Relating to home confinement officers’ participation in EMS retirement system
Summary
SB 724 revises the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System to expand and clarify which public safety employees may participate and how prior service is credited when they move from the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). The bill removes the requirement that home confinement officers be certified law-enforcement officers to join the EMS retirement system, and it expressly makes full-time home confinement officers employed by county sheriffs’ offices or county commissions eligible for membership. It also updates the definition of “accrued benefit” to account for transferred service credit and different benefit multipliers depending on whether a member repays the higher contribution amounts associated with prior service.
The bill creates detailed transfer procedures for two groups of current PERS members: county home confinement officers and county commission emergency medical services officers. Eligible employees must make a written election by specified deadlines in 2026, and the election is irrevocable. For those who transfer, the Consolidated Public Retirement Board must move the appropriate share of assets from PERS into the EMS retirement fund using an actuarial formula based on the July 1, 2026 valuation, with interest applied at 7.25 percent. The bill also allows certain transferred members to buy up to the higher 2.75 percent benefit multiplier by repaying the difference in contributions, with repayment deadlines extending to December 31, 2030.
In addition to the transfer provisions, the bill amends the system’s membership and service-credit rules so that prior PERS service can be counted in the EMS retirement system under specified conditions. It also extends the timing for home confinement officers’ participation elections and sets commencement dates for retirement after transfer. Overall, the bill changes state retirement law by folding more county public safety personnel into the EMS retirement structure and by shifting associated liabilities and assets out of PERS for those who opt in.
The general sentiment reflected in the voting history was strongly favorable and noncontroversial. The bill passed the Senate and House unanimously, and both chambers also approved the effective-date motions by overwhelming margins. No committee transcript was provided, and there is no recorded floor opposition in the materials supplied.
The main policy issue embedded in the bill is the retirement cost and credit treatment for transferred employees, especially how much prior service should count and whether members must repay higher contributions to receive the enhanced benefit multiplier. Another practical point of contention, though not reflected in the votes, is the actuarial and administrative complexity of moving assets and service credit between retirement systems while preserving funding integrity for both plans.
Impact
SB 724 amends West Virginia Code provisions governing the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System, especially §16-5V-2 and §16-5V-6f, and adds new §16-5V-6g. It expands eligibility for EMS retirement membership to include home confinement officers without requiring law-enforcement certification, and it creates a parallel transfer path for county commission emergency medical services officers already participating in PERS. The bill also changes how service credit and accrued benefits are calculated for transferred members, and it requires the Consolidated Public Retirement Board to transfer corresponding assets from PERS to the EMS retirement fund under actuarial formulas and deadlines. Affected parties include county home confinement officers, county EMS officers, county commissions, sheriffs’ offices, the Consolidated Public Retirement Board, PERS, and the EMS retirement fund.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have enjoyed broad bipartisan support and little visible controversy in the legislative record provided. It passed both chambers unanimously, including unanimous concurrence on the final version and unanimous approval of the effective-date motions. The absence of recorded dissent suggests the measure was viewed as a technical retirement-system adjustment and a targeted benefit/coverage expansion for public safety employees rather than a contentious policy change.
Contention
The most notable substantive issue is how to balance expanded retirement access for home confinement officers and EMS officers with the fiscal and actuarial effects on the retirement systems. The bill gives eligible employees a one-time, irrevocable choice to transfer from PERS, and it uses a detailed asset-transfer formula to prevent PERS from subsidizing the move. A second point is benefit generosity: transferred members can receive a higher 2.75 percent multiplier only if they repay the difference in contributions with interest, while other transferred service remains at the 2 percent level. These provisions suggest the legislature was trying to accommodate employees while limiting cost-shifting between retirement systems.