ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 650
(Senators Foster, Oliverio and Plymale, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 8, 2008; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §16-5V-2, §16-5V-6, §16-5V-8, §16-5V-9,
§16-5V-14, §16-5V-18, §16-5V-19, §16-5V-25 and §16-5V-32 of
the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System; adding and
modifying definitions; specifying that members hired after the
effective date of this plan are members of the plan as a
condition of employment; clarifying language relating to the
participation of public employers in this plan; clarifying
language relating to the transfer of Public Employees
Retirement System service credit and reinstatement of service
as an emergency medical services officer; specifying the date
on which contributions are due the fund and providing for
delinquency fees for late payments; clarifying language
relating to purchase of prior service and providing for delinquency fees for late payments; eliminating minimum
required eligible direct rollover distributions paid directly
to an eligible retirement plan; allowing distributions
totaling less than two hundred dollars within the definition
of eligible rollover distribution; clarifying the language
relating to the benefit awarded for a duty disability; adding
provisions for the payment of additional death benefits;
clarifying language relating to the effective date for receipt
of a duty disability benefit; and making a correction to the
time period for which the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance shall conduct an interim study on the potential
effects of the implementation of this plan.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5V-2, §16-5V-6, §16-5V-8, §16-5V-9, §16-5V-14,
§16-5V-18, §16-5V-19, §16-5V-25 and §16-5V-32 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 5V. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§16-5V-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless a federal law or regulation or
the context clearly requires a different meaning:
(a) "Accrued benefit" means on behalf of any member two and
six-tenths percent per year of the member's final average salary
for the first twenty years of credited service. Additionally, two percent per year for twenty-one through twenty-five years and one
percent per year for twenty-six through thirty years will be
credited with a maximum benefit of sixty-seven percent. A member's
accrued benefit may not exceed the limits of Section 415 of the
Internal Revenue Code and is subject to the provisions of section
twelve of this article.
(1) The board may upon the recommendation of the board's
actuary increase the employees' contribution rate to ten and
five-tenths percent should the funding of the plan not reach
seventy percent funded by the first day of July, two thousand
twelve. The board shall decrease the contribution rate to eight
and one-half percent once the plan funding reaches the seventy
percent support objective as of any later actuarial valuation date.
(2) Upon reaching the seventy-five percent actuarial funded
level, as of an actuarial valuation date, the board shall increase
the two and six-tenths percent to two and three-quarter percent for
the first twenty years of credited service. The maximum benefit
will also be increased from sixty-seven percent to seventy percent.
(b) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all
retirement contributions deducted from the compensation of a
member, or paid on his or her behalf as a result of covered
employment, together with regular interest on the deducted amounts.
(c) "Active military duty" means full-time active duty with
any branch of the armed forces of the United States, including service with the National Guard or reserve military forces when the
member has been called to active full-time duty and has received no
compensation during the period of that duty from any board or
employer other than the armed forces.
(d) "Actuarial equivalent" means a benefit of equal value
computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates
as set and adopted by the board in accordance with the provisions
of this article.
(e) "Annual compensation" means the wages paid to the member
during covered employment within the meaning of Section 3401(a) of
the Internal Revenue Code, but determined without regard to any
rules that limit the remuneration included in wages based upon the
nature or location of employment or services performed during the
plan year plus amounts excluded under Section 414(h)(2) of the
Internal Revenue Code and less reimbursements or other expense
allowances, cash or noncash fringe benefits or both, deferred
compensation and welfare benefits. Annual compensation for
determining benefits during any determination period may not exceed
one hundred thousand dollars as adjusted for cost-of-living in
accordance with Section 401(a)(17)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(f) "Annual leave service" means accrued annual leave.
(g) "Annuity starting date" means the first day of the month
for which an annuity is payable after submission of a retirement
application. For purposes of this subsection, if retirement income payments commence after the normal retirement age, "retirement"
means the first day of the month following or coincident with the
latter of the last day the member worked in covered employment or
the member's normal retirement age and after completing proper
written application for "retirement" on an application supplied by
the board.
(h) "Board" means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(i) "County commission or political subdivision" has the
meaning ascribed to it in this code.
