Senate Bill No. 120
(By Senators Wehrle and Manchin)
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[Introduced February 24, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections twenty-seven, twenty-seven-
a, twenty-eight, thirty-five and thirty-seven, article two,
chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend
said article by adding thereto a new section designated
section forty, all relating to the division of public safety
death, disability and retirement fund; retirement awards and
benefits; retirement annual annuity adjustments;
availability of military service credit; benefits to
dependents of a member; refunds of contributions to members
upon discharge or resignation; deferred retirement; and
utilization of accumulated annual and sick leave by newly
hired members.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections twenty-seven, twenty-seven-a, twenty-eight,
thirty-five and thirty-seven, article two, chapter fifteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, asamended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be
further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section forty, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
§15-2-27. Retirement; awards and benefits.
(a) The retirement board shall retire any member of the
department of public safety when the member has both attained the
age of fifty-five years and completed twenty-five years of
service as a member of the department, including military service
credit granted under the provisions of section twenty-eight of
this article.
(b) The retirement board shall retire any member of the
department of public safety who has lodged with the secretary of
the retirement board his voluntary petition in writing for
retirement, and:
(1) Has or shall have completed twenty-five years of service
as a member of the department (including military service credit
granted under the provisions of section twenty-eight of this
article);
(2) Has or shall have attained the age of fifty years and
has or shall have completed twenty years of service as a member
of the department (excluding military service credit granted
under section twenty-eight of this article); or
(3) Being under the age of fifty years has or shall have
completed twenty years of service as a member of the department
(excluding military service credit granted under section twenty-eight of this article).
(c) When the retirement board retires any member under any
of the provisions of this section, the board shall, by order in
writing, make an award directing that the member shall be
entitled to receive annually and that there shall be paid to the
member from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal
monthly installments during the natural lifetime of the member
while in status of retirement one or the other of two amounts,
whichever is the greater:
(1) An amount equal to five and one-half percent of the
aggregate of salary paid to the member during the whole period
of service as a member of the department of public safety; or
(2) The sum of six thousand dollars.
When a member has or shall have served twenty years or
longer but less than twenty-five years as a member of the
department and shall be retired under any of the provisions of
this section before he shall have attained the age of fifty
years, payment of monthly installments of the amount of
retirement award to such member shall commence on the date he
attains the age of fifty years.
(d) As an alternative to the provisions of subsection (c) of
this section, a member who was hired before the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, may elect to
receive an annuity equal to three and four-tenths percent of his
or her final average salary multiplied by the number of years,
and fraction of a year, of his or her credited service in thedepartment at the time of retirement as determined under the
provisions of subsection (b) of this section.
(e) For all members who are hired on or after the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the following
provisions govern their retirement and they are not subject to
the provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this
section.
A member may retire with full benefits upon attaining the
age of fifty-five and completing twenty or more years of service.
A member who is less than age fifty-five may retire upon
completing twenty years or more of service but will receive an
act
uarial
ly reduced benefit that is equivalent to the benefit the
member would have received if the member had retired with the
same number of years of service upon attaining the age of
fifty-five.
When the retirement board retires a member with full
benefits under the provisions of this section, the board, by
order in writing, shall make an award that the member is entitled
to receive on annuity equal to three and one-tenths percent of
his or her final average salary multiplied by the number of
years, and fraction of a year, of his or her service in the
department at the time of retirement. The member may select to
receive one of the options provided in section thirty-five of
this article.
(f) For the purposes of this section "final average salary"
means the average of the highest annual salaries received by themember during any five years within the member's last ten years
of service.
§15-2-27a. Retirement annual annuity adjustments.
(a) Every member of the department of public safety who is
fifty-six years of age or older and who is retired by the
retirement board
before the effective day of the amendment of
this section in one thousand nine hundred ninety-three shall be
eligible to receive an annual retirement annuity adjustment equal
to three and seventy-five hundredths percent of their retirement
award. Such adjustments shall not be retroactive. Yearly
adjustments shall begin upon the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-eight. The annuity adjustments shall be
awarded and paid to the members from the death, disability and
retirement fund in equal monthly installments while the member is
in status of retirement. The annuity adjustments shall
supplement the retirement awards and benefits as provided in this
article.
