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Summaries>2006>Pensions, Benefits and Retirement
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INDEX
Pensions, Benefits and Retirement
Passed
P
HB37
Retirement benefits; local emergency medical technicians. Adds local emergency medical technicians to the list of local employees for whom localities may provide retirement benefits equivalent to those provided to State Police officers.
Patron - Tata
P
HB59
Health insurance credits for retired state employees. Increases the monthly cap for health insurance credits provided to retired state employees by eliminating the cap on the number of years of service used to compute the credit. The bill is contingent on funding in the appropriation act.
Patron - Putney
P
HB406
Virginia Retirement System; purchase of prior service credit. Permits any member of the Virginia Retirement System to purchase prior service credit for creditable service at a private institution of higher education if the private institution is merged with a public institution of higher education and graduates of the private institution are then issued new degrees from the public institution.
Patron - Callahan
P
HB419
Retirement; mandatory cash-outs. Provides that if a member does not elect a direct rollover or direct payment of a mandatory cash-out greater than $1,000, the Board of the Virginia Retirement System shall pay the cash-out amount in a direct rollover to an individual retirement plan designated by the Board.
Patron - Putney
P
HB420
Health insurance credits. Clarifies those employees who are eligible for a health insurance credit if the local government they retire from does not provide the credit.
Patron - Putney
P
HB452
Virginia Retirement System; transfer of accumulated contributions. Allows a member who has a Virginia Retirement System (VRS) member contribution account and who becomes covered under a VRS Optional Retirement Plan to transfer his accumulated contributions to the optional retirement plan.
Patron - Tata
P
HB453
Virginia Retirement System; optional life insurance. Makes a technical amendment to provide that the maximum amount of optional life insurance coverage that can be continued upon retirement shall be reviewed by the VRS actuary at least once every five calendar years.
Patron - Tata
P
HB454
Retirement benefits; suspension of payments. Provides that reemployment in a covered position for retirement purposes shall not result in the suspension of benefit payments in cases where the benefits are pursuant to an optional retirement plan and the benefit is being paid in an annuity form under a lifetime annuity contract.
Patron - Tata
P
HB455
Life insurance for employees. Makes a technical correction that clarifies the date when reductions in life insurance coverage begin to phase-in.
Patron - Tata
P
HB459
Virginia Retirement System's sickness and disability program. Clarifies that a member who is applying for disability benefits must also apply for other available benefit programs when directed to do so by the plan administrator.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB460
Virginia Retirement System's sickness and disability program; reporting requirements of certain insurers. Clarifies the information that insurers and administrators of the sickness and disability program must submit to the Virginia Retirement System.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB461
Virginia Retirement System; sickness and disability program. Clarifies the maximum period for which an employee may receive short-term disability benefits.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB462
Virginia sickness and disability program. Provides that employees approved for disability benefits on or after age 60 shall be eligible for up to a maximum of five years of disability before having to retire under a service retirement.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB468
Virginia Retirement System; sickness and disability program. Clarifies that an employee receiving disability benefits under the Virginia Sickness and Disability Program must apply for Social Security benefits, including reapplying and appealing any denials, if requested to do so by the administrator of the plan.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB473
Virginia Retirement System; local retirement plans not participating in the Virginia Retirement System. Deletes the requirement that the Virginia Retirement System determine if the retirement plans of localities not participating in the Virginia Retirement System are fulfilling the statutory requirement of providing a service retirement allowance to each employee who retires at age 65 or older that equals or exceeds two-thirds of the service retirement allowance to which the employee would have been entitled had the allowance been computed under the provisions of the Virginia Retirement System.
Patron - Ingram
P
HB957
Virginia Retirement System; vesting requirements. Clarifies the vesting requirements of public safety officers.
Patron - Joannou
P
HB958
Virginia Retirement System; annual reports. Specifies December 31 as the date for the Virginia Retirement System to submit its annual reports for the deferred compensation plan and benefit restoration plans.
Patron - Joannou
P
HB1313
Virginia Retirement System; certain Fairfax County employees. Provides certain retirement benefits for Fairfax County employees who were transferred from their employment with the Commonwealth to Fairfax County in 1995.