(j) "Covered employment" means either: (1) Employment as a
full-time emergency medical technician, emergency medical
technician/paramedic or emergency medical services/registered nurse
and the active performance of the duties required of emergency
medical services officers; or (2) the period of time during which
active duties are not performed but disability benefits are
received under this article; or (3) concurrent employment by an
emergency medical services officer in a job or jobs in addition to
his or her employment as an emergency medical services officer
where the secondary employment requires the emergency medical
services officer to be a member of another retirement system which
is administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board
pursuant to this code: Provided, That the emergency medical
services officer contributes to the fund created in this article
the amount specified as the member's contribution in section eight of this article.
(k) "Credited service" means the sum of a member's years of
service, active military duty, disability service and accrued
annual and sick leave service.
(l) "Dependent child" means either:
(1) An unmarried person under age eighteen who is:
(A) A natural child of the member;
(B) A legally adopted child of the member;
(C) A child who at the time of the member's death was living
with the member while the member was an adopting parent during any
period of probation; or
(D) A stepchild of the member residing in the member's
household at the time of the member's death; or
(2) Any unmarried child under age twenty-three:
(A) Who is enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited
college or university;
(B) Who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of member's death; and
(C) Whose relationship with the member is described in
paragraph (A), (B) or (C), subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(m) "Dependent parent" means the father or mother of the
member who was claimed as a dependent by the member for federal
income tax purposes at the time of the member's death.
(n) "Disability service" means service received by a member, expressed in whole years, fractions thereof or both, equal to one
half of the whole years, fractions thereof, or both, during which
time a member receives disability benefits under this article.
(o) "Early retirement age" means age forty-five or over and
completion of twenty years of service.
(p) "Effective date" means the first day of January, two
thousand eight.
(q) "Emergency medical services officer" means an individual
employed by the state, county or other political subdivision as a
medical professional who is qualified to respond to medical
emergencies, aids the sick and injured and arranges or transports
to medical facilities, as defined by the West Virginia Office of
Emergency Medical Services. This definition is construed to
include employed ambulance providers and other services such as law
enforcement, rescue or fire department personnel who primarily
perform these functions and are not provided any other credited
service benefits or retirement plans. These persons may hold the
rank of emergency medical technician/basic, emergency medical
technician/paramedic, emergency medical services/registered nurse,
or others as defined by the West Virginia Office of Emergency
Medical Services and the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
(r) "Final average salary" means the average of the highest
annual compensation received for covered employment by the member
during any five consecutive plan years within the member's last ten years of service while employed, prior to any disability payment.
If the member did not have annual compensation for the five full
plan years preceding the member's attainment of normal retirement
age and during that period the member received disability benefits
under this article, then "final average salary" means the average
of the monthly salary determined paid to the member during that
period as determined under section twenty-two of this article
multiplied by twelve. "Final average salary" does not include any
lump sum payment for unused, accrued leave of any kind or
character.
(s) "Full-time employment" means permanent employment of an
employee by a participating public employer in a position which
normally requires twelve months per year service and requires at
least one thousand forty hours per year service in that position.
(t) "Fund" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services
Retirement Fund created by this article.
(u) "Hour of service" means:
(1) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during which time active duties are
performed. These hours shall be credited to the member for the
plan year in which the duties are performed; and
(2) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to
payment for covered employment during a plan year but where no
duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, incapacity including disability, layoff, jury duty, military duty, leave of
absence or any combination thereof and without regard to whether
the employment relationship has terminated. Hours under this
subdivision shall be calculated and credited pursuant to West
Virginia Division of Labor rules. A member will not be credited
with any hours of service for any period of time he or she is
receiving benefits under section nineteen or twenty of this
article; and
(3) Each hour for which back pay is either awarded or agreed
to be paid by the employing county commission or political
subdivision, irrespective of mitigation of damages. The same hours
of service shall not be credited both under subdivision (1) or (2)
of this subsection and under this subdivision. Hours under this
paragraph shall be credited to the member for the plan year or
years to which the award or agreement pertains, rather than the
plan year in which the award, agreement or payment is made.
(v) "Member" means a person first hired as an emergency
medical services officer by an employer which is a participating
public employer of the Public Employees Retirement System or the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement System after the effective
date of this article, as defined in subsection (p) of this section,
or an emergency medical services officer of an employer which is a
participating public employer of the Public Employees Retirement
System first hired prior to the effective date and who elects to become a member pursuant to this article. A member shall remain a
member until the benefits to which he or she is entitled under this
article are paid or forfeited.