Every member retired by the retirement board and receiving
from the death, disability and retirement fund an amount equal
to more than eight percent of the total salary which would have
been earned by such member during twenty-five years of service or
actual service if more than twenty-five years of service in said
department based on the average earnings of such member while
employed as a member of said department, shall be eligible to
receive the retirement annuity adjustment at the time such member
attains the age of sixty-five years or older. The annuityadjustments shall be paid to the members beneficiaries during
the period that the members beneficiaries have attained fifty-six
years of age or older and are receiving a payment or an award
from the death, disability and retirement fund. The annuity
adjustments shall supplement the retirement awards and benefits
as provided in this article.
(b) Every member who retires on and after the effective day
of the amendment of this section in one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three and attains the age of sixty-three years of age or
older is eligible to receive an annual retirement annuity
adjustment equal to two percent of his or her retirement award.
The annuity adjustments shall be awarded and paid to the members
from the death, disability and retirement fund in equal monthly
installments while the member is in status of retirement. The
annual annuity adjustment shall commence on the first day of July
of the year in which the members attains the age of sixty-three.
If the member dies prior to attaining the age of sixty-three
years, the annuity adjustments shall be paid to the beneficiary
of such member if the beneficiary is otherwise eligible to
receive an award from the death, disability and retirement fund:
Provided, That if the member dies after commencement of the
annual annuity adjustment, the beneficiary shall continue to
receive the annual adjustment regardless of the beneficiary's
age. The annuity adjustments shall supplement the retirement
awards and benefits as provided in this article.
§15-2-28. Credit toward retirement for member's prior military service; credit toward retirement when member has
joined armed forces in time of armed conflict.
(a) For purposes of this section, the term "active military
duty" means full-time active duty with the armed forces of the
United States, namely, the United States air force, army, coast
guard, marines or navy; and service with the national guard or
reserve military forces of any of such armed forces when the
member has been called to active full-time duty and has received
no compensation during the period of such duty from any person
other than the armed forces.
(b) Any member of the department who has previously served
on active military duty shall be entitled to and receive credit
on the minimum period of service required by law for retirement
pay from the service of the department of public safety under the
provisions of this article for a period equal to the active
military duty not to exceed five years, subject to the following:
(1) That he has been honorably discharged from the armed
forces;
(2) That he substantiates by appropriate documentation or
evidence his period of active military duty;
(3) That he is receiving no benefits from any other
retirement system for his active military duty; and
(4) That, except with respect to disability retirement pay
awarded under section thirty of this article, he has actually
served with the department for twenty years exclusive of his
active military duty.
The amount of retirement pay to which any such member is
entitled shall be calculated and determined as if he had been
receiving for the period of his active military duty a monthly
salary from the department equal to the average monthly salary
which he actually received from the department for his total
service with the department exclusive of the active military
duty. The superintendent is authorized to transfer and pay into
the death, disability and retirement fund from moneys
appropriated for the department a sum equal to eighteen percent
of the aggregate of the salaries on which the retirement pay of
all such members has been calculated and determined for their
periods of active military duty. In addition, any person who
while a member of the department was commissioned, enlisted or
inducted into the armed forces of the United States or, being a
member of the reserve officers' corps, was called to active duty
in said armed forces between the first day of September, one
thousand nine hundred forty, and the close of hostilities in
World War II, or between the twenty-seventh day of June, one
thousand nine hundred fifty, and the close of the armed conflict
in Korea on the twenty-seventh day of July, one thousand nine
hundred fifty-three, between the first day of August, one
thousand nine hundred sixty-four and the close of the armed
conflict in Vietnam, or during any other period of armed conflict
by the United States whether sanctioned by a declaration of war
by the Congress or by executive or other order of the president,
shall be entitled to and receive credit on the minimum period ofservice required by law for retirement pay from the service of
the department of public safety for a period equal to the full
time he has or shall, pursuant to such commission, enlistment,
induction or call, have served with said armed forces subject to
the following:
(1) That he has been honorably discharged from the armed
forces;
(2) That within ninety days after honorable discharge from
the armed forces he has presented himself to the superintendent
and offered to resume service as an active member of the
department; and
(3) That he has made no voluntary act, whether by
reenlistment, waiver of discharge, acceptance of commission or
otherwise, to extend or participate in extension of the period of
service with the armed forces beyond the period of service for
which he was originally commissioned, enlisted, inducted or
called.
