Senate Bill No. 506
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, By Request and Jackson)
____________
[Introduced March 24, 1997; 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 the state
teachers retirement system; computation of service; and
providing for teachers who were absent from service while on
education leave of absence to receive service credit.
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 considered 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 may not exceed ten years for any one member, nor
shall may
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 may 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 may 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 may
not be used to compute the average final salary of such member
under the retirement system.
Service credit for members or retired members
shall may not be denied on the basis of minimum income regulations 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 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.
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
capacity, and no retired teacher, who served in such capacity
while a member, shall be
deemed considered to have been absent
from service as a teacher by reason of such service
, and no
teacher who has been granted an educational leave of absence
shall be considered to have been absent from service as a teacher
by reason of an educational leave of absence:
Provided, That the period of service credit granted for such service
shall may not
exceed six years:
Provided, however, That a member or retired
teacher who is serving or has served as an officer of a statewide
professional teaching association
or who was absent from
service as a teacher by reason of an educational leave of absence
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 may 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.
If a member is not eligible for prior service credit or
pension as provided in this article, then his
or her prior
service
shall may not be
deemed considered 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for teachers
who were absent from service while on education leave of absence
to receive service credit in the State Teachers Retirement
System.
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 **