Patron - Amundson
P
SB99
Virginia Retirement System; teaching in critical shortage positions. Allows persons who retired as other than a teacher to teach in a critical shortage position while continuing to receive a retirement allowance, provided the person becomes licensed by the Board of Education to serve as a local school board instructional or administrative employee. Under current law, only those retired persons who served as teachers are eligible to teach in critical shortage positions while continuing to receive a retirement allowance.
Patron - Blevins
P
SB115
Virginia Retirement System; benefit restoration plans. Authorizes localities that provide supplemental benefits to employees covered by the Virginia Retirement System to establish benefit restoration plans.
Patron - Stosch
P
SB364
Workforce Transition Act (WTA). Provides that certain appointees shall be covered under the Act regardless of years of service prior to appointment. Under the bill every gubernatorial appointees and other appointees who is eligible for benefits under the Act must annually sign a statement providing that such person has read and understands the benefits for which he is eligible under the Act. The Secretary for the Commonwealth would retain the statements in its records. The bill also restricts severance benefits for state employees to those specifically provided by law except officers or faculty of public institutions of higher education and a state officer or employee not eligible for transitional severance benefits under the WTA. Finally, the bill provides that it shall not be construed to prohibit payments for settlement of an employment dispute or payments in satisfaction of a judgment.
Patron - Wampler
P
SB536
Virginia Retirement System; cash match plan for state employees. Clarifies that the participating employer pays the administrative fees.
Patron - Hawkins
Failed
F
HB3
Health insurance credit for retired teachers. Increases the health insurance credit for retired teachers to $4 per month for each year of creditable service with no monthly cap. Under current law, retired teachers with 15 or more years of service are allowed a health insurance credit of $2.50 per month for each year of creditable service with a cap of $75 per month. This bill incorporates HB 35.
Patron - Shuler
F
HB4
Virginia Retirement System; average final compensation retirement multiplier for teachers. Increases from 1.7 to 2.0 the average final compensation retirement multiplier for teachers with 10 or more years of creditable service earned as a teacher. The bill applies to teachers first retiring on or after July 1, 2006.
Patron - Shuler
F
HB10
Virginia Retirement System; prior service credit. Provides that a member of the Virginia Retirement System who is in service may purchase up to four years of service credit for service as a teacher or administrator with an Overseas American-Sponsored Elementary and Secondary School Assisted by the U.S. Department of State.
Patron - Wright
F
HB35
Health insurance credits; teachers. Increases the monthly health insurance credit to retired teachers from $2.50 to $4 for each full year of the retired member's creditable service. The bill is applicable to current and future retirees and is effective July 1, 2006.
Patron - Tata
F
HB60
Law-Enforcement Officers Retirement System; emergency medical technicians. Adds full-time salaried emergency medical technicians to the list of those who may receive benefits equivalent to those provided under the State Police Officers' Retirement System.
Patron - Albo
F
HB82
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS). Adds juvenile probation and parole officers as members of VaLORS.
Patron - Spruill
F
HB89
Virginia Retirement System; benefits. Increases monthly retirement benefits of certain future retirees by increasing the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the amount of creditable service from 1.7 to 2.0 for years of service in excess of 25 years for most state employees, and from 2.0 to 2.3 for certain state law-enforcement officers.
Patron - Callahan
F
HB103
Virginia Retirement System; purchase of prior service credit. Clarifies that National Guard service is one of the types of prior military service that can be purchased and removes the requirement that military service must be active duty in order to be purchased.
Patron - Lewis
F
HB333
Virginia Retirement System; employer contribution rates. Requires the Virginia Retirement System to perform long-term planning strategies to avoid sudden, significant increases in employer contribution rates.
Patron - Toscano
F
HB369
Retirement; state employees, state police and law-enforcement officers, and certain local law-enforcement officers. Modifies the retirement benefits of non-law-enforcement state employees by increasing from 1.7 percent to 2.0 percent the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the years of creditable service and modifies the retirement benefits of state police and law-enforcement officers and certain local law-enforcement officers by (i) increasing from 1.7 percent to 2.7 percent the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the years of creditable service in such positions, and by deleting the supplemental allowance currently paid to members upon retirement until their Social Security retirement age, and (ii) deleting the minimum age requirement for members with 25 or more years of service.
