2011 Legislative Session

This bill impacts retirees from each plan within PERS, TRS, SERS and PSERS in the following:

• Limits to 867 the post retirement hours a retiree from Plan 1 of PERS and TRS may work prior to suspending their pension benefit. This limit applies to all retirees beginning January 1, 2012.
• Limits the ability of higher education institutions and entities to offer their Higher Education Retirement Plans (HERPs) to only exempt employees.
• Applies the return to work provisions of the applicable retirement system to higher education positions eligible for the HERPs.
• Higher education institutions and entities are prohibited from offering participation in a HERP to any newly hired employee that has retired or is eligible to retire from a DRS administered retirement system.
• The guaranteed minimum retirement benefit provisions currently available to HERP participants is discontinued for all newly hired HERP participants.
• Newly hired employees eligible for participating in a HERP are given the option at the time of hire to participate in PERS or TRS Plan 3, or participate in a HERP.
• The Office of the State Actuary will oversee an actuarial valuation of the guaranteed minimum retirement benefit provisions.
• Institutions are required to submit a percentage of HERP covered employees’ salary to DRS to be invested by the WSIB. These funds will be used to pay required supplemental benefits to eligible HERP retirees.
• The SCPP is given the authority to review HERP benefits and make recommendations to the Legislature.
• General Fund payments to higher education institutions and entities will only pay up to 6% of salary in matching contributions to the HERP participants.

Post Retirement Employment of Retirement System Members

This bill would impact retirees from each plan within PERS, TRS, SERS and PSERS in the following:

• Limits to 867 the post retirement hours a retiree from each system and plan above could work prior to suspending their pension benefit.
• Applies the return to work provisions of the applicable retirement system to higher education positions eligible for the HERPs.

CVEOS and Communication Officers Time into WSPRS

SCPP Request Bill. This bill would allow current Washington State Patrol Retirement System (WSPRS) members who have service credit within Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) Plan 2 to transfer their PERS credit earned as commercial vehicle enforcement officers or as communications officers into the WSPRS. The member would pay the full actuarial cost of the transfer.

Return to Work and Higher Education Retirement Plans

SCPP Request Bill. This bill would do the following:

• Limits the ability of higher education institutions and entities to offer their Higher Education Retirement Plans (HERPs) to only faculty and senior administrative employees.
• Removes eligibility for the supplemental retirement benefit currently available to HERP members from all future employees who first become employed in a HERP eligible position after the effective date of the bill.
• Applies the return to work provisions of PERS to higher education positions eligible for the HERPs.
• Prohibits higher education institutions and entities from offering their HERPs to employees that were retired or eligible to retire from one of the DRS administered retirement systems.
• Allows the Select Committee on Pension Policy to periodically review the plans offered by the higher education institutions and entities.
• Requires the Department to assume that a valid separation from employment has not occurred if any PERS retiree returns to work within three months with the same employer from which they retired.

WSP Overtime Inclusion as Salary for Retirement Purposes

This bill would allow voluntary overtime related to transportation projects and interagency agreements to be included in the retirement calculation for Washington State Patrol Retirement System members.

Presumptive Medical for Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters

LEOFF Plan 2 Retirement Board request bill. This bill expands the list of duty related presumptive illnesses for firefighters to include strokes. It also creates a duty related presumption for law enforcement officers who suffer a heart attack or stroke under certain conditions. This means the illness is presumed to be duty related under the specified circumstances.

Rule of 85

This bill provides unreduced retirement benefits to any vested Plan 2 and Plan 3 member of PERS, TRS, and SERS, who is at least age 55 and for whom the sum of the member's age and the number of years of the member's service credit equals 85 or more.

Impact on Pension Benefit of Reduced Compensation for School Employees

This bill would require the Department to calculate a retiring TRS and SERS member's benefit who was employed by a school district so that it includes foregone compensation during the 2009-2011 biennium due to qualifying budget reduction strategies.

Waiver of PERS Eligibility for Plan 1 Employees of Labor Guilds and Associations

This bill would allow Plan 1 employees of Labor Guilds and Associations to forego rights to future coverage under the PERS system while working for that employer. If they choose to do this, they will be considered to be employed in an ineligible position under the PERS definitions.

Setting LEOFF Plan 2 Contribution Rates for the 2011-2013 Fiscal Biennium

This bill sets the member, employer and state contribution rates for LEOFF Plan 2 for the 2011-2013 biennium at the actuarially required level, as determined by the State Actuary.

Merging the Trust Funds of LEOFF Plan 1 and LEOFF Plan 2

This bill consolidates the trust funds for both Plan 1 and Plan 2 of the LEOFF Retirement System into a new fund for all LEOFF members and retirees. This bill also modifies the authority and duties of the LEOFF Plan 2 Retirement Board to include functions related to the new combined fund.

Modifying Retirement Provisions for Judges

This bill would modify the mandatory retirement age of 75 for Judges covered under the retirement provisions of RCW 2.10, the Judicial Retirement System. This would allow Judges to retire either at the end of the calendar year in which they turn 75 or at the end of their term in office after attaining age 75.

Post Retirement Employment in Higher Education

This bill would exempt Teachers' Plan 1 retirees from post-retirement employment restrictions if they meet the following criteria:

• They return to work for a Higher Education employer at least one month after retirement; and
• They return to work in a non-instructional capacity.

Health Benefits to TRS Retirees

This bill would require the Health Care Authority (HCA) to pay a monthly subsidy of $250 to retirees of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) Plan 1 if the following apply:

• The retiree is ineligible for Medicare; and
• They apply for a service retirement with an effective date between June 1 and August 31 of 2011; and
• They receive their first retirement payment before October 31, 2011.

Members who choose to receive this subsidy are not subject to post-retirement employment restrictions until August 31, 2014.

Creating the Washington Public Employees' Savings Plan

This bill creates a new defined contribution retirement system for newly hired public employees employed by state, local government and political subdivision employers. The Public Employees' Savings Plan (PESP) is established effective January 1, 2013 and will be administered by the Department of Retirement Systems. The current PERS, TRS, SERS, and PSERS retirement systems would be closed to new employees, and all future employees that would have established membership in these plans would now be members of the PESP.