H-0359

AN ACT Relating to the Washington state patrol retirement system; and amending RCW 43.43.130.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 43.43.130 and 1987 c 215 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A Washington state patrol retirement fund is hereby established for members of the Washington state patrol which shall include funds created and placed under the management of a retirement board for the payment of retirement allowances and other benefits under the provisions hereof.

(2) Any employee of the Washington state patrol, upon date of commissioning, shall be eligible to participate in the retirement plan and shall start contributing to the fund immediately. Any employee of the Washington state patrol employed by the state of Washington or any of its political subdivisions prior to August 1, 1947, unless such service has been credited in another public retirement or pension system operating in the state of Washington shall receive full credit for such prior service but after that date each new commissioned employee must automatically participate in the fund. If a member shall terminate service in the patrol and later reenter, he shall be treated in all respects as a new employee: PROVIDED, That a member who reenters or has reentered service within ten years from the date of his termination, shall upon completion of six months of continuous service and upon the restoration of all withdrawn contributions, plus interest as determined by the director, which restoration must be completed within five years after resumption of service, be returned to the status of membership he earned at the time of termination.

(3)(a) An employee of the Washington state patrol who becomes a member of the retirement system after June 12, 1980, and who has service as a cadet in the patrol training program may make an irrevocable election to transfer the service to the retirement system. Any member upon making such election shall have transferred all existing service credited in a prior public retirement system in this state for periods of employment as a cadet. Transfer of credit under this subsection is contingent on completion of the transfer of funds specified in subsection (3)(b) of this section.

(b) Within sixty days of notification of a member's cadet service transfer as provided in subsection (3)(a) of this section, the department of retirement systems shall transfer the employee's accumulated contributions attributable to the periods of service as a cadet, including accumulated interest.

(4) A member of the retirement system who has served or shall serve on active federal service in the armed forces of the United States pursuant to and by reason of orders by competent federal authority, who left or shall leave the Washington state patrol to enter such service, and who within one year from termination of such active federal service, resumes employment as a state employee, shall have his service in such armed forces credited to him as a member of the retirement system: PROVIDED, That no such service in excess of five years shall be credited unless such service was actually rendered during time of war or emergency.

(5) An active employee of the Washington state patrol who either became a member of the retirement system prior to June 12, 1980, and who has prior service as a cadet in the public employees' retirement system may make an irrevocable election to transfer such service to the retirement system within a period ending June 30, 1985, or, if not an active employee on July 1, 1983, within one year of returning to commissioned service, whichever date is later. Any member upon making such election shall have transferred all existing service credited in the public employees' retirement system which constituted service as a cadet together with the employee's contributions plus credited interest. If the employee has withdrawn the employee's contributions, the contributions must be restored to the public employees' retirement system before the transfer of credit can occur and such restoration must be completed within the time limits specified in this subsection for making the elective transfer.

(6) An active employee of the Washington state patrol may establish up to six months' retirement service credit in the state patrol retirement system for any period of employment by the Washington state patrol as a cadet if service credit for such employment was not previously established in the public employees' retirement system, subject to the following:

(a) Certification by the patrol that such employment as a cadet was for the express purpose of receiving on-the-job training required for attendance at the state patrol academy and for becoming a commissioned trooper.

(b) Payment by the member of employee contributions in the amount of seven percent of the total salary paid for each month of service to be established, plus interest at seven percent from the date of the probationary service to the date of payment. This payment shall be made by the member no later than July 1, 1988.

(c) A written waiver by the member of the member's right to ever establish the same service in the public employees' retirement system at any time in the future.

(7) An active member of the Washington state patrol may establish up to a maximum of ten years of actuarially reduced retirement service credit in the retirement system for any period of prior employment as either a "law enforcement officer," as defined in RCW 41.26.030(3), or as "an employee ... in law enforcement activity," as defined in 29 C.F.R. Sec. 553.211, subject to the following:

(a) The election to acquire service credit must be made within one year from the date of becoming an active member.

(b) To receive service credit for prior service as a law enforcement officer, a member must pay to the retirement system all, or part, of the contributions withdrawn from the prior retirement system plus the employer and retirement system contributions based on the entry level salary for a member.

(c) The Washington state patrol shall provide proof to the director of the department of retirement systems of a member's prior service and withdrawn contributions.

(d) Full payment must be made to the retirement system in a lump sum, plus interest at the rate set by the director, within five years from the date of election to acquire service credit.

(e) An active member who was commissioned on or after June 12, 1980, has one year from the effective date of this act to elect to acquire service credit by payment as required by this section.

(f) This section shall have no adverse impact on the retirement system trust funds.

(8) The department of retirement systems shall make the requested transfer subject to the conditions specified in subsection (5) of this section or establish additional credit as provided in subsection (6) of this section. Employee contributions and credited interest transferred shall be credited to the employee's account in the Washington state patrol retirement system.