Patron - Carrico
F
HB430
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; membership. Adds probation and parole officers employed by the Department of Juvenile Justice to membership in the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System.
Patron - Griffith
F
HB431
Virginia Retirement System; benefits. Increases monthly retirement benefits of future retirees by increasing the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the amount of creditable service according to the years of service as follows:
Years of Creditable Service |
Percentage of Average Final Compensation |
| Less than 25 25 or more but less than 30 30 or more but less than 35 35 or more but less than 40 40 or more |
|
Under current law the percentage multiplier is 1.70 percent regardless of years of service. The bill provides a higher percentage multiplier to certain members of the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System who already have a multiplier of 2.0 percent under current law.
Patron - Griffith
F
HB451
Virginia Retirement System; forfeiture of eligibility. Clarifies the process when a member who is terminated because of dishonesty, malfeasance, or misfeasance forfeits his eligibility for retirement benefits.
Patron - Tata
F
HB467
Virginia Retirement System; membership. Adds to the membership of the Virginia Retirement System all full-time employees of the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties.
Patron - Ingram
F
HB471
Retirement; state and local law-enforcement officers. Modifies the retirement benefits of state and local law-enforcement officers by (i) increasing from 1.7 percent to 2.5 percent the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the years of creditable service in such positions, and by deleting the supplemental allowance currently paid to members upon retirement until their Social Security retirement age; and (ii) deleting the minimum age requirement for retirement for members with 25 or more years of service.
Patron - Cosgrove
F
HB502
State retiree health benefits program; judges. Permits a judge to participate in the state retiree health benefits program if he elects to do so within 31 days of the date of his retirement, without regard to the date of his termination of employment with the Commonwealth.
Patron - Armstrong
F
HB508
Virginia Retirement System; state employees. Prohibits reduction in the net retirement benefit paid to any current or future retired state employee by any increase in health insurance premiums unless such increase results from the selection of expanded coverage by the retiree.
Patron - Armstrong
F
HB595
Virginia Retirement System; prior service credit. Provides that a member of the Virginia Retirement System who is in service may purchase up to four years of service credit for service on the staff of a Center for Independent Living located within the Commonwealth.
Patron - McClellan
F
HB1281
Local law-enforcement employees' retirement benefits; juvenile detention employees. Adds local employees of juvenile detention facilities who provide direct care to detainees to the group of local employees eligible for retirement benefits equivalent to the benefits provided to State Police officers.
Patron - Johnson
F
HB1331
Virginia Retirement System; defined contribution plan. Creates a new defined contribution plan for all employees who enter on or after July 1, 2006, into any position covered by any retirement plan administered by the Virginia Retirement System. The employee has 90 days after entering into such a position to elect to participate in the defined contribution plan or the retirement plan for which he is otherwise eligible.
Patron - Bell
F
HB1362
Virginia Retirement System; E-911 employees. Adds local employees operating an E-911 system to the list of local law-enforcement employees eligible for retirement benefits equivalent to those provided to State Police officers.
Patron - Bell
F
HB1433
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System. Provides that the supplemental allowance currently paid to certain members upon retirement until age 65 shall instead be paid until Social Security retirement age.
Patron - Barlow
F
HB1556
Virginia Retirement System; creditable service. Permits an active member to purchase creditable service for part-time service with a covered employer that occurs in addition to and simultaneously with the employee's full-time covered service. To be credited with the service the employee must pay an actuarial equivalent cost.
Patron - Bell
F
SB158
Virginia Sickness and Disability Program; judges. Adds, as eligible employees under the Program, justices and judges of the Virginia judiciary, members of the State Corporation Commission, and members of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission.
Patron - Norment
F
SB175
Virginia Retirement System; retirement allowances. Increases the retirement allowances for future state and local retirees of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), Law Enforcement Officers' Retirement System (LEOs), State Police Officers' Retirement System (SPORS), and the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS) by gradually increasing, over a six-year period, the percentage of average final compensation that is multiplied by the amount of creditable service (i) from two percent to 2.3 percent for certain members of the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System who are not eligible for the supplemental allowance and (ii) from 1.7 percent to two percent for all other such state and local employees. The bill also increases by three percent (phased in over a six-year period) the annual retirement allowance of current retirees of VRS, LEOs, SPORS, and VaLORS. This bill was incorporated into SB 393.
