Bills listed below were recommended or endorsed by the SCPP in previous legislative sessions.   The bill numbers are no longer linked to the legislative information system.   To access information about these proposals, go to the legislative public information website.   Select "Bill Information" on the left-column navigation bar. Select the appropriate biennium period in the text box and type the bill number in the box indicated.

2007
SCPP Request Legislation

HB 1260
SB 5171

Washington State Patrol Contribution Rate:  Establishes a new cost-allocation formula by which members would pay one-third the cost of the plan with a 7% cap and employers would pay the balance.  A minimum total contribution rate would become effective July 1, 2009, equal to 70% of the system’s normal cost as calculated under the entry age normal cost method.

HB 1261
SB 5172

Service Credit Purchase Due to Injury¹:  Allows members of PSERS, SERS, LEOFF 2, and TRS to purchase up to 24 consecutive months of service credit for each period of temporary duty disability.

¹ Issue coordinated with the LEOFF 2 Board.

HB 1262
SB 5173

Post-retirement Employment: Creates parity with PERS 1 by adding a cumulative lifetime limit of 1,900 hours to TRS 1, creates PERS-TRS parity with respect to procedural safeguards and penalties, and increases the TRS 1 waiting period from one to one and one-half months (half the duration of the PERS 1 waiting period). Also adds the requirement of a written policy to programs under both plans.

HB 1263
SB 5175

Age 66 COLA: Changes Uniform COLA eligibility to include all PERS 1 and TRS 1 retirees who have been retired one year and will have attained age 66 by December 31 of the calendar year in which the increase is given.

HB 1264
SB 5176

Dual Membership¹:  Changes the definition of base salary in the portability chapter to include previously excluded payments (such as overtime) that are reportable in all of a dual member’s retirement systems².  Lifts portability’s “maximum benefit rule” (a rule designed to protect Plan 1 benefit caps) for members with less than 15 years of service in one capped plan and service in one uncapped plan.  Adds LEOFF 2 to the list of retirement plans whose members can combine service under portability in order to receive indexing of the term-vested benefit available to those with at least 20 years of service.

¹ Issue coordinated with the LEOFF 2 Board.

² The Washington State Patrol Retirement System was excluded from this benefit based on a request from the Washington State Patrol Troopers’ Association.

HB 1265
SB 5174

Technical Corrections: Adds appropriate cross-references and other updates identified by the Department of Retirement Systems as necessary for consistency with recent changes to Washington’s public pension law. The majority of corrections concern implementation of the new Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS).

HB 1266
SB 5177

$150,000 Death Benefit ¹:  Expands eligibility for the $150,000 death benefit to include death from duty-related illness in all plans where it is not already provided.  Indexes the amount of the death benefit to cumulative changes in the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, with a maximum change of 3% per year.

¹ Issue coordinated with the LEOFF 2 Board.

HB 1044
SB 5014

Contribution Rate Adoption Process:  This bill amends the contribution rate adoption process described in the actuarial funding chapter.  Most significantly, it provides that contribution rate-setting will occur two months earlier than it does now.

SB 5178

Judges Benefit Multiplier:  Allows Judges who elect to contribute a higher percent of pay to earn the higher benefit multiplier, to buy the higher benefit multiplier for past judicial service for 5% of the salary earned for each month of service for which the higher benefit multiplier is being purchased (PERS 3 members would pay 2.5%), plus interest as determined by the Director of the Department of Retirement Systems.

2006
SCPP Request Legislation 

Bill

Cmpn

Description

2684

6450

Plan 3 Vesting: Establishes five year vesting for Plans 3 of PERS, SERS and TRS.

2680

6445

TRS Out-of-State Service Credit: Authorizes members of TRS Plans 2 and 3 to purchase up to seven years membership service credit for education experience in another state or with the federal government.

2692

6456

Optional Membership and Distributions: Creates the ability to receive a pension and work without restriction after age 70 1/2 in PERS, TRS and SERS; allows state elected officials to, at the beginning of each term of office, opt to continue active retirement systems membership or retire and receive a pension.

2690

6457

Purchasing Additional Service Credit:  Authorizes retirement system members in all plans to purchase up to five years of "air time" at full actuarial cost in order to obtain an additional annuity.

2688

6447

LEOFF Plan 1:  Repeals the LEOFF 1 benefit cap as of July 1, 2006; reinstates contribution rates July 1, 2007 (6% member and 6% employer); forms a group to work with the Department of Retirement Systems and Health Care Authority to establish one or more funding vehicles for post-retirement medical benefits.

