Senate Bill No. 445
(By Senators Craigo, Snyder, Jackson, Plymale, Prezioso,
Fanning, Helmick, Bailey, Anderson, Dittmar, Kessler, Sharpe,
Ross, Schoonover, Love, Ball, Hunter, Oliverio, McKenzie, Deem,
Minear, Boley, Dugan, Scott, Kimble, Walker, White and Tomblin,
Mr. President)
____________
[Introduced February 10, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
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.
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.
(a) Under such rules and regulations as
adopted by 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 the 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.
(b) 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 includes
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 The military service shall be is deemed
considered equivalent to public school teaching, and the salary
equivalent for each year of such that service shall be is 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.
(c) 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 that 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 The 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 the transferred
service as additional service only: Provided, however,
That a
transfer of out-of-state service shall be is prohibited if such
the 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 the member under the retirement system.
(d) 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
the minimum income regulations rules of the teachers retirement
board.
(e) No members shall be deemed considered 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.
(f) No member shall be deemed considered absent from service
as a teacher while serving as an officer with a statewide
professional teaching association, or who has served in such that
capacity, and no retired teacher, who served in such that
capacity while a member, shall be deemed considered to have been
absent from service as a teacher by reason of such that service:
Provided,
That the period of service credit granted for such that service shall not exceed six ten 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 subsection 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.
(g) 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 The 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 the transfer as additional
service only: Provided, however,
That a transfer of parochial
school service is prohibited if such the service is used to
obtain a retirement benefit from another retirement system.
(h) 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 considered a part of his or her total
service.
(i) A member who withdrew from membership shall be permitted
to may 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.
(j) Subject to the above provisions of subsection (a)
through (i) of this section, 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 for the certificates under the provisions of
this article. Such The certificates shall state the length of
such the prior service credit, but in no case shall the prior
service credit exceed forty years.
___________
(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the service
credit within the teachers retirement system from six to ten
years for those teachers who serve as officers with a state-wide
teaching association.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.)