S-4250               _______________________________________________

                                    SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 134

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1986 Regular Session

By Senators McDermott, Kreidler, Lee, Warnke, Garrett, Conner, Bauer, Saling, Johnson, Moore, Rasmussen and Vognild

Read first time 2/11/86 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

WHEREAS, Tier I within the public employees' retirement system and the teachers' retirement system, both of which cover those members first employed prior to October 1, 1977, presently does not provide post-retirement adjustments to current or future retirement allowances or disability and survivor benefits; and

          WHEREAS, Tier II within these same retirement systems as well as Tier I within the law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' retirement system, the judicial retirement system and the Washington state patrol retirement system each provide an automatic annual post-retirement adjustment; and

          WHEREAS, The inability of Tier I within the public employees' retirement system and the teachers' retirement system to provide post-retirement adjustments may be a cause of economic hardship to the retired person as the value over time of the fixed dollar amount of their benefits is eroded through inflation; and

          WHEREAS, There are three independent retirement systems for the employees of the first class cities of Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma and six retirement systems administered by the state for other public employees; and

          WHEREAS, The movement of public employees between these public employers is hindered in part because of the present inability to retain service credit earned in a position covered by one retirement system when taking a position which is covered by another retirement system; and

          WHEREAS, The state and its political subdivisions would be better served as well as public service made more attractive if there existed a standard method of portability of retirement system membership;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the State of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, That a joint committee on post-retirement adjustments and portability shall be established consisting of sixteen members from the respective Committees on Ways and Means, eight of which shall be appointed by the President of the Senate and eight of which shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the joint committee shall initially meet prior to April 15, 1986, at which time it will elect a chairman and vice-chairman from among its membership; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That staffing for the joint committee shall be provided from the staff of the standing committees of the Ways and Means Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives with actuarial services provided by the office of the state actuary, and the subsistence and travel costs of members and standing committee staff be paid accordingly by the Senate and the House of Representatives; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the joint committee prepare a report and legislative recommendations or proposed legislation to be submitted to the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Chairs of the Ways and Means Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, not later than January 1, 1987, as to:

          (1) The provision of periodic post-retirement adjustments and/or minimum retirement benefits for Tier I of the public employees' retirement system and the teachers' retirement system, and the funding thereof;

          (2) The adequacy of the (a) Tier II post-retirement adjustments of the law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' and public employees' and teachers' retirement systems, (b) judicial retirement system, and (c) Washington state patrol retirement systems; and

          (3) The provision of portability of membership service credit among the retirement systems provided under chapters 2.10, 2.12, 41.26, 41.28, 41.32, 41.40, and 43.43 RCW, and the funding thereof; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the courts of the state, the department of retirements systems, the Washington state patrol, the superintendent of public instruction, the several school districts of the state and the cities of Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma shall provide such membership and other actuarial information as may be required by the joint committee; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the joint committee be authorized to hold such meetings as may be required outside of the city of Olympia in order to obtain testimony and counsel from affected parties and to inform the general public.