Patron - Wampler
F
SB237
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS). Adds juvenile probation and parole officers as members of VaLORS.
Patron - Ticer
F
SB393
Retirement; benefits for certain state and local public safety officers. Makes several changes to the benefits of state and local public safety officers and the funding of such benefits.
Line of Duty Act. Allows a person who falls under an eligible class of persons under the Line of Duty Act who was disabled on or after January 1, 1972, but not receiving benefits to be entitled to the continued health insurance benefit beginning July 1, 2006.
Deputy sheriffs.
All deputy sheriffs would become members of the Law Enforcement Officers' Retirement System (LEOs).
State police officers. State police officers would receive a 2.20 percent average final compensation retirement multiplier and would continue to receive the additional annual supplement.
Persons provided LEOs retirement coverage. Any member of LEOs would receive a 1.70 percent average final compensation retirement multiplier and the additional annual supplement. However, the multiplier for sheriffs shall be increased from 1.70 percent to 2.20 percent, and an employer may elect to increase the multiplier to 2.20 percent for other classes of covered employees. The employer is responsible for paying the actuarial cost of the increase.
Other provisions of the bill. For any county or city that did not provide LEOs benefits to deputy sheriffs as of January 1, 2006, such county or city shall provide such benefits to its deputy sheriffs beginning July 1, 2006. For such counties or cities, the Compensation Board would reimburse 100 percent of the county's or city's total retirement contributions for state-responsible deputy sheriffs. However, the reimbursement would be based upon the salaries of such state-responsible deputy sheriffs as fixed by the Board.
Revenue. The bill provides for revenues to be generated through the imposition of additional fees on persons who have committed certain driving-related violations.
This bill incorporates SB 636.
Patron - Stolle
F
SB398
Health insurance credits; teachers and other local school board employees. Increases the monthly health insurance credit for retired teachers from $2.50 to $4.00 for each full year of the retired member's creditable service. The bill also eliminates an overall cap to the credit, and adds retired full-time, salaried employees of local school boards as recipients of the credit. The bill is applicable for current and future retirees from positions as teachers or full-time, salaried employees of local school boards. Retired local government employees, other than teachers and employees of local school boards, with at least 15 years of creditable service shall continue to receive a monthly health insurance credit equal to $1.50 for each full year of the retired member's creditable service.
Patron - Hanger
F
SB481
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS). Adds juvenile probation and parole officers as members of VaLORS.
Patron - Colgan
F
SB495
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System. Provides that the supplemental allowance currently paid to certain members upon retirement until age 65 shall instead be paid until Social Security retirement age.
Patron - Ruff
F
SB508
Retirement; state police and state and local law-enforcement officers. Modifies the retirement benefits of state police and certain state and local law-enforcement offi-cers by increasing from 1.7 percent to 2.5 percent the percentage of average final compensation multiplied by the years of creditable service in such positions, and by deleting the supplemental allowance currently paid to members upon retirement.
Patron - Puckett
F
SB520
Virginia Sickness and Disability Program; open-enrollment period. Opens the enrollment into the Virginia Sickness and Disability Program between October 1, 2006, and January 1, 2007, for eligible employees not currently participating in the program. An election to participate must be in writing, and is irrevocable.
Patron - Puckett
F
SB550
Law-Enforcement Officers Retirement System; emergency medical technicians. Adds full-time, salaried emergency medical technicians to the list of those who may receive benefits equivalent to those provided under the State Police Officers' Retirement System.
Patron - Blevins
F
SB603
Health benefits for judges who defer retirement. Provides for the continuation of health benefits for certain judges who terminate employment and defer retirement.
Patron - Reynolds
F
SB605
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS). Adds conservation officers of the Department of Conservation and Recreation as members of VaLORS.
Patron - Puller
Carried Over
C
HB1369
Local retirement systems; creditable service. Prohibits any local retirement system that is not under the Virginia Retirement System to allow any employee to earn more than one year of service credit for all service rendered in any period of 12 consecutive months. All retirement plans administered by the Virginia Retirement System are under the same prohibition under current law.
Patron - Hull
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Summaries>2006>Pensions, Benefits and Retirement
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