That amount of retirement pay to which any such member shall
be entitled shall be calculated and determined as if the member
has continued in the active service of the department at the rank
or grade to him appertaining at the time of such commission,
induction, enlistment or call, during a period coextensive with
the time the member served with the armed forces pursuant to the
commission, induction, enlistment or call. The superintendent of
the department is authorized to transfer and pay each month into
the death, disability and retirement fund from moneysappropriated for the department a sum equal to eighteen percent
of the aggregate of salary which all such members would have been
entitled to receive had they continued in the active service of
the department during a period coextensive with the time such
members served with the armed forces pursuant to the commission,
induction, enlistment or call:
Provided, That the total amount
of military service credit allowable under this section shall not
exceed five years.
(c) No member hired on or after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-three may receive credit for any
prior military service for purposes of calculating the retirement
benefit or required years of service requirement for retirement
benefits under this article.
§15-2-35. Awards and benefits to dependents of member --
When
member dies after retirement or after serving twenty years.
(a) When any member of said department has heretofore
completed or hereafter shall complete twenty years of service or
longer as a member of said department and has died or shall die
from any cause or causes other than those specified in this
article before having been retired by the retirement board, and
when a member in retirement status has died or shall die after
having been retired by the retirement board under the provisions
of this article, there shall be paid annually in equal monthly
installments from said fund to the surviving spouse of said
member, commencing on the date of the death of said member and
continuing during the lifetime or until remarriage of saidsurviving spouse an amount equal to three-fourths the retirement
benefits said deceased member was receiving while in status of
retirement, or would have been entitled to receive to the same
effect as if such member had been retired under the provisions of
this article immediately prior to the time of his death and in no
event to be less than five thousand dollars and in addition
thereto said surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive and
there shall be paid to such surviving spouse from said fund the
sum of one hundred dollars monthly for each dependent child or
children. If such surviving spouse die, or remarry, or if there
be no surviving spouse there shall be paid monthly from said fund
to each dependent child or children of said deceased member a sum
equal to twenty-five percent of the surviving spouse's
entitlement. If there be no surviving spouse or no surviving
spouse eligible to receive benefits and no dependent child or
children there shall be paid annually in equal monthly
installments from said fund to the dependent parents of said
deceased member during their joint lifetimes a sum equal to the
amount which a surviving spouse without children would have been
entitled to receive:
Provided, That when there shall be but one
dependent parent surviving, such parent shall be entitled to
receive during his or her lifetime one half the amount which both
parents, if living, would have been entitled to receive.
(b) For all members hired after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the survivor benefits shall
be the same as in subsection (a) of this section except for thesurviving spouse benefit which shall be two thirds of the
retirement benefits as defined in subsection (a). The member may
choose a higher percentage of surviving spouse benefits by taking
an actuarially
determined reduced initial benefit so that the
chosen spouse benefit and initial benefit would be actuarially
equivalent to the normal spouse benefit and initial benefit. The
retirement board shall design these benefit options and provide
them as choices for the member to select. For the purposes of
this subsection "initial benefit" means the benefit received by
the member upon retirement.
§15-2-37. Refunds to certain members upon discharge or
resignation; deferred retirement.
(a) Any member who shall be discharged by order of the
superintendent
or shall otherwise terminate employment with the
division after such member has or shall have served two full
years or more as a member of said department shall, at the
written request of such member
to the retirement board, be
entitled to receive from
the retirement said fund a sum equal to
the aggregate of the principal amount of moneys deducted from the
salary of such member and paid into said death, disability and
retirement fund
plus four percent interest thereon calculated
annually as provided and required by this article.
