FINAL BILL REPORT

                     EHB 2813

                            Synopsis as Enacted

                                 C 199 L 92

Brief Description:  Allowing the transfer of the state law enforcement officers and fire fighters retirement system to the state health care authority.

By Representatives Bowman, Prentice, Riley, Braddock, Cantwell, Van Luven and Brumsickle.

House Committee on Health Care

Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care

Background:  When the Law Enforcement Officers' and Fire Fighters' Retirement System (LEOFF-I) was created in 1970,  the law required local governmental entities to provide full 24-hour health benefit coverage.  When the State Employee Insurance Board, predecessor of the Health Care Authority (HCA), was created, LEOFF was excluded from mandatory health care coverage in an effort to avoid  potential high costs. 

In recent years, several developments occurred that made LEOFF participation in the HCA plan advantageous:  (1) LEOFF-II, created in 1976, did not require health coverage; (2) retiree coverage, required in LEOFF I, has become difficult to obtain other than through the HCA; and (3) local governments, which covered non-LEOFF employees through the HCA, have been finding it increasingly difficult to obtain separate coverage for LEOFF employees.

There are 4,363 active member in LEOFF I and 6,899 in LEOFF II.

Summary:  To permit LEOFF enrollment in the HCA plan, current law that prohibits LEOFF participation in the HCA benefits plan is deleted.  However, LEOFF members' right to bargain collectively for health benefits is unchanged.

Votes on Final Passage:

House 93    0

Senate   49    0

Effective:     June 11, 1992