(w) "Monthly salary" means the W-2 reportable compensation
received by a member during the month.
(x) "Normal form" means a monthly annuity which is one twelfth
of the amount of the member's accrued benefit which is payable for
the member's life. If the member dies before the sum of the
payments he or she receives equals his or her accumulated
contributions on the annuity starting date, the named beneficiary
shall receive in one lump sum the difference between the
accumulated contributions at the annuity starting date and the
total of the retirement income payments made to the member.
(y) "Normal retirement age" means the first to occur of the
following:
(1) Attainment of age fifty years and the completion of twenty
or more years of regular contributory service, excluding active
military duty, disability service and accrued annual and sick leave
service;
(2) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age fifty years and when the sum of current age plus regular
contributory years of service equals or exceeds seventy years;
(3) While still in covered employment, attainment of at least
age sixty years and completion of ten years of regular contributory service; or
(4) Attainment of age sixty-two years and completion of five
or more years of regular contributory service.
(z) "Political subdivision" means a county, city or town in
the state; 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; and 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: Provided,
That any public corporation established under section four, article
fifteen, chapter seven of this code is considered a political
subdivision solely for the purposes of this article.
(aa) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West
Virginia Public Employee's Retirement System created by West
Virginia Code.
(bb) "Plan" means the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System established by this article.
(cc) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period commencing on
the first day of January of any designated year and ending the
following thirty-first day of December.
(dd) "Regular interest" means the rate or rates of interest
per annum, compounded annually, as the board adopts in accordance
with the provisions of this article.
(ee) "Retirement income payments" means the monthly retirement
income payments payable under the plan.
(ff) "Spouse" means the person to whom the member is legally
married on the annuity starting date.
(gg) "Surviving spouse" means the person to whom the member
was legally married at the time of the member's death and who
survived the member.
(hh) "Totally disabled" means a member's inability to engage
in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically
determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to
result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for
a continuous period of not less than twelve months.
For purposes of this subsection:
(1) A member is totally disabled only if his or her physical
or mental impairment or impairments is so severe that he or she is
not only unable to perform his or her previous work as an emergency
medical services officer but also cannot, considering his or her
age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of
substantial gainful employment which exists in the state regardless
of whether: (A) The work exists in the immediate area in which the
member lives; (B) a specific job vacancy exists; or (C) the member
would be hired if he or she applied for work. For purposes of this
article, substantial gainful employment is the same definition as
used by the United States Social Security Administration.
(2) "Physical or mental impairment" is an impairment that
results from an anatomical, physiological or psychological
abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical and
laboratory diagnostic techniques. The board may require submission
of a member's annual tax return for purposes of monitoring the
earnings limitation.
(ii) "Required beginning date" means the first day of April of
the calendar year following the later of: (1) The calendar year in
which the member attains age seventy and one-half; or (2) the
calendar year in which he or she retires or otherwise separates
from covered employment; or (3) for members who are covered under
the Public Employees Retirement System, their service shall be
recognized upon transfer of assets from the Public Employees
Retirement System according to the provisions of section nine of
this article. Prior service for members not covered under the
Public Employees Retirement System shall be recognized only upon
repayment of amounts covered under the provisions of section six of
this article.
(jj) "Year of service" means a member shall, except in his or
her first and last years of covered employment, be credited with
years of service credit based upon the hours of service performed
as covered employment and credited to the member during the plan
year based upon the following schedule:
Hours of Service Year of Service Credited
Less than 500 ........................ 0
500 to 999 ........................... 1/3
1,000 to 1,499 ....................... 2/3
1,500 or more ........................ 1
During a member's first and last years of covered employment,
the member shall be credited with one twelfth of a year of service
for each month during the plan year in which the member is credited
with an hour of service for which contributions were received by
the fund. A member is not entitled to credit for years of service
for any time period during which he or she received disability
payments under section nineteen or twenty of this article. Except
as specifically excluded, years of service include covered
employment prior to the effective date.
Years of service which are credited to a member prior to his
or her receipt of accumulated contributions upon termination of
employment pursuant to section eighteen of this article or section
thirty, article ten, chapter five of this code, shall be
disregarded for all purposes under this plan unless the member
repays the accumulated contributions with interest pursuant to
section eighteen of this article or has prior to the effective date
made the repayment pursuant to section eighteen, article ten,
chapter five of this code.
