Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the West Virginia Legislature, fetched 2026-09-25. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. The official bill page.
WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2026 REGULAR SESSION
Enrolled
Senate Bill 717
BY SENATORS OLIVERIO, DEEDS, HAMILTON, TARR, AND
BARNHART
[Passed March 12, 2026; to take effect July 1, 2026]
Enr SB 717
1 AN ACT to amend and reenact §8-22-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating
2 to modifying disability and retirement benefits and procedures for municipal police and
3 firefighters participating in municipal plans overseen by the Municipal Pensions Oversight
4 Board; allowing for certain police and firefighters disabled in the line of duty to reassess
5 retirement benefits as though he or she had reached retirement age prior to disability; and
6 removing requirement that certain police and firefighters disabled not in the line of duty
7 provide pension and relief fund with tax return once he or she has reached Social Security
8 normal retirement age.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 22. RETIREMENT BENEFITS GENERALLY; POLICEMEN'S PENSION AND
RELIEF FUND; FIREMEN'S PENSION AND RELIEF FUND; PENSION PLANS
FOR EMPLOYEES OF WATERWORKS SYSTEM, SEWERAGE SYSTEM OR
COMBINED WATERWORKS AND SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
§8-22-24. Disability pensions.
1 (a) The monthly sum to be paid to each member eligible for disability received as a
2 proximate result of service rendered in the performance of his or her duties under the provisions
3 of §8-22-23(a) of this code is equal to 60 percent of the monthly salary being received by the
4 member, at the time he or she is so disabled, or the sum of $500 per month, whichever is greater:
5 Provided, That the limitation provided in subsection (b) of this section is not exceeded: Provided,
6 however, That effective on or after July 1, 2015, if the member was granted disability as a result
7 of service rendered in the performance of his or her duties under the provisions of §8-22-23a of
8 this code and if the member at the time of the disablement was under the age of 50 and had 21
9 to 30 years of service, the member may after attaining the age of 50 petition the pension board of
10 trustees of the policemen’s pension or the pension board of trustees of the firemen’s pension to
11 begin receiving the retirement pension benefit the member is now eligible for in place of the
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Enr SB 717
12 disability pension benefit the member is currently receiving. Any change from a disability pension
13 retirement benefit to a regular retirement pension benefit shall reset the supplemental benefit start
14 date to the first day of July following the second anniversary of the commencement of the regular
15 pension retirement benefit at or after age 50: Provided further, That nothing in this section shall
16 allow a policemen's pension board of trustees or a firemen's pension board of trustees to change
17 a previously awarded total disability incurred not in the line of duty to a total disability granted as
18 a result of service rendered in the performance of his or her duties for the purpose of qualifying
19 the member for a regular retirement at age 50.
20 (b) Effective for any member who becomes eligible for disability benefits on or after July
21 1, 1981, under the provisions of §8-22-23a of this code, as a proximate result of service rendered
22 in the performance of the member’s duties within such departments, the member’s monthly
23 disability payment as provided in subsection (a) of this section may not, when aggregated with
24 the monthly amount of state workers’ compensation, result in the disabled member receiving a
25 total monthly income from the sources in excess of one hundred percent of the basic
26 compensation which is paid to members holding the same position which the member held within
27 the department at the time of the member’s disability. Lump sum payments of state workers’
28 compensation benefits are not considered for purposes of this subsection unless the lump sum
29 payments represent commuted values of monthly state workers’ compensation benefits.
30 (c) Any member who has served on active duty with the armed forces of the United States
31 as described in §8-22-27 of this code, whether prior or subsequent to becoming a member of a
32 paid police or fire department covered by the provisions of this article, and who, on July 1, 1986,
33 is receiving or thereafter receives a disability pension, shall receive in addition to the 60 percent
34 or minimum $500 authorized in subsection (a) of this section, one additional percent for each year
35 served in active military duty, up to a maximum of four additional percent.
36 (d) Beginning on and after April 1, 1991, the monthly sum to be paid to a member who
37 becomes eligible for total disability incurred not in the line of duty is the monthly benefit provided
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Enr SB 717
38 in subsection (a) of this section: Provided, That for any person receiving benefits under this
39 subsection who is self-employed or employed by another, there shall be offset against the benefits
40 the amount of $1 for each $3 of income derived from self-employment or employment by another:
41 Provided, however, That a person receiving disability benefits must file a certified copy of his or
42 her tax return on or before April 15 of each year to demonstrate either unemployment or income
43 earned from self-employment or employment by another: Provided further, That there is no offset
44 of benefit for any income derived from self-employment or employment by another when the
45 annual total amount of the income is $18,200 or less: And provided further, That beginning on or
46 after July 1, 2026, a member who previously qualified for a total disability incurred not in the line
47 of duty and who has attained the Social Security normal retirement age is no longer required to
48 provide his or her tax return to the trustees of the policemen’s pension and relief fund or the
49 firemen’s pension and relief fund in order to continue receiving the total disability incurred not in
50 the line of duty.
51 (e) The $18,200 limit in subsection (d) of this section shall be automatically increased
52 when the minimum wage, as provided in §21-5C-2 of this code, increases, by the same
53 percentage of the increase in the minimum wage.
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Enr SB 717
The Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Delegates hereby
certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.
...............................................................
Clerk of the Senate
...............................................................
Clerk of the House of Delegates
Originated in the Senate.
To take effect July 1, 2026.
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President of the Senate
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Speaker of the House of Delegates
__________
The within is ................................................ this the...........................................
Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2026.
.............................................................
Governor
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