Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2288%20intr.htm&yr=2005&sesstype=RS&i=2288
Timestamp: 2018-02-24 16:24:52
Document Index: 607223149

Matched Legal Cases: ['§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7']

HB 2288 Text
Introduced Version House Bill 2288 History
(By Delegates Stemple and Boggs)
[Introduced February 14, 2005 ; referred to the
A BILL to amend and reenact §7-14D-2, §7-14D-3, §7-14D-4, §7-14D-5, §7-14D-7, §7-14D-8, §7-14D-8a, §7-14D-13, §7-14D-15, §7-14D-16 and §7-14D-18 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §7-14E-1 of said code, all relating to including conservation officers into the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System Act.
That §7-14D-2, §7-14D-3, §7-14D-4, §7-14D-5, §7-14D-7, §7-14D-8, §7-14D-8a, §7-14D-13, §7-14D-15, §7-14D-16 and §7-14D-18 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §7-14E-1 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
(j) "Conservation officers" means persons employed as full-time salaried conservation officers by the Division of Natural Resources whose duties as conservation officers are outlined in section four, article seven, chapter twenty of this code. This definition may not be considered to include any person or persons appointed as special or emergency conservation officers under the authority of section one, article seven, chapter twenty of this code.
(j) (k) "County commission" has the meaning ascribed to it in section one, article one, chapter seven of this code.
(k) (l) "Covered employment" means either: (1) Employment as a deputy sheriff and the active performance of the duties required of a deputy sheriff; or (2) the period of time which active duties are not performed but disability benefits are received under section fourteen or fifteen of this article; or (3) concurrent employment by a deputy sheriff in a job or jobs in addition to his or her employment as a deputy sheriff where the secondary employment requires the deputy sheriff to be a member of another retirement system which is administered by the consolidated public retirement board pursuant to article ten-d of chapter five of this code: Provided, That the deputy sheriff contribute to the fund created in section six of this article the amount specified as the deputy sheriff's contribution in section seven of this article.
(l) (m) "Credited service" means the sum of a member's years of service, active military duty, disability service and annual leave service.
(m) (n) "Deputy sheriff" means an individual employed as a county law-enforcement deputy sheriff in this state and as defined by section two, article fourteen, chapter seven of this code.
(n) (o) "Dependent child" means either:
(o) (p) "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.
(p) (q) "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 section fourteen or fifteen of this article.
(q) (r) "Early retirement age" means age forty or over and completion of twenty years of service.
(r) (s) "Effective date" means the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight.
(s) (t) "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. 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 section fourteen or fifteen of 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 seventeen of this article multiplied by twelve.
(t) (u) "Fund" means the West Virginia deputy sheriff retirement fund created pursuant to section six of this article.
(u) (v) "Hour of service" means:
(v) (w) "Member" means a person first hired as a deputy sheriff after the effective date of this article, as defined in subsection (r) of this section, or any conservation officer who was first hired after the effective date of this amendment, or a deputy sheriff first hired prior to the effective date of this section or a conservation officer who was first hired prior to the effective date of this amendment and who elects to become a member pursuant to section five or section seventeen of 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) (x) "Monthly salary" means the portion of a member's annual compensation which is paid to him or her per month.
(x) (y) "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) (z) "Normal retirement age" means the first to occur of the following:
(z) (aa) "Partially disabled" means a member's inability to engage in the duties of deputy sheriff by reason of any medically determinable 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. A member may be determined partially disabled for the purposes of this article and maintain the ability to engage in other gainful employment which exists within the State but which ability would not enable him or her to earn an amount at least equal to two thirds of the average annual compensation earned by all active members of this plan during the plan year ending as of the most recent thirtieth day of June, as of which plan data has been assembled and used for the actuarial valuation of the plan.
(aa) (bb) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created by article ten, chapter five of this code.
(bb) (cc) "Plan" means the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff Death, Disability and Retirement Plan established by this article.
(cc) (dd) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period commencing on the first day of July of any designated year and ending the following thirtieth day of June.