§16-5V-6. Members.
(a) Any emergency medical services officer first employed by a county or political subdivision in covered employment after the
effective date of this article shall be a member of this retirement
plan as a condition of employment and upon membership does not
qualify for membership in any other retirement system administered
by the board, so long as he or she remains employed in covered
employment.
(b) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered
employment by an employer which is currently a participating public
employer of the Public Employees Retirement System shall notify in
writing both the county commission in the county or officials in
their political subdivision in which he or she is employed and the
board of his or her desire to become a member of the plan by the
thirty-first day of December, two thousand seven. Any emergency
medical services officer who elects to become a member of the plan
ceases to be a member or have any credit for covered employment in
any other retirement system administered by the board and shall
continue to be ineligible for membership in any other retirement
system administered by the board so long as the emergency medical
services officer remains employed in covered employment by an
employer which is currently a participating public employer of this
plan:
Provided, That any emergency medical services officer who
does not affirmatively elect to become a member of the plan
continues to be eligible for any other retirement system as is,
from time to time, offered to other county employees but is ineligible for this plan regardless of any subsequent termination
of employment and rehire.
(c) Any emergency medical services officer who was employed as
an emergency medical services officer prior to the effective date,
but was not employed on the effective date of this article, shall
become a member upon rehire as an emergency medical services
officer. For purposes of this section, the member's years of
service and credited service prior to the effective date shall not
be counted for any purposes under this plan unless: (1) The
emergency medical services officer has not received the return of
his or her accumulated contributions in the Public Employees
Retirement Fund System pursuant to section thirty, article ten,
chapter five of this code; or (2) the accumulated contributions
returned to the member from the Public Employees Retirement System
have been repaid pursuant to this article. If the conditions of
subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection are met, all years of the
emergency medical services officer's covered employment shall be
counted as years of service for the purposes of this article.
(d) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered
employment on the effective date of this article who has timely
elected to transfer into this plan as provided in subsection (b) of
this section shall be given credited service at the time of
transfer for all credited service then standing to the emergency
medical services officer's service credit in the Public Employees Retirement System regardless of whether the credited service (as
that term is defined in section two, article ten, chapter five of
this code) was earned as an emergency medical services officer.
All credited service standing to the transferring emergency medical
services officer's credit in the Public Employees Retirement System
at the time of transfer into this plan shall be transferred into
the plan created by this article and the transferring emergency
medical services officer shall be given the same credit for the
purposes of this article for all service transferred from the
Public Employees Retirement System as that transferring emergency
medical services officer would have received from the Public
Employees Retirement System as if the transfer had not occurred.
In connection with each transferring emergency medical services
officer receiving credit for prior employment as provided in this
subsection, a transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System
to this plan shall be made pursuant to the procedures described in
this article:
Provided, That any member of this plan who has
elected to transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System
into this plan pursuant to subsection (b) of this section may not,
after having transferred into and becoming an active member of this
plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service
credit relating to periods in which the member was not in covered
employment as an emergency medical services officer and which
service was withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(e) Once made, the election made under this section is
irrevocable. All emergency medical services officers employed by
an employer which is a participating public employer of the Public
Employees Retirement System after the effective date and emergency
medical services officers electing to become members as described
in this section shall be members as a condition of employment and
shall make the contributions required by this article.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, any
individual who is a leased employee is not eligible to participate
in the plan. For purposes of this plan, a "leased employee" means
any individual who performs services as an independent contractor
or pursuant to an agreement with an employee leasing organization
or similar organization. If a question arises regarding the status
of an individual as a leased employee, the board has final power to
decide the question.
§16-5V-8. Members' contributions; employer contributions.
There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each member
and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary. Any active member who has
concurrent employment in an additional job or jobs and the
additional employment requires the emergency medical services
officer to be a member of another retirement system which is
administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this code shall contribute to the
fund the sum of eight and one-half percent of his or her monthly
salary earned as an emergency medical services officer as well as
the sum of eight and one-half percent of his or her monthly salary
earned from any additional employment which additional employment
requires the emergency medical services officer to be a member of
another retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated
Public Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of
this code. An additional ten and one-half percent of the monthly
salary of each member shall be paid to the fund by the concurrent
employer by which the member is employed. All required deposits
shall be remitted to the board no later than fifteen days following
the end of the calendar month for which the deposits are required.
