Z-381                 _______________________________________________

 

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 3057

                        _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

 

By Senators Gaspard and Zimmerman; by Legislative Budget Committee request

 

 

Read first time 1/15/85 and referred to Committee on Education.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to retirement plans for employees at institutions of higher education; amending RCW 28B.10.400; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

 

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

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.     It is the intent of the legislature to eliminate supplemental pension benefits for employees employed after the effective date of this act at institutions of higher education.  The legislature also intends to permit certain retirement plan options for persons employed by institutions of higher education after the effective date of this act.

 

        Sec. 2.  Section 28B.10.400, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 259, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. and RCW 28B.10.400 are each amended to read as follows:

          The boards of regents of the state universities, the boards of trustees of the regional universities and of The Evergreen State College, and the state board for community college education are authorized and empowered:

          (1) To assist the faculties and such other employees as any such board may designate in the purchase of old age annuities or retirement income plans under such rules and regulations as any such board may prescribe.  County agricultural agents, home demonstration agents, 4-H club agents, and assistant county agricultural agents paid jointly by the Washington State University and the several counties shall be deemed to be full time employees of the Washington State University for the purposes hereof;

          (2) To provide, under such rules and regulations as any such board may prescribe for the faculty members or other employees under its supervision, for the retirement of any such faculty member or other employee on account of age or condition of health, retirement on account of age to be not earlier than the sixty-fifth birthday:  PROVIDED, That such faculty member or such other employee may elect to retire at the earliest age specified for retirement by federal social security law:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That any supplemental payment authorized by subsection (3) of this section and paid as a result of retirement earlier than age sixty-five shall be at an actuarially reduced rate;

          (3) For persons who began employment before the effective date of this 1985 act, to pay to any such ((retired)) person upon retirement or to ((his)) the person's designated beneficiary(s), each year after ((his)) the person's retirement, a supplemental amount which, when added to the amount of such annuity or retirement income plan, or retirement income benefit pursuant to RCW 28B.10.415, received by ((him or his)) the person or the person's designated beneficiary(s) in such year, will not exceed fifty percent of the average annual salary paid to such retired person for ((his)) the person's highest two consecutive years of full time service under an annuity or retirement income plan established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section at an institution of higher education:  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That if such retired person prior to ((his)) retirement elected a supplemental payment survivors option, any such supplemental payments to such retired person or ((his)) the person's designated beneficiary(s) shall be at actuarially reduced rates:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That if a faculty member or other employee of an institution of higher education who is a participant in a retirement plan authorized by this section dies, or has died before retirement but after becoming eligible for retirement on account of age, the designated beneficiary(s) shall be entitled to receive the supplemental payment authorized by this subsection (3) of this section to which such designated beneficiary(s) would have been entitled had said deceased faculty member or other employee retired on the date of death after electing a supplemental payment survivors option:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That for the purpose of this subsection, the designated beneficiary(s) shall be (a) the surviving spouse of the retiree; or, (b) with the written consent of such spouse, if any, such other person or persons as shall have an insurable interest in the retiree's life and shall have been nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the retiree's institution of higher education.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) Employees employed after the effective date of this act eligible to participate under RCW 28B.10.400 through 28B.10.430 may, before the end of the calendar month following the date of employment elect through written notification to the governing body of the employing institution:

          (a) To participate under RCW 28B.10.400 through 28B.10.430 without the supplemental benefits; or

          (b) To participate in the retirement plan under chapter 41.32 RCW if the person has been a member under chapter 41.32 RCW.

          (2) An employee otherwise eligible failing to make an election under subsection (1) of this section shall be covered under chapter 41.40 RCW.

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.