(dd) (ee) "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) (ff) "Retirement income payments" means the annual retirement income payments payable under the plan.
(ff) (gg) "Spouse" means the person to whom the member is legally married on the annuity starting date.
(gg) (hh) "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) (ii) "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.
(ii) (jj) "Year of service." A member shall, except in his or her first and last years of covered employment, be credited with year 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:
(jj) (kk) "Required beginning date" means the first day of April of the calendar year following the later of: (i) The calendar year in which the member attains age seventy and one-half; or (ii) the calendar year in which he or she retires or otherwise separates from covered employment.
There is hereby created the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff's Retirement System. The purpose of this system is to provide for the orderly retirement of deputy sheriffs and conservation officers who become superannuated because of age or permanent disability and to provide certain survivor death benefits. The retirement system constitutes a body corporate. All business of the system shall be is transacted in the name of the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff's Retirement System. The Board shall specify and adopt all actuarial assumptions for the plan at its first meeting of every calendar year or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, which assumptions shall become part of the plan.
(a) The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed so as to provide a general retirement system for deputy sheriffs and conservation officers eligible to retire under the provisions of this plan. Nothing in this article may be construed to permit a county to substitute this plan for federal social security now in force in West Virginia.
(a) Any deputy sheriff first employed by a county in covered employment after the effective date of this article or any conservation officer first employed by the State in covered employment after the effective date of this amendment shall be a member of this retirement system and plan and 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 deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on the effective date of this article shall within six months of that effective date notify in writing both the county commission in the county in which he or she is employed and the board of his or her desire to become a member of the plan: Provided, That this time period is extended to the thirtieth day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, in accordance with the decision of the
Supreme Court of Appeals in West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs' Association, et al v. James L. Sims, et al, No. 25212: Provided, however, That any deputy sheriff employed in covered employment on the effective date of this article has an additional time period consisting of the ten-day period following the day after which the
amended provisions of this section become law to notify in writing both the county commission in the county in which he or she is employed and the board of his or her desire to become a member of the plan. Any deputy sheriff 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 deputy sheriff remains employed in covered employment in this plan: Provided further, That any deputy sheriff who elects during the time period from the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, to the thirtieth day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, or who so elects during the ten-day time period occurring immediately following the day after the day the amendments made during the one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine legislative session become law, to transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System to the plan created in this article shall contribute to the plan created in this article at the rate set forth in section seven of this article retroactive to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. Any deputy sheriff 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 deputy sheriff who was employed as a deputy sheriff prior to the effective date, but was not employed as a deputy sheriff on the effective date of this article, shall become a member upon rehire as a deputy sheriff. 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 deputy sheriff 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 section thirteen of this article. If the conditions of subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection are met, all years of the deputy sheriff's covered employment shall be counted as years of service for the purposes of this article. Each transferring deputy sheriff shall be given credited service for the purposes of this article for all covered employment transferred from 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 a deputy sheriff. All service in the Public Employees Retirement System accrued by a transferring deputy sheriff shall be transferred into the plan created by this article and the transferring deputy sheriff shall be given the same credit for the purposes of this article for all covered service which is transferred from the Public Employees Retirement System as that transferring deputy sheriff would have received from the Public Employees Retirement System if the transfer had not occurred. In connection with each deputy sheriff receiving credit for prior employment provided in this subsection, a transfer from Public Employees Retirement System to this plan shall be made pursuant to the procedures described in section eight of this article.
(d) Once made, the election made under this section is irrevocable. All deputy sheriffs first employed after the effective date of this article or all conservation officers first employed after the effective date of this amendment and deputy sheriffs or conservation 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 section seven of this article.
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 deputy sheriff 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 a deputy sheriff 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 deputy sheriff to be a member of another retirement which is administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this code. An additional amount shall be paid to the fund by the county commission of the county in which the member is employed in covered employment in an amount determined by the board. The employing agency shall pay the additional amount of the monthly salary for conservation officers employed in covered employment: Provided, That in no year may the total of the contributions provided for in this section, to be paid by the county commission, exceed ten and one-half percent of the total payroll for the members in the employ of the county commission for the preceding fiscal year. If the Board finds that the benefits provided by this article can be actually funded with a lesser contribution, then the Board shall reduce the required member or employer contributions or both. The sums withheld each calendar month shall be paid to the fund no later than ten days following the end of the calendar month.
