Legislative Report #2, 2009

Is it over yet?

THE 105 REGULAR SESSION came to a close Sunday, April 26. Everything that needed to pass (operating and capital budgets) were approved. But the Governor is considering calling them back for a short special session to deal with a handful of issues that weren’t handled, namely school levies and criminal sentencing. There is no doubt some lawmakers who want to expand the list of issues to consider so it’s a “wait and see” game for now.

On the pension front

AS REPORTED PREVIOUSLY, we were successful in preventing a funding method change that would have harmed the stability of our pension systems. However, the budget that was passed did artificially lower rates and that will no doubt lead to increased future cost. To be clear, money that should be going to lower the unfunded liability of Plan I will be spent on balancing the state’s current budget. While this means lower rates for everyone now, it will mean higher rates in the future.

Hopefully, our employers will use this money to help offset cuts that affect our membership, that is layoffs, furloughs, and so on.

We also strongly encourage everyone to consider putting the savings from this change into their deferred compensation programs.

The rates are listed below:

PENSION RATES
	CURRENT	ADOPTED
	7/1/08 - 6/30/09	7/1/09 - 6/30/11
Plan 1 Employer	8.31%	5.29%
Plan 1 Employee	6.00%	6.00%
Plan 2 Employer	8.31%	5.29%
Plan 2 Employee	5.45%	3.89%
Plan 3 Employer	8.31%	5.29%
Plan 3 Employee	5 to 15%	5 to 15%
SERS 2 Employer	7.54%	5.43%
SERS 2 Employee	4.68%	3.14%
SERS 3 Employer	7.54%	5.43%
SERS 3 Employee	5 to 15%	5 to 15%
PSERS Employer	9.43%	7.84%
PSERS Employee	6.57%	6.55%

Bid limit bill becomes law

IN A SWEEPING UPDATE to our state’s outdated bid limits, HB 1847 passed overwhelmingly. This will allow our employers to utilize in house labor to perform small construction projects instead of contracting the work out, saving everyone time and money. See chart below:

	HB 1847
Class	Current Project Limit	New Project Limit

1st Class Cities	$70,000	$90,000
2nd Class Cities	$45,000	$65,000

Counties over 400,000 Population	$70,000	$90,000

These limits haven't been updated for decades

Fire Districts	$2,500	$20,000
Park Districts	$5,000	$20,000
Utility Districts	$10,000	$20,000
Hospital Districts	$50,000	$70,000

Interruptive military service credit HB 1548

THIS BILL allows for a total of 5 years, no cost service credit to any PERS, SERS or PSERS member who provides proof that they left employment for interruptive military service during a period of war and returned to that employment 90 days after being discharged. The Governor signed this bill on April 24.

Eyman's sugar daddy shows up again!

MR. MICHAEL DUNMIRE, the deep pocket for Tim Eyman’s temper tantrums, dropped another $300,000 to buy signatures for Initiative 1033.

This latest offering from the “Anti Government” crowd will further limit revenue for state and local governments. Eyman claims that the limits will account for inflation and population growth. The problem is that the cost of running essential services does not follow the same rules of the initiative!

Several factors such as the recession/depression we are currently experiencing will artificially lower base revenue that inflation would be tied to.

With the $300,000 from Dunmire and the $195,000 Eyman claims to have “loaned” the campaign, paid gatherers will no doubt buy enough signatures to qualify. We are in the process of bringing people and organizations together to counter this shortsighted measure. More later.

J. Pat Thompson
Deputy Director

List of 2009 legislators

Legislative report
by e-mail

J. Pat Thompson Deputy Director

List of 2009 legislators

Legislative report by e-mail

J. Pat Thompson
Deputy Director

Legislative report
by e-mail