2005 West Virginia Code - §18-23-4a. — Supplemental and additional retirement plans for employees; payroll deductions; authority to match employee contributions; retroactive curative and technical corrective action.

§18-23-4a. Supplemental and additional retirement plans for employees; payroll deductions; authority to match employee contributions; retroactive curative and technical corrective action.

(a) Any reference in this code to the "additional retirement plan" relating to state higher education employees, means the "higher education retirement plan" provided in this section. Any state higher education employee participating in a retirement plan upon the effective date of this section continues to participate in that plan and may not elect to participate in any other state retirement plan. Any such retirement plan continues to be governed by the provisions of law applicable on the effective date of this section.
(b) The higher education policy commission, on behalf of the governing boards and itself, shall contract for a retirement plan for its employees, to be known as the "higher education retirement plan." The governing boards and higher education policy commission shall make periodic deductions from the salary payments due the employees in the amount they are required to contribute to the higher education retirement plan, which deductions shall be six percent.
(c) The higher education policy commission and the governing boards, with policy commission approval, may contract for a supplemental retirement plan for any or all of their employees to supplement the benefits the employees otherwise receive. The governing boards and higher education policy commission may make additional periodic deductions from the salary payments due the employees in the amount they are required to contribute for the supplemental retirement plan.
(d) The higher education policy commission shall conduct a study of the feasibility of offering multiple vendors of retirement products and services to be offered for the benefit of higher education employees. The commission shall report the findings of the study, along with a plan for offering multiple vendors for the employees, to the joint committee on pensions and retirement no later than the first day of December, two thousand one. Upon approval by the joint committee on pensions and retirement, the commission shall provide a choice of vendors to their employees. any selection of vendors made by the commission shall be determined according to a request for proposal issued pursuant to the provisions of section four, article five, chapter eighteen-b of this code.
(e) Each governing board and the higher education policy commission, by way of additional compensation to their employees, shall pay an amount equal to the contributions of the employees into the higher education retirement plan from funds appropriated to the board or commission for personal services.
(f) Each participating employee has a full and immediate vested interest in the retirement and death benefits accrued from all the moneys paid into the higher education retirement plan or a supplemental retirement plan for his or her benefit. Upon proper requisition of a board or the higher education policy commission, the auditor shall periodically issue a warrant, payable as specified in the requisition, for the total contributions so withheld from the salaries of all participating employees and for the governing board's or higher education policy commission's matching funds.
(g) Any person whose employment commences on or after the effective date of this section, and who is eligible to participate in the higher education retirement plan, shall participate in that plan and is not eligible to participate in any other state retirement system. The additional retirement plan contracted for by the governing boards prior to the effective date of this section remains in effect unless changed by the higher education policy commission. Nothing in this section may be construed to consider employees of the governing boards as employees of the higher education policy commission, nor is the higher education policy commission responsible or liable for retirement benefits contracted by, or on behalf of, the governing boards.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature in amending and reenacting this section during its two thousand one regular session solely to:
(1) Maintain the current retirement plans offered to state higher education employees in their current form;
(2) Clarify that employees of the higher education policy commission are participants in the higher education retirement plan;
(3) Codify the current contribution levels of the governing boards, the higher education policy commission and their employees toward the present higher education retirement plan;
(4) Make mandatory the contribution levels of the governing boards and higher education policy commission;
(5) Establish a standardized retirement policy for all state higher education employees as determined by the policy commission;
(6) Clarify the application and purposes of the additional and supplemental retirement plans previously provided for in this section; and
(7) Remove obsolete and archaic language.