(a) The Consolidated Retirement Board shall, within ninety days of the effective date of the transfer of a deputy sheriff or a conservation officer from the Public Employees Retirement System to the plan, transfer assets from the Public Employees Retirement System Trust Fund into the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff Trust Fund.
(b) The amount of assets to be transferred for each transferring deputy sheriff shall be computed as of the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, using the actuarial valuation assumptions in effect for the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, actuarial valuation of Public Employees Retirement System, and updated with seven and one-half percent annual interest to the date of the actual asset transfer. The amount of assets to be transferred for each transferring conservation officer shall be computed as of the first day of July, two thousand five, actuarial valuation of public employees retirement, 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 deputy sheriff or conservation 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:
(5) Compute the share of accrued liability as determined pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection, that is attributable to those deputy sheriffs or conservation officers in Public Employees Retirement System who have elected to transfer to the plan;
(c) Once a deputy sheriff or conservation 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 transferring from the Public Employees Retirement System, and constitutes an agreement whereby the transferring deputy sheriff or conservation officer forever indemnifies and holds harmless the Public Employees Retirement System from providing him or her any form of retirement benefit whatsoever until such time as that deputy sheriff or conservation 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 Deputy Sheriff's Retirement System.
(d) The Board shall cause a judicial determination to be made regarding the transfer of assets from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Deputy Sheriff's Retirement System by causing a suit to be filed in the Supreme Court of this State seeking a writ of mandamus on or before the thirty-first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight.
(e) Any deputy sheriff who elected, on or before the thirtieth day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, to transfer to the plan created by this article, has until the first day of January, two thousand, to pay any amounts required by section seven of this article as a result of the deputy sheriff's transfer to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement Fund. Any conservation officer who elects to transfer to the plan created by this article, has until the first day of January, two thousand seven, to pay any amounts required by section seven of this article as a result of the conservation officer's transfer to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement Fund.
(a) Each county or employing authority shall prepare a written notice to be delivered to each deputy sheriff or conservation officer employed prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight. This notice shall clearly and accurately explain the benefits, financial implications and consequences to a deputy sheriff or conservation officer of electing to participate in the retirement plan created in this article, including the consequences and financial implications in regard to the benefits under the Public Employees Insurance Plan as set forth in article sixteen, chapter five of this code for those deputy sheriffs employed by a county which participates in that insurance plan. This notice shall be distributed to each deputy sheriff or conservation officer and the county or employing authority shall obtain a signed receipt from each deputy sheriff acknowledging that the deputy sheriff or conservation officer was provided a copy of the notice required in this subsection. If a deputy sheriff or conservation officer makes the election provided for in section eight of this article, he or she shall be considered to have made a voluntary, informed decision in regard to the election to participate in the retirement system created in this article.
(b) The Consolidated Retirement Board shall cause to be included in the judicial determination required in section eight of this article the issue regarding the possible loss of any rights in regard to benefits accorded the electing deputy or conservation officer under the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Act, article sixteen, chapter five of this code, and whether a deputy sheriff or conservation officers', by electing to participate in the retirement plan created in this article, is being unlawfully discriminated against, or is being unlawfully deprived of a right or benefit to which he or she would otherwise be entitled.
(c) Nothing in this section may be construed to alter, affect or change any of the rights and benefits of any deputy sheriff or conservation officer who has insurance coverage under article sixteen, chapter five of this code as a result of being a spouse or dependant of a participant who is the primary insured under article sixteen, chapter five of this code.
(b) Any member who withdraws accumulated contributions from either this plan or the Public Employees Retirement System and thereafter becomes reemployed in covered employment shall not receive any credited service for the prior employment unless following his or her return to covered employment, the member redeposits in the fund the amount of the accumulated contributions submitted on salary earned while a deputy sheriff, 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 service as if no refund had been made. The repayment shall be made in a lump sum within sixty months of the deputy sheriff's or conservation officer's reemployment or if later, within sixty months of the effective date of this article.
