in plain language giving a full explanation and actuarial
projection figures in support thereof regarding the individual
member's current account balance, vested and nonvested, and his or
her projected return upon remaining in the public employees
retirement system until retirement, disability, or death, in
comparison with the projected return upon withdrawing from the
public employees retirement system and joining a private pension
plan provided by the community mental health center and remaining
therein until retirement, disability, or death. The administrative
bodies shall keep in their respective records a permanent record of
each employee's signature confirming receipt of the notice.
Note: This bill removes the four community mental health centers
currently within the Public Employees Retirement System from the
system and permits employees of those four mental health centers
who are now members of the retirement system to withdraw from the
system without losing service credit. The bill also deletes mental
health facilities from the definition of political subdivision, by
which they previously were made a part of the system, thus removing
the structure by which any other mental health center could join
the system. The four mental health centers are deemed political
subdivisions only for the purpose of continuing the membership and
participation of current covered employees. The mental health
centers are required to provide a private pension plan in lieu of
the state plan, and are required to give notice to employees
regarding withdrawal from the system including comparative
actuarial projections. This bill includes technical changes for
gender-neutral pronouns.
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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