2691

6455

Judges Benefit Multiplier:  Allows judges to discontinue participation in the judicial retirement account plan and use their contributions to enhance their benefits in the PERS Plans 1, 2 and 3; and TRS Plan 1.

2685

6449

PSERS Eligibility  Redefines PSERS eligibility in a manner that is based on job duties rather than job titles; adds two new PSERS employers (DNR and DSHS.)

2682

6446

Washington State Patrol Contribution Rates:  Changes the cost-sharing formula from a 50/50 member/employer split (with a 2% member minimum) to an allocation formula by which members pay one-third, with a 7% cap and employers pay the balance.  Also establishes a minimum total contribution rate for WSPRS.

2683

6451

Plan 1 Unfunded Liability:  Establishes a three-year phase-in for contribution rates for the Plan 1 Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability (Plan 1 UAAL) in PERS and TRS.

2681

6452

Contribution Rate Floors:  Beginning July 1, 2009 establishes minimum employer contribution rates for the Plan 1 UAAL in PERS and TRS, as well as minimum employer and member contribution rates for Plans 2/3 normal cost in PERS, TRS and SERS.

2689

6448

Post-retirement Employment:  Requires employers utilizing the expanded retire-rehire program in the Plans 1 of PERS and TRS to hire retirees pursuant to a written policy; and applies the following to TRS 1 (in order to provide consistency with PERS 1): prohibition of prior agreements, documentation of need and documentation of the hiring process.

2686

6454

Age-66 COLA:  Amends the Uniform COLA eligibility requirements of the PERS and TRS Plans 1 to include all retirees who have been retired one year and will have attained age 66 by December 31st (instead of July 1st) of the calendar year in which the increase is given.

2687

6453

$1,000 Minimum Benefit:  Establishes a $1,000 minimum benefit in the Plans 1 of PERS and TRS for those with at least 20 years of service and who have been retired at least 25 years.  Provides a 3% escalator for both $1,000 minimum benefits (the other being the $1,000 minimum benefit already available to those with 25 years of service and who have been retired 20 years.)

2679

6445

Rule of 90:  Provides unreduced retirement benefits to any vested member of  TRS, SERS and PERS Plans 2/3 for whom the sum of the number of years of the member's age and the number of years of the member's service credit equals 90 or more.

Non-SCPP legislation endorsed by the SCPP

2896

Bargaining for Supplemental Pension Programs:  Authorizes collective bargaining for payroll deductions for private employee-financed supplemental pension programs.  Endorsement is subject to a tighter bill title and the possible addition of an intent section to clarify the scope of the bill.

2927

6655

JRA Technical Corrections:  Makes technical corrections to the Judicial Retirement Account Act and authorizes payments pursuant to domestic relations orders.

2005
SCPP Request Legislation 

Bill

Cmpn

Description

1317

5341

Changing member contribution rates in WSPRS. 

1318

Allowing certain members of TRS, SERS and PERS to return to work without restrictions or begin receiving their retirement allowance before separation from state elective office.

1319

5247

Survivor benefits for ex-spouses in LEOFF plan 1.

1320

5517

Vesting after five years of service in the defined benefit portion of PERS, SERS, and TRS plan 3. 

1321

5324

Allowing members of TRS plan 1 who are employed less than full-time as psychologists, social workers, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, or speech language pathologists or audiologists to annualize their salaries when calculating their average final compensation. 

1322

5489

Purchasing service credit in plan 2 and plan 3 of the teachers' retirement system for public education experience performed as a teacher in a public school in another state or with the federal government.

1323

5193

Changing the membership of the executive committee of the select committee on pension policy.

1324

5246

Replacing gain-sharing provisions with certain changes in benefits and setting contribution rates for the public employees', teachers', school employees', and public safety employees' retirement systems.

1325

5261

Authorizing interruptive military service credit. 

1326

5244

Restricting the public employment of retirees from TRS and PERS.

1327

5512

Permitting members of TRS plan 2 and plan 3 who qualify for early retirement or alternate early retirement to make a one-time purchase of additional service credit.

1328

5192

Establishing the composition and jurisdiction of city and county disability boards.

1329

5514

Choosing a reduced retirement allowance under LEOFF plan 1.

1330

5245

Making technical corrections in the general retirement provisions estoppel section, teachers' retirement system, public safety employees' retirement system, the school employees' retirement system, the public employees' retirement system, and the actuarial funding chapter.