| House Bill 3024: |
TRS Educational Service Credit Purchase Waiting Period
A Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) Plan 2 or Plan 3 member can currently purchase up to seven years of service credit for public education experience earned outside of TRS. To be eligible to make the purchase a member must currently have five service credit years in TRS. This bill reduces the number of service credit years from five to two years in order to qualify for the out-of-state service purchase.
Effective Date: June 12, 2008
Status: Signed by Governor on March 20, 2008
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| Senate Bill 6657: |
Inclusion of National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Payments as Earnable Compensation
This bill amends the definition of "earnable compensation" in the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) to include bonus payments to teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Effective Date: June 12, 2008
Status: Signed by Governor on March 26, 2008
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| House Bill 3019: |
TRS/SERS Half Year Contracts
This bill grants six months of service credit to members of Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and School Employees' Retirement System (SERS) Plan 2 and 3 who are employed for at least five months of a six-month period, from September through August, and earn 630 hours or more within that six-month period.
Effective Date: June 12, 2008
Status: Signed by Governor on March 27, 2008
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| House Bill 2887: |
Judges Benefit Multiplier for Prior PERS Service
This bill contains two provisions. The first affects only judges who are members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) and who opted into the Judges Benefit Multiplier program (JBM). This bill allows a judge who has not purchased prior judicial service at the higher benefit multiplier to do so at retirement. The cost would be the lesser of the full actuarial cost or five percent (2.5 percent for Plan 3) of the salary earned for each month of service credit, plus 5.5 percent interest, from the date the service was earned.
Effective Date: June 12, 2008
The second part of this bill allows a current or separated member of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) who is not employed as a judge or justice to make an irrevocable decision to increase the multiplier on past judicial service by paying the actuarial equivalent value of that purchase. Payment must occur between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009.
Effective Date: January 1, 2009
Status: Signed by Governor on April 1, 2008
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| House Bill 2652: |
Transferring the Dependent Care Assistance Program to the Health Care Authority
This bill transfers administration of the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) from the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) to the Health Care Authority (HCA), effective January 1, 2009. DCAP allows state employees to pay for child and other dependent care services with pre-tax dollars, pursuant to Sections 125 and 129 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Effective Date: January 1, 2009
Status: Signed by Governor on March 28, 2008
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| Senate Bill 6573: |
LEOFF Plan 2 Alternate Revenue
When state general fund revenues increase by at least one percent over the previous year's collections, this bill would require the State Treasurer to transfer the lesser of two amounts – one-third of the increase or $50 million – to the Local Public Safety Enhancement Account. The State Treasurer would proportionately distribute half of the money in this account to all jurisdictions with LEOFF Plan 2 members. Those jurisdictions would be allowed to use these funds for public safety purposes. The other half would be transferred to the Law Enforcement Officers' and Firefighters' (LEOFF) Retirement System Benefits Improvement Account to fund benefit enhancements for LEOFF Plan 2 members.
Effective Date: June 12, 2008
Status: Signed by Governor on March 20, 2008
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