BILL REQ. #: Z-0430.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/11. Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
AN ACT Relating to public employees' annuities and retirement plans; amending RCW 28B.10.400, 28B.10.423, and 41.40.037; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 28B.10.400 and 2010 c 21 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The boards of regents of the state universities, the boards of
trustees of the regional universities and of The Evergreen State
College, ((and)) the state board for community and technical colleges,
and the higher education coordinating board are authorized and
empowered:
(((1))) (a) To assist the faculties and ((such other)) senior
academic administrator employees as any such board may designate in the
purchase of old age annuities or retirement income plans under such
rules as any such board may prescribe, subject to the restrictions in
subsection (2) of this section. County agricultural agents, home
demonstration agents, 4-H club agents, and assistant county
agricultural agents paid jointly by the Washington State University and
the several counties shall be deemed to be full time employees of the
Washington State University for the purposes ((hereof)) of this
section;
(((2))) (b) To provide, under such rules ((and regulations)) as any
such board may prescribe for the faculty members or ((other)) senior
academic administrator employees under its supervision, for the
retirement of any such faculty member or ((other)) senior academic
administrator employee on account of age or condition of health,
retirement on account of age to be not earlier than the sixty-fifth
birthday: PROVIDED, That such faculty member or ((such other)) senior
academic administrator employee may elect to retire at the earliest age
specified for retirement by federal social security law: PROVIDED
FURTHER, That any supplemental payment authorized by ((subsection (3)))
(c) of this ((section)) subsection and paid as a result of retirement
earlier than age sixty-five shall be at an actuarially reduced rate;
(((3))) (c) To pay to any such retired person first employed in a
position covered by an old age annuity or retirement income plan
authorized by this section prior to the effective date of this section
or to his or her designated beneficiary(s), each year after his or her
retirement, a supplemental amount which, when added to the amount of
such annuity or retirement income plan, or retirement income benefit
pursuant to RCW 28B.10.415, received by the retired person or the
retired person's designated beneficiary(s) in such year, will not
exceed fifty percent of the average annual salary paid to such retired
person for his or her highest two consecutive years of full time
service under an annuity or retirement income plan established pursuant
to ((subsection (1))) (a) of this ((section)) subsection at an
institution of higher education: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That if such
retired person prior to retirement elected a supplemental payment
survivors option, any such supplemental payments to such retired person
or the retired person's designated beneficiary(s) shall be at
actuarially reduced rates: PROVIDED FURTHER, That if a faculty member
or other employee of an institution of higher education who is a
participant in a retirement plan authorized by this section dies, or
has died before retirement but after becoming eligible for retirement
on account of age, the designated beneficiary(s) shall be entitled to
receive the supplemental payment authorized by this subsection to which
such designated beneficiary(s) would have been entitled had said
deceased faculty member or other employee retired on the date of death
after electing a supplemental payment survivors option: PROVIDED
FURTHER, That for the purpose of this subsection, the designated
beneficiary(s) shall be (((a))) (i) the surviving spouse of the
retiree; or, (((b))) (ii) with the written consent of such spouse, if
any, such other person or persons as shall have an insurable interest
in the retiree's life and shall have been nominated by written
designation duly executed and filed with the retiree's institution of
higher education;
(((4))) (2) Boards are prohibited from offering a purchased annuity
or retirement income plan authorized under this section to employees
hired on or after July 1, 2011, who have retired, or are eligible to
retire from a public employees' retirement system described in RCW
41.50.030. The higher education coordinating board ((is also
authorized and empowered as described in this section, subject to the
following: The board)) shall only offer participation in a purchased
annuity or retirement income plan authorized under this section to
employees who have previously contributed premiums to a similar
qualified plan((, and the board is prohibited from offering or funding
such a plan authorized under this section for the benefit of any
retiree who is receiving or accruing a retirement allowance from a
public employees' retirement system under Title 41 RCW or chapter 43.43
RCW)).
(3) For purposes of this section, "senior academic administrator"
means institution presidents; vice presidents; deans, directors, and
chairs; and executive heads of major administrative or academic
divisions who hold concurrent faculty appointment with rank.
Sec. 2 RCW 28B.10.423 and 1973 1st ex.s. c 149 s 8 are each
amended to read as follows:
It is the intent of RCW 28B.10.400, 28B.10.405, 28B.10.410,
28B.10.415, 28B.10.420, and 28B.10.423 ((and 83.20.030)) that the
retirement income resulting from the contributions described herein
from the state of Washington and the employee shall be projected
actuarially so that it shall not exceed sixty percent of the average of
the highest two consecutive years salary. Periodic review of the
retirement systems established pursuant to RCW 28B.10.400, 28B.10.405,
28B.10.410, 28B.10.415, 28B.10.420, and 28B.10.423 ((and 83.20.030))
will be undertaken at such time and in such manner as determined by the
committees on ways and means of the senate and of the house of
representatives and the ((public pension commission)) select committee
on pension policy, and joint contribution rates will be adjusted if
necessary to accomplish this intent.
Sec. 3 RCW 41.40.037 and 2007 c 50 s 5 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) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, a retiree from
plan 1 who enters employment with an employer at least one calendar
month after his or her accrual date may continue to receive pension
payments while engaged in such service for up to eight hundred sixty-seven hours of service in a calendar year without a reduction of
pension.
(b) A retiree from plan 1 who enters employment with an employer at
least three calendar months after his or her accrual date and:
(i) Is hired pursuant to a written policy into a position for which
the employer has documented a justifiable need to hire a retiree into
the position;
(ii) Is hired through the established process for the position with
the approval of: A school board for a school district; the chief
executive officer of a state agency employer; the secretary of the
senate for the senate; the chief clerk of the house of representatives
for the house of representatives; the secretary of the senate and the
chief clerk of the house of representatives jointly for the joint
legislative audit and review committee, the select committee on pension
policy, the legislative evaluation and accountability program, the
legislative systems committee, and the statute law committee; or
according to rules adopted for the rehiring of retired plan 1 members
for a local government employer;
(iii) The employer retains records of the procedures followed and
decisions made in hiring the retiree, and provides those records in the
event of an audit; and
(iv) The employee has not already rendered a cumulative total of
more than one thousand nine hundred hours of service while in receipt
of pension payments beyond an annual threshold of eight hundred sixty-seven hours;
shall cease to receive pension payments while engaged in that service
after the retiree has rendered service for more than one thousand five
hundred hours in a calendar year. The one thousand nine hundred hour
cumulative total under this subsection applies prospectively to those
retiring after July 27, 2003, and retroactively to those who retired
prior to July 27, 2003, and shall be calculated from the date of
retirement.
(c) 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.
(d) 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, 41.37.010, or
41.40.010, or as a firefighter 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) When a retiree is reemployed by the same employer from which he
or she retired fewer than three calendar months after his or her
accrual date, the retiree is presumed to have not separated from
service.
(5) The department shall collect and provide the state actuary with
information relevant to the use of this section for the select
committee on pension policy.
(((5))) (6) For purposes of this section, "employment" or
"reemployment" includes positions covered by the old age annuities or
retirement income plans authorized by 28B.10.400.
(7) 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 This act is necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the
state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect
July 1, 2011.