Bill Text: WV SB224 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to service credit transfers from PERS to EMS Retirement System
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-08 - To Pensions [SB224 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2014-SB224-Introduced.html
Senate Bill No. 224
(By Senator Kirkendoll)
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[Introduced January 8, 2014; referred to the Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5V-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to transfers of service credit from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System; providing that any increased benefit cost of transfer calculations may be made only three times; providing that a transferring director has thirty-six months from the date of application to pay all associated costs in a lump sum; and requiring the asset transfer be completed within six months of the receipt of that lump-sum payment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5V-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5V. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.
§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) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, the amount of assets to be transferred for each transferring emergency medical services officer shall be computed as of January 1, 2008, using July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, actuarial valuation date;
(3) Compute the market value of active member assets in the Public Employees Retirement System as of July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, 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 July 1, 2007, 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, or subsection (e) if applicable, 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 December 31, 2008, or in regular installment payments payable over sixty months with the initial installment received by the board on or before December 31, 2008;
(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.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, any Emergency Medical Services director who: (1) Is an active member of the Public Employees Retirement System; and (2) has, or obtains within one year of the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted during the 2012 regular session of the Legislature, basic or higher emergency management technician certification, is eligible to transfer service credit from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System, upon payment of associated costs by the transferring director. The board shall compute the actuarially appropriate amount of any increased benefit cost of transfer to be borne by the transferring director to be paid according to terms established by the board: Provided, That the board shall only be required to calculate this amount three times. Any Emergency Medical Services director who transfers to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall apply for the transfer to the board within one year of the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted during the 2012 regular session of the Legislature: Provided however, That the transferring director has thirty-six months from the date of application to pay all associated costs in a lump sum. Upon receipt of the total payment of all associated costs by the transferring director, the board shall compute the amount of assets to be transferred from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Retirement System and shall transfer the assets within six months of the receipt of the application lump sum payment of all associated costs. Any director transferring into the retirement system as provided in this subsection is prohibited from retiring within three years of transfer of the Public Employees Retirement System assets.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that a transferring director from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System has thirty-six months from the date of application to pay all associated costs in a lump sum. The bill requires the asset transfer be completed within six months of the receipt of that lump sum payment. The bill provides that the computation of the actuarially appropriate amount of any increased benefit cost of transfer is to be paid according to terms established by the board and is only required to be calculated three times.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
