§11-21-96. Dedication of personal income tax proceeds.

(a) There is hereby dedicated an annual amount of $45 million from annual collections of the tax imposed by this article for payment of the unfunded liability of the current Workers’ Compensation Fund. No portion of this amount may be pledged for payment of debt service on revenue bonds issued pursuant to article two-d, chapter twenty-three of this code.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, beginning in January of 2006, $45 million from collections of the tax imposed by this article shall be deposited each calendar year to the credit of the old fund created in article two-c, chapter twenty-three of this code, in accordance with the following schedule. Each calendar month, except for July, August and September each year, $5 million shall be transferred, on or before the twenty-eighth day of the month, to the Workers’ Compensation Debt Reduction Fund created in article two-d, chapter twenty-three of this code.

(c) The transfers required by subsection (b) of this section shall cease on and after February 1, 2016. For fiscal years beginning on and after July 1, 2016, an annual amount of $30 million from annual collections of the tax imposed by this article shall be dedicated for payment of the unfunded liability of the West Virginia Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund. The $30 million transferred pursuant to this subsection shall be transferred into the West Virginia Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund by transferring $5 million each month for the following months of each year: October, November, December, January, February and March, until the Governor certifies to the Legislature that an independent actuarial study has determined that the unfunded liability of West Virginia Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund, as created in section two, article sixteen-d, chapter five of this code, has been provided for in its entirety or July 1, 2037, whichever date is later: Provided, That no transfer shall be made under this subdivision in the months of February and March of fiscal year 2016. Transfers shall thereafter resume and be made in October, November, December, January, February and March of fiscal year 2017 and thereafter. No transfer into the West Virginia Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund pursuant to this subdivision shall be made after the Governor certifies to the Legislature that an independent actuarial study has determined that the unfunded liability of West Virginia Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund, as created in section two, article sixteen-d, chapter five of this code, has been provided for in its entirety or July 1, 2037, whichever date is later.