If the board upon the recommendation of the board actuary finds
that the benefits provided by this article can be actuarially
funded with a lesser contribution, then the board shall reduce the
required member and employer contributions proportionally. Any
county commission or political subdivision which fails to make any
payment due the Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund by the
fifteenth day following the end of each calendar month in which
contributions are due may be required to pay the actuarial rate of
interest lost on the total amount owed for each day the payment is
delinquent. Accrual of the loss of earnings owed by the delinquent
county commission or political subdivision commences after the fifteenth day following the end of the calendar month in which
contributions are due and continues until receipt of the delinquent
amount. Interest compounds daily and the minimum surcharge is
fifty dollars.
§16-5V-9. Transfer from Public Employees Retirement System.
(a) The Consolidated Public Retirement Board shall, within one
hundred eighty days of the effective date of the transfer of an
emergency medical services officer from the Public Employees
Retirement System to the plan, transfer assets from the Public
Employees Retirement System Trust Fund into the West Virginia
Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund.
(b) The amount of assets to be transferred for each
transferring emergency medical services officer shall be computed
as of the first day of January, two thousand eight, using the first
day of July, two thousand seven, actuarial valuation of the Public
Employees Retirement System, and updated with seven and one-half
percent annual interest to the date of the actual asset transfer.
The market value of the assets of the transferring emergency
medical services officer in the Public Employees Retirement System
shall be determined as of the end of the month preceding the actual
transfer. To determine the computation of the asset share to be
transferred the board shall:
(1) Compute the market value of the Public Employees
Retirement System assets as of the first day of July, two thousand seven, actuarial valuation date under the actuarial valuation
approved by the board;
(2) Compute the actuarial accrued liabilities for all Public
Employees Retirement System retirees, beneficiaries, disabled
retirees and terminated inactive members as of the first day of
July, two thousand seven, actuarial valuation date;
(3) Compute the market value of active member assets in the
Public Employees Retirement System as of the first day of July, two
thousand seven, by reducing the assets value under subdivision (1)
of this subsection by the inactive liabilities under subdivision
(2) of this subsection;
(4) Compute the actuarial accrued liability for all active
Public Employees Retirement System members as of the first day of
July, two thousand seven, actuarial valuation date approved by the
board;
(5) Compute the funded percentage of the active members'
actuarial accrued liabilities under the Public Employees Retirement
System as of the first day of July, two thousand seven, by dividing
the active members' market value of assets under subdivision (3) of
this subsection by the active members' actuarial accrued
liabilities under subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(6) Compute the actuarial accrued liabilities under the Public
Employees Retirement System as of the first day of July, two
thousand seven, for active emergency medical services officers transferring to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System;
(7) Determine the assets to be transferred from the Public
Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System by multiplying the active members' funded
percentage determined under subdivision (5) of this subsection by
the transferring active members' actuarial accrued liabilities
under the Public Employees Retirement System under subdivision (6)
of this subsection and adjusting the asset transfer amount by
interest at seven and five-tenths percent for the period from the
calculation date of the first day of July, two thousand seven,
through the first day of the month in which the asset transfer is
to be completed.
(c) Once an emergency medical services officer has elected to
transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System, transfer of
that amount as calculated in accordance with the provisions of
subsection (b) of this section by the Public Employees Retirement
System shall operate as a complete bar to any further liability to
the Public Employees Retirement System and constitutes an agreement
whereby the transferring emergency medical services officer forever
indemnifies and holds harmless the Public Employees Retirement
System from providing him or her any form of retirement benefit
whatsoever until that emergency medical services officer obtains
other employment which would make him or her eligible to reenter
the Public Employees Retirement System with no credit whatsoever for the amounts transferred to the Emergency Medical Services
Retirement System.