(c) 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 subsection (a) of this section, or to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contribution and to receive retirement income payments upon attaining normal retirement age.
(e) Nothing contained in this section may be construed to affect or pertain to any life insurance coverage under article sixteen, chapter five of this code.
(a) Any member who after the effective date of this article and during covered employment: (1) Has been or becomes totally or partially disabled from any cause other than those set forth in section fourteen of this article and not due to vicious habits, intemperance or willful misconduct on his or her part; and (2) in the opinion of the board, he or she is by reason of the disability unable to perform adequately the duties required of a deputy sheriff or conservation 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 set forth in, either subsection (b) or (c) of this section.
(d) If the member remains disabled until attaining sixty years of age, then the member shall receive the retirement benefit provided for in sections eleven and twelve of this article.
§7-14D-16. Same -- Physical examinations; termination of disability.
The Board may require any member who has applied for or is receiving disability benefits under this article to submit to a physical examination, mental examination or both, by a physician or physicians selected or approved by the Board and may cause all costs incident to the examination and approved by the Board to be paid from the Fund. The costs may include hospital, laboratory, X ray, medical and physicians' fees. A report of the findings of any physician shall be submitted in writing to the Board for its consideration. If, from the report, independent information, or from the report and any hearing on the report, the Board is of the opinion and finds that: (1) The member has become reemployed as a law-enforcement officer; (2) two physicians who have examined the member have found that considering the opportunities for law enforcement in West Virginia, the member could be so employed as a deputy sheriff or conservation officer; or (3) other facts exist to demonstrate that the member is no longer totally disabled or partially disabled as the case may be, then the disability benefits shall cease. If the member was totally disabled and is found to have recovered, the Board shall determine whether the member continues to be partially disabled. If the Board finds that the member is no longer totally disabled but is partially disabled, then the member shall continue to receive partial disability benefits in accordance with this article. Benefits shall cease once the member has been found to be no longer either totally or partially disabled: Provided, That the Board shall require recertification for each partial or total disability at regular intervals as specified by the guidelines adopted by the Public Employees Retirement System.
(a) The surviving spouse of any member who, after the effective date of this article while in covered employment, has died or dies by reason of injury, illness or disease resulting from an occupational risk or hazard inherent in or peculiar to the service required of members, while the member was or is engaged in the performance of his or her duties as a deputy sheriff or conservation officer, or the survivor spouse of a member who dies from any cause while receiving benefits pursuant to section fourteen of this article, is entitled to receive and shall be paid from the Fund benefits as determined in subsection (b) of this section: To the surviving spouse annually, in equal monthly installments during his or her lifetime an amount equal to the greater of: (i) Two thirds of the annual compensation received in the preceding twelve-month period by the deceased member; or (ii) if the member dies after his or her early or normal retirement age, the monthly amount which the spouse would have received had the member retired the day before his or her death, elected a one hundred percent joint and survivor annuity with the spouse as the joint annuitant, and then died.
ARTICLE 14E. ESTABLISHMENT OF CERTAIN FEES; DEDICATION OF FEE TO DEPUTY SHERIFF'S AND CONSERVATION OFFICER'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the preservation of peace is a necessary and important function and a requirement for an orderly society. This important function is carried on throughout the State of West Virginia at both the State and local level. Very important components of law-enforcement in this State are the county sheriffs, and their deputies and conservation officers.
(b) The Legislature, cognizant that it has enacted retirement legislation for municipal police officers and for the State Police, declares that deputy sheriffs and conservation officers are now in need of a retirement system. The Legislature further declares that the deputy sheriffs and conservation officers of this State are professional law-enforcement officers who keep the peace, help and protect the citizens of this State. The Legislature finds that, when it comes to retirement, the deputy sheriffs and conservation officers are treated differently than other law-enforcement officers in this State.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include conservation officers in the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System.