S-2754.1 _______________________________________________
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 8418
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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2001 First Special Session
By Senators Costa, Fraser, Eide and Kohl‑Welles
Read first time . Referred to Committee on .
WHEREAS, The LEOFF 1 retirement plan provides an automatic survivor allowance to the surviving spouse of a LEOFF 1 retiree who predeceases the surviving spouse, but provides no survivor allowance to an exspouse, even if the exspouse had been married to the LEOFF 1 member for all or most of the LEOFF 1 member's career; and
WHEREAS, The Joint Committee on Pension Policy reviewed the issue of survivor benefits in the LEOFF 1 retirement plan in 1999 and 2000; and considered various options for providing exspouses a means to receive a survivor benefit after a divorce from a LEOFF 1 retiree; and
WHEREAS, Persons who were hired into law enforcement officer positions prior to 1977 were required to pass minimum medical standards in order to become members of the LEOFF 1 retirement plan; and
WHEREAS, Persons who did not meet the LEOFF 1 retirement plan minimum medical standards could continue to work as law enforcement officers, but were placed in the PERS 1 retirement plan instead of the LEOFF 1 retirement plan for such service; and
WHEREAS, LEOFF 1 retirees are eligible for employer-paid health benefits after retirement, but PERS 1 retirees are not; and
WHEREAS, Members of the TRS 1 retirement plan who are employed as part-time teachers may have their TRS 1 retirement allowances calculated using the salary they would have earned if they had worked on a full-time basis; and
WHEREAS, Members of the TRS 1 retirement plan who are employed as part-time school nurses do not have the option of having their retirement allowances calculated in the same manner as part-time teachers;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the state of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, That the Joint Committee on Pension Policy review and provide recommendations, and possible legislation, for the 2002 legislative session regarding the following issues:
(1) How to provide exspouses of LEOFF 1 members and retirees, who were married to the LEOFF 1 member for twenty or more years during the member's period of LEOFF 1 service, the ability to obtain a portion of the LEOFF 1 retirement plan allowance through the duration of the exspouse's life; and
(2) Whether to provide a person who has rendered service as a law enforcement officer or a fire fighter for twenty-five or more years, beginning prior to October 1977, who was made a member of the PERS 1 retirement plan instead of the LEOFF 1 retirement plan due to a failure to meet the LEOFF 1 retirement plan minimum medical standards, an option to transfer from the PERS 1 retirement plan to the LEOFF 1 retirement plan; and
(3) Whether retirement benefits for part-time school nurses who are members of the TRS 1 retirement plan should be calculated in the same manner as are the retirement benefits for part-time school teachers.
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