H-2274.1          _______________________________________________

                            SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2077

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

By House Committee on Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Hine, Silver, Peery and Holland).

Read first time March 6, 1991.  Changing reporting requirements for school district employee benefit providers.

     AN ACT Relating to school district employee benefits; amending RCW 28A.400.275 and 41.04.205; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.400 RCW.

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

     Sec. 1.  RCW 28A.400.275 and 1990 1st ex.s. c 11 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) Any contract for employee benefits executed after April 13, 1990, between a school district and a benefit provider or employee bargaining unit is null and void unless it contains an agreement to abide by state laws relating to school district employee benefits.  The term of the contract may not exceed one year.

     (2) School districts shall ((annually)) submit periodically, but no more often than every two years, to the Washington state health care authority summary descriptions of all benefits offered under the district's employee benefit plan.  The districts shall also submit summary data to the health care authority specifying the total number of employees ((and, for each employee, types of coverage or benefits received including numbers of covered dependents, the number of eligible dependents, the amount of the district's contribution, additional premium costs paid by the employee through payroll deductions, and the age and sex of the employee and each dependent)) in each bargaining group and in the nonbargaining group, and, for each such group, the mean and range of district contribution, employee payroll deduction, and total premium for insurance benefits provided to the employees in the group.  The plan descriptions and the data shall be submitted in a format and according to a schedule established by the health care authority.

     (3) Any benefit provider offering a benefit plan by contract with a school district under subsection (1) of this section shall agree to make available to the school district the benefit plan descriptions ((and, where available, the demographic information on plan subscribers)) that the district is required to report to the Washington state health care authority under this section.

     (4) This section shall not apply to benefit plans offered in the 1989-90 school year.

     Sec. 2.  RCW 41.04.205 and 1990 c 222 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of RCW 41.04.180, the employees, with their dependents, of any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state shall be eligible to participate in any insurance or self-insurance program administered under chapter 41.05 RCW if the legislative authority of any such county, municipality, or other political subdivisions of this state determines a transfer to an insurance or self-insurance program administered under chapter 41.05 RCW should be made:  PROVIDED, That this section shall have no application to members of the law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' retirement system under chapter 41.26 RCW:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the event of a special district employee transfer pursuant to this section, members of the governing authority shall be eligible to be included in such transfer if such members are authorized by law as of June 25, 1976 to participate in the insurance program being transferred from and subject to payment by such members of all costs of insurance for members.

     (2) When the legislative authority of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision determines to so transfer, the state health care authority shall:

     (a) Establish the conditions under which the transfer may be made, which shall include the requirements that:

     (i) All the eligible employees of the political subdivision transfer as a unit, and

     (ii) The political subdivision involved obligate itself to make employer contributions in an amount at least equal to those provided by the state as employer; and

     (b) Hold public hearings on the application for transfer; and

     (c) Have the sole right to reject the application.

(3) Approval of the application by the state health care authority shall effect a transfer of the employees involved to the insurance, self-insurance, or health care program applied for.

(4) The requirements in subsection (2)(a) (i) and (ii) of this section need not be applied to school districts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.400 RCW to read as follows:

     The superintendent of public instruction shall adopt rules to implement the intent of RCW 28A.400.275 and 28A.400.280.