Retirement Bills improved, moved forward

Our efforts to improve PERS and SERS took a big step forward when the Senate voted 47-0 to pass Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6530 and Senate Bill 6829.

ESSB 6530 is the omnibus retirement bill that lowers the penalty for retiring under PERS II and SERS II prior to age 65. Currently the penalty is 8% per year. This bill lowers that penalty to 3% per year for those who are at least 55 years old and have 30 years of service. For example: If you are currently 60 years old and have 30 years of service under PERS II, your benefit reduction would go from 40% to 15% per year. This makes retiring prior to age 65 a more realistic option.

Plan III option

ESSB 6530 also contains a Plan III option for all current and future employees as of March 1, 2002. This is a major component of the bill and a gigantic shift in policy for the Joint Committee on Pension Policy (JCPP). As you may remember, Plan III is a hybrid plan and combines a guaranteed benefit with an invested benefit. Such a plan generally benefits employees who do not plan to stay in government service. Our previous opposition to this plan was centered on it being mandatory.

SERS III an option

Speaking of mandatory, SB 6829 makes SERS III an option for both new hires and current school employees as of September 1, 2000. Current law was to make it mandatory for new hires. The Public School Employees (PSE) and Washington Education Association (WEA) agreed to make it mandatory but the AFL-CIO unions held strong and the Senate passed the bill unanimously.

Early retirement

Most early retirement bills did not make it out of committee as was expected. The cost of the bills contributed to their demise. We are continuing to work on giving local governments the option of offering early retirement on a "pay as you go basis". The Department of Retirement Systems has estimated the cost of a PERS I early retirement to be about $40,000 per employee. We are saying that money can be saved by not filling those positions or filling them with people with less seniority who are paid less. SB 6537 offers early retirement to certain State agencies and transit districts that have experienced significant downsizing. This bill may be the vehicle we use to get our option.

Governance Bill 2603 dies in House

The bill to change the structure of the retirement system did not make it past the House Appropriations Committee. The reason, a group of organizations known as the "C.A.R.E." coalition. This group is primarily made up of the WEA and PSE. They insisted that retirees be given as much representation as active employees on the board created by the bill. This is despite the fact that there are over 300,000 actives and only 100,000 retirees. Why does this make a difference? Because this board would influence the rates we pay and the people who pay the rates are actives, not retirees. There is not a single retirement board in the whole country that has an equal number of actives and retirees.

We compromised on 4 actives and 3 retirees but that was not agreeable to C.A.R.E. Since we could not agree the JCPP refused to move the bill.

Despite the outcome, Cathy Wolfe (D, Olympia) should be thanked for all her efforts on this and all the retirement bills.

On to the House

These bills are now before the House Appropriations Committee. Your calls to the following Representatives will help.

2000 Appropriations Committee
HUFF, Tom (R) Co-Chair
SOMMERS, Helen (D) Co-Chair
BARLEAN, Kelly (R) Vice Chair
DOUMIT, Mark (D) Vice Chair
SCHMIDT, Dave (R) Vice Chair
ALEXANDER, Gary (R)
BENSON, Brad (R)
BOLDT, Marc (R)
CLEMENTS, Jim (R)
CODY, Eileen (D)
CROUSE, Larry (R)
GOMBOSKY, Jeff (D)
GRANT, Bill (D)
KAGI, Ruth (D)
KEISER, Karen (D)
KENNEY, Phyllis (D)
KESSLER, Lynn (D)
LAMBERT, Kathy (R)
LINVILLE, Kelli (D)
LISK, Barbara (R)
MASTIN, Dave (R)
MCINTIRE, Jim (D)
MCMORRIS, Cathy (R)
MULLIKEN, Joyce (R)
PARLETTE, Linda (R)
REGALA, Debbie (D)
ROCKEFELLER, Phil (D)
RUDERMAN, Laura (D)
SULLIVAN, Brian (D)
SUMP, Bob (R)
TOKUDA, Kip (D)
WENSMAN, Mike (R)

Deputy Prosecutor Collective Bargaining ESB 5152 passes out of Senate

By a unanimous vote of 44-0, the Senate moved our collective bargaining bill to the House Commerce and Labor Committee. This bill will restore collective bargaining rights to deputy prosecutors and clarify who RCW 41.56 covers. A special thanks should go to Senator Larry Sheahan (R -- Rosalia). Senator Sheahan offered an agreed to floor amendment that generated bi-partisan support.

House Commerce and Labor Committee

CLEMENTS, Jim (R) Co-Chair
CONWAY, Steve (D) Co-Chair
CHANDLER, Bruce (R) Vice-Chair
WOOD, Alex (D) Vice-Chair
HURST, Chris (D)
LISK, Barbara (R)
MCINTIRE, Jim (D)
MCMORRIS, Cathy (R)

Bid Limits out of Rules and on Senate Floor

SB 5469, our bill to raise bid limits for cities was pulled from the Rules Committee by Senator Harriet Spanel (D -- Bellingham) and now awaits a floor vote.

Retiree Health Benefits SB 5607 also passes Senate

This bill extends access to medical coverage for local government employees. It passed 46-0 but faces a battle in the House Health Care Committee. Currently local government employees not covered by the State Health Care Authority have no right under State Law to continue to participate in insurance plans of their employer after they retire or are disabled. SB 5607 would correct that.

Please call the following committee members and ask them to support SB 5607.

House Health Care Committee

CODY, Eileen (D) Co-Chair
PARLETTE, Linda Evans (R) Co-Chair
PFLUG, Cheryl (R) Vice-Chair
SCHUAL-BERKE, Shay (D) Vice-Chair
ALEXANDER, Gary (R)
BOLDT, Marc (R)
CAMPBELL, Tom (R)
CONWAY, Steve (D)
EDMONDS, Carolyn (D)
EDWARDS, Jeanne (D)
MULLIKEN, Joyce (R)
RUDERMAN, Laura (D)

Hotline number to contact legislators toll-free 1-800-562-6000.