The following words and phrases as used in this article, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context, have the following meanings:

(1) "Accumulated contributions" means the sum of all amounts credited to a member's individual account in the member's deposit fund and includes both contributions deducted from the compensation of a member and contributions of a member picked up and paid by the member's participating public employer, plus applicable interest thereon.

(2) "Board of trustees" means, as appropriate: The Consolidated Public Retirement Board created in article ten-d of this chapter; the Higher Education Policy Commission; the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education; the institutional governing boards responsible for the higher education retirement plan and supplemental retirement plan; or the boards of trustees of the firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds created in article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code.

(3) "Employee" means any person, whether appointed, elected or under contract, providing services for a public employer for which compensation is paid and who is a member of the applicable retirement system.

(4) "Member" means any person who has accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in a retirement system.

(5) "Member contributions" means, as appropriate: The contributions required by section twenty-nine, article ten of this chapter from employees who are members of the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System; the contributions required by section twenty-six, article two, chapter fifteen of this code from employees who are members of the West Virginia State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund; the contributions required by section seven, article fourteen-d, chapter seven of this code from employees who are members of the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System; the contributions required by section fourteen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code from employees who are members of the State Teachers Retirement System; the contributions authorized or required by section fourteen-a, article seven-a of said chapter or by section four-a, article twenty-three of said chapter from employees who are members of the West Virginia higher education retirement plan and supplemental retirement plan; the contributions required by section four, article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code from employees who are members of the Judges' Retirement System; the contributions required by section nineteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code from employees who are members of municipal firemen's and policemen's pension and relief funds; the contributions required by section eight, article twenty-two-a, chapter eight of this code from employees who are members of the Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System; the contributions required by section nine, article seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code from employees who are members of the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System; the contributions required by section five, article two-a, chapter fifteen of this code from the employees who are members of the West Virginia State Police Retirement System; or the contributions required by section eight, article five-v, chapter sixteen of this code from employees who are members of the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System.

(6) "Participating public employer" means the State of West Virginia, any board, commission, department, institution or spending unit and includes any agency with full-time employees, created by rule of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which for the purpose of this article shall be considered a department of state government and county boards of education with respect to teachers employed by them; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System; any political subdivision in the state which has elected to cover its employees, as defined in this article, under the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System; and any political subdivision in this state which is subject to the provisions of articles twenty-two and twenty-two-a, chapter eight of this code.

(7) "Political subdivision" means the State of West Virginia, a county, city or town in the state; a school corporation or corporate unit; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted by law; any corporation or instrumentality supported in most part by counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law with the performance of a governmental function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or towns, any agency or organization established by or approved by the Department of Health and Human Resources for the provision of community health or mental retardation services and which is supported in part by state, county or municipal funds.

(8) "Retirement system" means, as appropriate: The West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created in article ten of this chapter; the West Virginia State Police Death, Disability and Retirement Fund created in sections twenty-six through thirty-nine-a, inclusive, article two, chapter fifteen of this code; the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff Retirement System created in article fourteen-d, chapter seven of this code; the state Teachers Retirement System created in article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia higher education retirement plan and supplemental retirement plan created in section fourteen-a, article seven-a of said chapter and section four-a, article twenty-three of said chapter; the Judges' Retirement System created in article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code; the firemen's or policemen's pension and relief funds created in section sixteen, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code; the Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System created in section four, article twenty-two-a, chapter eight of this code; the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System created in article seven-b, chapter eighteen of this code; the West Virginia State Police Retirement System created in article two-a, chapter fifteen of this code; or the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System created in article five-v, chapter sixteen of this code.

(9) "Teacher" has the meaning ascribed to the term "teacher member" in section three, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code.