SB 590 — Emergency Medical Services Retirement System Act

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 590 By Senators Nelson, Plymale, Barrett, Roberts, Deeds, Woelfel, and WoelfelQueen [Originating in the Committee on Pensions;Finance;

reported on February 16,23, 2023] CS for CS for SB 590 A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5V-2, §16-5V-6, and §16-5V-14a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;

authorizing certain 911 personnel to be members of the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System (EMSRS) under certain circumstances;

requiring costs of the vote to participate be borne by participating employers in relative proportion to members employed;

and terminating liability of the Public Employees Retirement SystemSystem; (PERS);

(a) "Accrued benefit" means on behalf of any member two and six-10thssix-tenths percent per year of the member’s final average salary for the first 20 years of credited service.

(1) The board may, upon the recommendation of the board’s actuary, increase the employees’ contribution rate to 10 and five-tenths percent should the funding of the plan not reach 1 CS for CS for SB 590 70 percent funded by July 1, 2012.

The board shall decrease the contribution rate to eight and one- 1 CS for SB 590 half percent once the plan funding reaches the 70 percent support objective as of any later actuarial valuation date.

(3) For 911 personnel with assets transferred pursuant to §16-5V-6d of this code,code who did not elect to pay back higher past contributions with interest, "accrued benefit" means, on behalf of the member, two percent per year of the member’s final average salary for all credited service that was credited as a result of transferred assets.

(4) For 911 personnel with assets transferred pursuant to section §16-5V-6d of this code,code who did elect to pay back higher past contributions, with interest, for eligible 911 service credit, "accrued benefit" means on behalf of the member two percent per year of the member’s final average salary for all non-911 credited service that was credited as a result of transferred assets.

Additionally, two percent per year for 21 through 25 years of credited 911 service and all new service earned from date of membership in this plan and one and one-half percent per year for each year over 25 years of 911- eligible service and all new service earned from date of membership in this plan will be credited 2 CS for CS for SB 590 with a maximum benefit of 90 percent.

A member’s accrued benefit may not exceed the limits of 2 CS for SB 590 Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code and is subject to the provisions of §16-5V-12 of this code.

For purposes of this subsection, if retirement income payments commence after the normal retirement age, "retirement" means the first day of the 3 CS for CS for SB 590 month following or coincident with the latter of the last day the member worked in covered 3 CS for SB 590 employment or the member’s normal retirement age and after completing proper written application for retirement on an application supplied by the board.

4 CS for CS for SB 590 (1) An unmarried person under age eighteen who is:

4 CS for SB 590 (A) A natural child of the member;

This definition is construed to include employed ambulance providers and other services such as law enforcement, rescue or 5 CS for CS for SB 590 fire department personnel who primarily perform these functions and are not provided any other 5 CS for SB 590 credited service benefits or retirement plans.

(u) "Full-time employment" means permanent employment of an employee by a participating public employer in a position which normally requires 12 months per year service and requires at least 10401,040 hours per year service in that position.

(1) Each hour for which a member is paid or entitled to payment for covered employment 6 CS for CS for SB 590 during which time active duties are performed.

These hours shall be credited to the member for the 6 CS for SB 590 plan year in which the duties are performed;

The same hours of service shall not be credited both under subdivision (1) or subdivision (2) of this subsection and under this subdivision.

(1) aA 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 (q) of this section;

or (3) a person first hired by a county 911 public safety answering center 7 CS for CS for SB 590 after the participating public employer elects to participate in the Emergency Medical Services 7 CS for SB 590 Retirement System;

(1) Attainment of age 50 years and the completion of 20 or more years of regular contributory service, excluding active military duty, disability serviceservice, and accrued annual and sick leave service;

8 CS for CS for SB 590 (bb) (cc) "Participating public employer" means:

(1) anyAny county commission, or political subdivision, or county 911 public safety answering point in the state which has elected to cover its emergency medical services officers or 911 personnel, as defined in this article, under the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System;

(ee) (ff) "Political subdivision" means a county, citycity, or town in the state;

any separate corporation or instrumentality established by one or more counties, citiescities, or towns, as permitted by law;

any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part by counties, citiescities, or towns;

and any public corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental function,function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, citiescities, or towns: Provided, That any public corporation established under §7-15-4 of this code is considered a political subdivision solely for the purposes of this article.

(ff) (gg) "Public Employees Retirement System" means the West Virginia Public Employee’sEmployees Retirement System created by West Virginia Code.

(jj) (kk) "Retire" or "retirement" means a member’s withdrawal from the employ of a 9 CS for CS for SB 590 participating public employer and the commencement of an annuity by the plan.

(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, 911 personnel, or county firefighter but also cannot, considering his or her age, educationeducation, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful employment which exists in the state regardless of whether:

10 CS for CS for SB 590 (oo) (pp) "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 10 CS for SB 590 performed as covered employment and credited to the member during the plan year based upon the following schedule:

Years of service which are credited to a member prior to his or her receipt of accumulated contributions upon termination of employment pursuant to §16-5V-18 of this code or §5-10-30 of this code,code shall be disregarded for all purposes under this plan unless the member repays the accumulated contributions with interest pursuant to section §16-5V-18 of this code, or has prior to the effective date, made the repayment pursuant to §5-10-18 of this code.

(a) Any emergency medical services officer or 911 personnel 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 11 CS for CS for SB 590 qualify for membership in any other retirement system administered by the board, so long as he or she remains employed in covered employment:

Provided, That any emergency medical services 11 CS for SB 590 officer or 911 personnel who has concurrent employment in an additional job or jobs which would require the emergency medical services officer or 911 personnel to be a member of the West Virginia Deputy Sheriffs’ Retirement System, the West Virginia Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System, or the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officer Retirement System shall participate in only one retirement system administered by the board, and the retirement system applicable to the concurrent employment for which the employee has the earliest date of hire shall prevail.

For purposes of this section, the member’s years of service and credited service prior to the effective date shall not 12 CS for CS for SB 590 be counted for any purposes under this plan unless the emergency medical services officer has not received the return of his or her accumulated contributions in the Public Employees Retirement 12 CS for SB 590 System pursuant to §5-10-30 of this code.

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 13 CS for CS for SB 590 which service was withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.

13 CS for SB 590 (e) Once made, the election made under this section is irrevocable.

911 Personnelpersonnel. (a) In accordance with the provisions of this article, the board shall effect the voluntary transfer of members of the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System.