Senate Bill No. 553
(By Senators Foster, White, Browning and Plymale)
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[Introduced February 12, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-7D-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the State Teachers Retirement
System; and extending the time for certain members to purchase
additional service credit for service in the Teachers' Defined
Contribution Retirement System.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-7D-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7D. VOLUNTARY TRANSFER FROM TEACHERS' DEFINED
CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT SYSTEM TO STATE
TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§18-7D-6. Service credit in State Teachers Retirement System
following transfer; conversion of assets;
adjustments.
(a) Any member who has affirmatively elected to transfer to the State Teachers Retirement System within the period provided in
section seven of this article whose assets have been transferred
from the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System to the
State Teachers Retirement System pursuant to the provisions of this
article and who has not made any withdrawals or cash-outs from his
or her assets is, depending upon the percentage of actively
contributing members affirmatively electing to transfer, entitled
to service credit in the State Teachers Retirement System in
accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.
(b) Any
such member who has made withdrawals or cash-outs will
receive service credit based upon the amounts transferred. The
board shall make the appropriate adjustment to the service credit
the member will receive.
(c) More than seventy-five percent of actively contributing
members of the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System
affirmatively elected to transfer to the State Teachers Retirement
System within the period provided in section seven of this article.
Therefore, any member of the Defined Contribution Retirement System
who decides to transfer to the State Teachers Retirement System,
calculates his or her service credit in the State Teachers
Retirement System as follows:
(1) For any member affirmatively electing to transfer, the
member's State Teachers Retirement System credit shall be seventy-
five percent of the member's Teachers' Defined Contribution
Retirement System service credit, less any service previously withdrawn by the member or due to a qualified domestic relations
order and not repaid;
(2) To receive full credit in the State Teachers Retirement
System for service in the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement
System for which assets are transferred, members who affirmatively
elected to transfer and who provided to the board a signed
verification of cost for service credit purchase form by the
effective date of the amendments to this section enacted in the
2009 regular legislative session shall pay into the State Teachers
Retirement System a one and one-half percent contribution by no
later than June 30, 2009, or no later than ninety days after the
postmarked date on a final and definitive contribution calculation
from the board, whichever is later. This contribution shall be
calculated as one and one-half percent of the member's estimated
total earnings for which assets are transferred, plus interest of
four percent per annum accumulated from the date of the member's
initial participation in the Defined Contribution Retirement System
through June 30, 2009:
Provided, That any member who transferred
and provided to the board a signed verification of cost for service
credit purchase form by June 30, 2009 but was unable to complete
the purchase of the one and one-half percent contribution, or any
member who did not request a verification of cost letter but
attempted to purchase the one and one-half percent contribution and
was denied in writing by the board on or before December 31, 2009,
may request the board on or before April 15, 2010, to recalculate the contribution for 2010. To receive full credit, the member
shall pay into the State Teachers Retirement System the
recalculated purchase amount by June 30, 2010, or no later than
sixty days after the postmarked date on a contribution
recalculation from the board, whichever is later. The recalculated
contribution shall include the interest loss at the actuarial rate
of seven and one-half percent. The board's executive director may
correct clerical errors.
(A) For a member contributing to the Defined Contribution
Retirement System at any time during the 2008 fiscal year and
commencing membership in the State Teachers Retirement System on
July 1, 2008, or August 1, 2008, as the case may be:
(i) The estimated total earnings shall be calculated based on
the member's salary and the member's age nearest birthday on June
30, 2008;
(ii) This calculation shall apply both an annual backward
salary scale from that date for prior years' salaries and a forward
salary scale for the salary for the 2008 fiscal year.
(B) The calculations in paragraph (A) of this subdivision are
based upon the salary scale assumption applied in the West Virginia
Teachers Retirement System actuarial valuation as of July 1, 2007,
prepared for the Consolidated Public Retirement Board. This salary
scale shall be applied regardless of breaks in service.
(d) All service previously transferred from the State Teachers
Retirement System to the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System is considered Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement
System service for the purposes of this article.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the retirement of a member who becomes eligible to retire
after the member's assets are transferred to the State Teachers
Retirement System pursuant to the provisions of this article may
not commence
prior to before September 1, 2008:
Provided, That the
Consolidated Public Retirement Board may not retire any member who
is eligible to retire during the calendar year 2008 unless the
member has provided a written notice to his or her county board of
education by July 1, 2008, of his or her intent to retire.
(f) The provisions of section twenty-eight-e, article seven-a
of this chapter do not apply to the amendments to this section
enacted during the 2009 regular legislative session.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend the time for
certain members of the Teachers Retirement System to purchase full
credit for service in the Teachers Defined Contribution System.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
)