Provided,
That the superintendent shall forthwith refund to any member who
has or shall have served more than two but less than twenty years
as a member of said department and has resigned or shall resign
or who has been or shall be discharged from the service forcause, a sum equal to the aggregate of the principal amount of
all moneys deducted from the salary of such member and paid into
said fund as aforesaid: Provided further, That if any such
refund shall be made to any member, such member shall not be
entitled to any benefits provided by this article, and should
(b) Any
such member
withdrawing contributions who may
thereafter be
again enlisted reenlisted as a member of
said
department the division, no shall not receive any prior service
credit
or any period of service required of a member as a
condition of retirement shall be allowed to such member on
account of such former service, unless following such
reenlistment such member shall redeposit in said fund the amount
of the refund, together with interest thereon at the rate of four
percent per annum from the date of withdrawal to the date of
redeposit, in which case he shall receive the same credit on
account of his former service as if no refund had been made.
When any member has or shall have served as a member of said
department during twenty years or longer and shall, in the
opinion of the superintendent, become unfit for any reason for
further active service such member shall, in lieu of being
discharged, be retired by the retirement board under the
provision or provisions of this article most favorable to such
member.
(c)
Every member who completes ten years of service with the
division of public safety is eligible, upon separation of
employment with the division, to withdraw his or hercontributions in accordance with subsection (a) of this section
or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contributions
with interest and upon attainment of age sixty-two such member
will be eligible to receive a deferred actuarially
calculated
retirement annuity. Any member choosing to receive the deferred
annuity under this subsection is not eligible to receive the
annual annuity adjustment provided in section twenty-seven-a of
this article.
§15-2-40. Utilization of accumulated annual and sick leave for
extension of insurance coverage.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (e),
section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter fifteen of this code,
a member hired after the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, may only use his or her accumulated annual
and sick leave upon retirement in accordance with the provisions
of this section.
When a member who is a participating employee under the
public employees insurance program is compelled or required by
law to retire before reaching the age of sixty-five, or when such
a participating employee voluntarily retires as provided by law,
that employee's annual leave or sick leave, if any, shall be
credited toward one half of the premium cost if such premium is
required to be paid for coverage of the member or the member's
dependents, of the insurance provided by article sixteen, chapter
five of this code for periods and scope of coverage determined
according to the following formulae: (1) One additional month ofsingle retiree coverage for every two days of annual leave or
sick leave, or both, which the employee had accrued as of the
effective date of his or her retirement; or (2) one additional
month of coverage for a retiree, his or her spouse and dependents
for every three days of annual leave or sick leave, or both,
which the employee had accrued as of the effective date of his or
her retirement. The remaining premium cost shall be borne by
such retired employee if he or she elects such coverage.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make changes to the
death, disability and retirement fund of the Division of Public
Safety to partially address the actuarial deficit of the fund.
An alternative annuity computation based upon final average
salary (FAS) is provided for present members. All members hired
after July 1, 1993, will have their annuities calculated under a
FAS formula with a normal retirement age of 55. For all members
who retire after the effective date of this bill, the retirement
annuity adjustment will begin at age 63 and will be 2% per year.
Persons hired after July 1, 1993, will not receive retirement
credit for military service and their dependent spouse benefits
will be two thirds of their retirement benefits when they die
after retirement or after serving 20 years except that they may
choose an increased spouse benefit with an actuarially reduced
initial benefit. Any member who leaves the division before
retirement is entitled to receive his or her contributions to
the fund plus four percent interest calculated annually. If the
member has completed ten or more years of service, the member may
elect to receive a deferred retirement annuity beginning at age
62. Any member hired after July 1, 1993, upon retirement will
only be allowed to use any accumulated annual and sick leave for
the extension of public employee insurance coverage and not for
an enhanced retirement benefit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§15-2-40 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
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