H-1948              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 458

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored byRepresentatives Sommers, Tilly, B. Williams, Braddock, Wang, Grimm, Silver, Patrick and P. King)

Read first time 3/4/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to retirement of judges; amending RCW 2.10.040; and adding a new section to chapter 41.40 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 4, chapter 267, Laws of 1971 ex. sess. as amended by section 1, chapter 37, Laws of 1984 and RCW 2.10.040 are each amended to read as follows:

          The Washington judicial retirement system is hereby created for judges appointed or elected under the provisions of chapters 2.04, 2.06, and 2.08 RCW.  All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after August 9, 1971, and prior to the effective date of this 1985 act, shall be members of this system:  PROVIDED, That following February 23, 1984, and until the effective date of this 1985 act, any newly elected or appointed judge holding credit toward retirement benefits under chapter 41.40 RCW shall be allowed thirty days from the effective date of election or appointment to such judgeship to make an irrevocable choice filed in writing with the department of retirement systems to continue coverage under that chapter and to be permanently excluded from coverage under this chapter for the current or any future term as a judge.  All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after the effective date of this 1985 act may become members of the public employees' retirement system under chapter 41.40 RCW on the same basis as other elected officials as provided in RCW 41.40.120(3).

Any member of the retirement system who is serving as a judge as of the effective date of this 1985 act has the option of becoming a member of the retirement system created in chapter 41.40 RCW, subject to the conditions imposed by section 2 of this 1985 act, by making an irrevocable choice filed in writing with the department of retirement systems to be permanently excluded for the current and any future term as a judge.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 41.40 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) Any member of the Washington judicial retirement system who wishes to transfer such membership to the retirement system provided for in this chapter shall file a written request with the director as required by RCW 2.10.040 on or before December 31, 1986.  Upon receipt of such request, the director shall transfer from the judicial retirement system to this retirement system:  (a) An amount equal to the employee contributions paid into the judicial retirement system by the member which shall be credited to the member's account established under this chapter; (b) an amount equal to the matching employer contributions as provided by RCW 2.10.090(2); and (c) a record of service credited to the member.

          (2) The member shall be given year-for-year credit for years of service, as determined under RCW 2.10.030(8), earned under the judicial retirement system.  Service credit granted under the judicial retirement system pursuant to RCW 2.10.220 shall not be transferred under this section.  The director instead shall reverse the transfer of contributions and service credit previously made under RCW 2.10.220 and shall credit the member for such periods of service and contributions under this chapter as though no transfer had ever occurred.

          (3) All employee contributions transferred pursuant to this section shall be treated the same as other employee contributions made under this chapter.