Washington State
House of Representatives
Office of Program Research
BILL
ANALYSIS
Appropriations Committee
SSB 6106
Brief Description: Including in the public safety employees' retirement system specified workers at department of social and health services institutional and residential sites that serve civilly committed residents or serve patients under not guilty by reason of insanity findings.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Conway, Keiser, Robinson, Hunt, Dhingra, Frame, Holy, Kuderer, Lovick, Nobles, Valdez and Wilson, C.; by request of Department of Social and Health Services).
Brief Summary of Substitute Bill
  • Provides membership in the Public Safety Employees' Retirement System for employees of eligible employers at institutions or residential sites that serve civilly committed residents, or serve patients under not guilty by reason of insanity findings.
Hearing Date:
Staff: David Pringle (786-7310).
Background:

The Public Safety Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) was created in 2004 and opened to members on July 1, 2006.  The PSERS provides retirement benefits for state and local government employees who work in positions with law enforcement duties but are not eligible for membership in the Law Enforcement Officers' and Fire Fighters' Retirement System, and for other workers that have a primary responsibility to provide nursing care, custody, and safety at specified state institutions.  Members of the PSERS with at least 20 years of service will be eligible for full retirement benefits from age 60, five years earlier than the regular retirement age in Public Employees' Retirement System Plans 2 and 3.  Members of the PSERS with 20 years of service may also opt for early retirement beginning at age 53 with a 3 percent reduction in benefits per year of early retirement.


Membership in the PSERS is restricted by an individual's employer and by specific job criteria.  The PSERS employers are defined as the Department of Corrections, the Department of Natural Resources, the State Parks and Recreation Commission, the Gambling Commission, the Washington State Patrol, the Liquor Control Board, county corrections departments, and the corrections departments of municipalities not classified as first class cities.


In 2018 the PSERS was amended to add the Department of Social and Health Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs to the list of employers and to expand the types of employees working for eligible employers that are eligible for the PSERS to employees whose primary responsibility is to provide nursing care or to ensure the custody or safety of offender and patient populations.  In 2020 the PSERS was amended again to add employees at institutions and residential sites that perform competency restoration services.
Summary of Bill:

The type of institution or residential site at which a PSERS employer's employees are eligible for participation in the PSERS is expanded to include institutions or residential sites that serve civilly committed residents, or serve patients under not guilty by reason of insanity findings.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect on June 1, 2025.