(d) Eligible emergency medical services officers that transfer
from plans other than the Public Employees Retirement System shall
have service recognized under this plan through the purchase of the
service through payment by the member of sixty percent of the
actuarial accrued liabilities which would result if the service is
credited under the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System
subject to the following:
(1) The service may be purchased in one-year increments of
eligible service or for the total period of eligible service;
(2) Payment must begin within twelve months of the effective
date of this article;
(3) Payment must be made in either a one-time lump sum payment
received by the board no later than the thirty-first day of
December, two thousand eight, or in regular installment payments
payable over sixty months with the initial installment received by
the board on or before the thirty-first day of December, two
thousand eight;
(4) The rate of interest applicable to regular installment
payments for the purchase of service shall be the actuarial
interest rate assumption as approved by the board for completing
the actuarial valuation for the plan year immediately preceding the
first day of the plan year in which the service purchase is made, compounded per annum;
(5) Once payments commence, selection of the period of service
being purchased may not be amended; and
(6) Service will be credited only upon receipt by the board of
all payments due.
§16-5V-14. Direct rollovers.
This section applies to distributions made on or after the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary that
would otherwise limit a distributee's election under this plan, a
distributee may elect, at the time and in the manner prescribed by
the board, to have any portion of an eligible rollover distribution
paid directly to an eligible retirement plan specified by the
distributee in a direct rollover. For purposes of this section,
the following definitions apply:
(1) "Eligible rollover distribution" means any distribution of
all or any portion of the balance to the credit of the distributee,
except that an eligible rollover distribution does not include any
of the following: (A) Any distribution that is one of a series of
substantially equal periodic payments not less frequently than
annually made for the life or life expectancy of the distributee or
the joint lives or the joint life expectancies of the distributee
and the distributee's designated beneficiary, or for a specified
period of ten years or more; (B) any distribution to the extent the distribution is required under Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal
Revenue Code; (C) the portion of any distribution that is not
includable in gross income determined without regard to the
exclusion for net unrealized appreciation with respect to employer
securities; and (D) any hardship distribution described in Section
401(k) (2) (B) (i) (iv) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(2) "Eligible retirement plan" means an individual retirement
account described in Section 408(a) of the Internal Revenue Code,
an individual retirement annuity described in Section 408(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code, an annuity plan described in Section 403(a)
of the Internal Revenue Code or a qualified plan described in
Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code that accepts the
distributee's eligible rollover distribution:
Provided, That in the
case of an eligible rollover distribution to the surviving spouse,
an eligible retirement plan is an individual retirement account or
individual retirement annuity.
(3) "Distributee" means an employee or former employee. In
addition, the employee's or former employee's surviving spouse and
the employee's or former employee's spouse or former spouse who is
the alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order, as
defined in Section 414(p) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect
to governmental plans, are distributees with regard to the interest
of the spouse or former spouse.
(4) "Direct rollover" means a payment by the plan to the eligible retirement plan.
§16-5V-18. Refunds to certain members upon discharge or
resignation; deferred retirement; forfeitures.
(a) Any member who terminates covered employment and is not
eligible to receive disability benefits under this article is, by
written request filed with the board, entitled to receive from the
fund the member's accumulated contributions. Except as provided in
subsection (b) of this section, upon withdrawal, the member shall
forfeit his or her accrued benefit and cease to be a member.
(b) Any member who ceases employment in covered employment and
active participation in this plan and who thereafter becomes
reemployed in covered employment may not receive any credited
service for any prior withdrawn accumulated contributions from
either this plan or the Public Employees Retirement System unless
following his or her return to covered employment and active
participation in this plan, the member redeposits in the fund the
amount of the accumulated contributions withdrawn from previous
covered employment, together with interest on the accumulated
contributions at the rate determined by the board from the date of
withdrawal to the date of redeposit. Upon repayment he or she
shall receive the same credit on account of his or her former
covered employment as if no refund had been made.
The repayment authorized by this subsection shall be made in
a lump sum within sixty months of the emergency medical services officer's reemployment in covered employment or, if later, within
sixty months of the effective date of this article.
(c) A member of this plan who has elected to transfer from the
Public Employees Retirement System into this plan pursuant to
subsection (b), section six of this article may not, after having
transferred into and become an active member of this plan,
reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service credit
relating to periods of nonemergency medical services officer
service withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior
to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(d) Every member who completes sixty months of covered
employment is eligible, upon cessation of covered employment, to
either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions in accordance
with this section or to choose not to withdraw his or her
accumulated contribution and to receive retirement income payments
upon attaining early or normal retirement age.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
forfeitures under the plan may not be applied to increase the
benefits any member would otherwise receive under the plan.
§16-5V-19. Awards and benefits for disability -- Duty related.
