teacher pension funds merger nixed

Supreme Court refuses appeal in teacher pension merger case
by The Associated Press

A Kanawha County circuit judge was "plainly right'' when he blocked West Virginia's bid to merge its two teacher pension programs, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The justices voted 3-2 against hearing the state Consolidated Public Retirement Board's appeal of the January 2007 decision.

The refusal clears the way for action by the Legislature, which began its regular 60-day session Wednesday.

"There are a lot of folks sitting out there who are not able to retire because they don't have the money,'' said Senate Pensions Chairman Dan Foster, D-Kanawha. "We very clearly are going to have to do something.''

The board's lawyer had asked the justices to accept the appeal Tuesday, arguing that Judge Paul Zakaib wrongly concluded the merger deal amounted to an illegal taking of private property.

Zakaib's ruling halted a move to pour slightly more than 19,100 individual retirement accounts, the contents of the now-closed Teacher Defined Contribution program, into the larger and older teacher pension fund.

Several holders of these newer 401(k)-style accounts argued the state had no right to their investment earnings. Zakaib agreed, deciding a 2006 lawsuit in their favor.

The older fund, the Teachers Retirement System, invests the money for its enrollees and guarantees a benefit based on years of service and final pay. Had the merger gone through, the individual account holders would have received their funds as gradual benefits upon retirement.

View complete article at: http://www.dailymail.com/News/200801110129