BILL REQ. #:  H-1249.2 

Read first time 02/06/2003.   Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

     AN ACT Relating to hiring retired members of the public employees' retirement system plan 1 and the teachers' retirement system plan 1; amending RCW 41.32.570, 41.40.037, and 41.40.037; repealing 2001 c 317 s 1; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 41.32.570 and 2001 2nd sp.s. c 10 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1)(a) If a retiree enters employment with an employer sooner than one calendar month after his or her accrual date, the retiree's monthly retirement allowance will be reduced by five and one-half percent for every seven hours worked during that month. This reduction will be applied each month until the retiree remains absent from employment with an employer for one full calendar month.
     (b) The benefit reduction provided in (a) of this subsection will accrue for a maximum of one hundred forty hours per month. Any monthly benefit reduction over one hundred percent will be applied to the benefit the retiree is eligible to receive in subsequent months.
     (2)(a) Between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, any retired teacher or retired administrator who enters service in any public educational institution in Washington state and who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section and the conditions of employment of (b) of this subsection shall cease to receive pension payments while engaged in such service after the retiree has rendered service for more than one thousand five hundred hours in a school year. When a retired teacher or administrator renders service beyond eight hundred sixty-seven hours, the department shall collect from the employer the applicable employer retirement contributions for the entire duration of the member's employment during that fiscal year. A retired teacher or retired administrator who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section but engages in service without satisfying the conditions of employment of (b) of this subsection shall cease to receive pension payments while engaged in such service after the retiree has rendered service for more than eight hundred sixty-seven hours in a school year.
     (b) To be eligible to receive pension payments for up to one thousand five hundred hours in a school year under (a) of this subsection, the school board of the prospective employer of a retired teacher or retired administrator must approve the hiring of the retiree in an open public meeting.
     (3) On or after July 1, 2004, any retired teacher or retired administrator who enters service in any public educational institution in Washington state and who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section shall cease to receive pension payments while engaged in such service, after the retiree has rendered service for more than ((one thousand five hundred)) eight hundred sixty-seven hours in a school year. ((When a retired teacher or administrator renders service beyond eight hundred sixty-seven hours, the department shall collect from the employer the applicable employer retirement contributions for the entire duration of the member's employment during that fiscal year.
     (3))) (4) The department shall collect and provide the state actuary with information relevant to the use of this section for the joint committee on pension policy.
     (((4))) (5) The legislature reserves the right to amend or repeal this section in the future and no member or beneficiary has a contractual right to be employed for more than ((five)) eight hundred ((twenty-five)) forty hours per year without a reduction of his or her pension.

Sec. 2   RCW 41.40.037 and 2001 2nd sp.s. c 10 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1)(a) If a retiree enters employment with an employer sooner than one calendar month after his or her accrual date, the retiree's monthly retirement allowance will be reduced by five and one-half percent for every eight hours worked during that month. This reduction will be applied each month until the retiree remains absent from employment with an employer for one full calendar month.
     (b) The benefit reduction provided in (a) of this subsection will accrue for a maximum of one hundred sixty hours per month. Any benefit reduction over one hundred percent will be applied to the benefit the retiree is eligible to receive in subsequent months.
     (2)(a) A retiree from plan 1 who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section and who enters employment that satisfies the conditions of (b) of this subsection with an employer may continue to receive pension payments while engaged in such service for up to one thousand five hundred hours of service in a calendar year without a reduction of pension. When a plan 1 member renders service beyond eight hundred sixty-seven hours, the department shall collect from the employer the applicable employer retirement contributions for the entire duration of the member's employment during that calendar year. A retiree from plan 1 who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section but enters employment without satisfying the conditions of (b) of this subsection may continue to receive pension payments while engaged in such service for up to eight hundred sixty-seven hours in a calendar year.
     (b) To employ a retiree from plan 1 for up to one thousand five hundred hours of service in a calendar year without a reduction in pension, the employment of the retiree must be approved by the chief executive officer of a state agency employer, the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives for a legislative agency employer, or according to rules adopted for the rehiring of retired plan 1 members for a local government employer.
     (((b))) (c) A retiree from plan 2 or plan 3 who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section may work up to eight hundred sixty-seven hours in a calendar year in an eligible position, as defined in RCW 41.32.010, 41.35.010, or 41.40.010, or as a fire fighter or law enforcement officer, as defined in RCW 41.26.030, without suspension of his or her benefit.
     (3) If the retiree opts to reestablish membership under RCW 41.40.023(12), he or she terminates his or her retirement status and becomes a member. Retirement benefits shall not accrue during the period of membership and the individual shall make contributions and receive membership credit. Such a member shall have the right to again retire if eligible in accordance with RCW 41.40.180. However, if the right to retire is exercised to become effective before the member has rendered two uninterrupted years of service, the retirement formula and survivor options the member had at the time of the member's previous retirement shall be reinstated.
     (4) The department shall collect and provide the state actuary with information relevant to the use of this section for the joint committee on pension policy.
     (5) The legislature reserves the right to amend or repeal this section in the future and no member or beneficiary has a contractual right to be employed for more than five months in a calendar year without a reduction of his or her pension.

Sec. 3   RCW 41.40.037 and 2001 2nd sp.s. c 10 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1)(a) If a retiree enters employment with an employer sooner than one calendar month after his or her accrual date, the retiree's monthly retirement allowance will be reduced by five and one-half percent for every eight hours worked during that month. This reduction will be applied each month until the retiree remains absent from employment with an employer for one full calendar month.
     (b) The benefit reduction provided in (a) of this subsection will accrue for a maximum of one hundred sixty hours per month. Any benefit reduction over one hundred percent will be applied to the benefit the retiree is eligible to receive in subsequent months.
     (2)(a) A retiree from plan 1 who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section and who enters employment with an employer may continue to receive pension payments while engaged in such service for up to ((one thousand five hundred)) eight hundred sixty-seven hours of service in a calendar year without a reduction of pension. ((When a plan 1 member renders service beyond eight hundred sixty-seven hours, the department shall collect from the employer the applicable employer retirement contributions for the entire duration of the member's employment during that calendar year.))
     (b) A retiree from plan 2 or plan 3 who has satisfied the break in employment requirement of subsection (1) of this section may work up to eight hundred sixty-seven hours in a calendar year in an eligible position, as defined in RCW 41.32.010, 41.35.010, or 41.40.010, or as a fire fighter or law enforcement officer, as defined in RCW 41.26.030, without suspension of his or her benefit.
     (3) If the retiree opts to reestablish membership under RCW 41.40.023(12), he or she terminates his or her retirement status and becomes a member. Retirement benefits shall not accrue during the period of membership and the individual shall make contributions and receive membership credit. Such a member shall have the right to again retire if eligible in accordance with RCW 41.40.180. However, if the right to retire is exercised to become effective before the member has rendered two uninterrupted years of service, the retirement formula and survivor options the member had at the time of the member's previous retirement shall be reinstated.
     (4) The department shall collect and provide the state actuary with information relevant to the use of this section for the joint committee on pension policy.
     (5) The legislature reserves the right to amend or repeal this section in the future and no member or beneficiary has a contractual right to be employed for more than five months in a calendar year without a reduction of his or her pension.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Section 2 of this act expires January 1, 2005.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   Section 3 of this act takes effect January 1, 2005.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   2001 c 317 s 1 is repealed.