(a) Any member who after the effective date of this article
and during covered employment: (1) Has been or becomes totally
disabled by injury, illness or disease; and (2) the disability is
a result of an occupational risk or hazard inherent in or peculiar to the services required of members; or (3) the disability was
incurred while performing emergency medical services functions
during either scheduled work hours or at any other time; and (4) in
the opinion of two physicians after medical examination, one of
whom shall be named by the board, the member is by reason of the
disability unable to perform adequately the duties required of an
emergency medical services officer, is entitled to receive and
shall be paid from the fund in monthly installments during the
lifetime of the member or, if sooner, until the member attains
normal retirement age or until the disability sooner terminates,
the compensation under this section.
(b) If the member is totally disabled, the member shall
receive ninety percent of his or her average full monthly
compensation for the twelve-month period preceding the member's
disability or the shorter period if the member has not worked
twelve months.
(c) If the member remains totally disabled until attaining
sixty-five years of age, the member shall then receive the
retirement benefit provided in sections sixteen and seventeen of
this article.
§16-5V-25. Additional death benefits and scholarships --
Dependent children.
(a) In addition to the spouse death benefits in this article,
the surviving spouse is entitled to receive and there shall be paid to the spouse one hundred dollars monthly for each dependent child.
(b) If the surviving spouse dies or if there is no surviving
spouse, the fund shall pay monthly to each dependent child a sum
equal to one hundred percent of the spouse's entitlement under this
article divided by the number of dependent children. If there is
neither a surviving spouse nor a dependent child, the fund shall
pay in equal monthly installments to the dependent parents of the
deceased member during their joint lifetimes a sum equal to the
amount which a surviving spouse, without children, would have
received:
Provided, That when there is only one dependent parent
surviving, that parent is entitled to receive during his or her
lifetime one-half the amount which both parents, if living, would
have been entitled to receive:
Provided,
however, That if there is
no surviving spouse, dependent child or dependent parent of the
deceased member, the accumulated contributions shall be paid to a
named beneficiary or beneficiaries:
Provided further, That if there
is no surviving spouse, dependent child or dependent parent of the
deceased member, or any named beneficiary or beneficiaries, then
the accumulated contributions shall be paid to the estate of the
deceased member.
(c) Any person qualifying as a dependent child under this
section, in addition to any other benefits due under this or other
sections of this article, is entitled to receive a scholarship to
be applied to the career development education of that person. This sum, up to but not exceeding six thousand dollars per year,
shall be paid from the fund to any university or college in this
state or to any trade or vocational school or other entity in this
State approved by the board to offset the expenses of tuition, room
and board, books, fees or other costs incurred in a course of study
at any of these institutions so long as the recipient makes
application to the board on an approved form and under rules
provided by the board and maintains scholastic eligibility as
defined by the institution or the board. The board may propose
legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code which define age
requirements, physical and mental requirements, scholastic
eligibility, disbursement methods, institutional qualifications and
other requirements as necessary and not inconsistent with this
section.
§16-5V-32. Effective date; report to Joint Committee on
Government and Finance; special starting date for
benefits.
(a) The provisions of this article become effective the first
day of January, two thousand eight:
Provided, That no payout of any
benefits may be made to any person prior to the first day of
January, two thousand eleven:
Provided, however, That emergency
medical services officers who retire due to a duty disability
pursuant to this article may begin receiving the benefits at the rate and in the amount specified in this article from this fund
after the thirtieth day of June, two thousand eight:
Provided
further, That until the thirtieth day of June, two thousand eight,
those emergency medical services officers who retire due to a duty
disability pursuant to this article may draw benefits from this
fund at the rate and in the amount set forth in section
twenty-five, article ten, chapter five of this code.
(b) During the 36-month period before the payout of benefits
begins, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance shall cause
an interim study or studies to be conducted on the potential
effects of the implementation of this retirement system, including,
but not limited to, potential funding mechanisms to provide health
insurance coverage for retirees in the fifty to fifty-five age
group:
Provided, That after the effective date of this provision,
the Director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency shall propose
a rule for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions
of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the
funding of health insurance coverage for retirees under the plan
provided in this article who are in the fifty to fifty-five year
age group, which rule may be filed as an emergency rule:
Provided,
however, That any rule filed as an emergency rule pursuant to this
subsection shall be refiled at the earliest opportunity as a
legislative rule for review and promulgation in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.