H-1131              _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 458

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Sommers, Tilly, B. Williams, Braddock, Wang, Grimm, Silver, Patrick and P. King

Read first time 2/1/85 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

AN ACT Relating to retirement of judges; amending RCW 2.10.040; and adding new sections to chapter 41.40 RCW.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 4, chapter 267, Laws of 1971 ex. sess. as amended by section 1, chapter 37, Laws of 1984 and RCW 2.10.040 are each amended to read as follows:

          The Washington judicial retirement system is hereby created for judges appointed or elected under the provisions of chapters 2.04, 2.06, and 2.08 RCW.  All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after August 9, 1971, and prior to the effective date of this 1985 act, shall be members of this system((:  PROVIDED, That following February 23, 1984, any newly elected or appointed judge holding credit toward retirement benefits under chapter 41.40 RCW shall be allowed thirty days from the effective date of election or appointment to such judgeship to make an irrevocable choice filed in writing with the department of retirement systems to continue coverage under that chapter and to be permanently excluded from coverage under this chapter for the current or any future term as a judge)).  All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after the effective date of this 1985 act shall be members of the public employees' retirement system under chapter 41.40 RCW.

All members of the retirement system who are serving as judges as of the effective date of this 1985 act shall have the option of becoming members of the retirement system created in chapter 41.40 RCW, subject to the conditions imposed by sections 2 and 3 of this 1985 act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     (1) Any member of the Washington judicial retirement system who wishes to transfer such membership to the retirement system provided for in this chapter shall file a written request with the director on or before December 1, 1985.  Upon receipt of such request, the director shall transfer from the judicial retirement system to this retirement system:  (a) All employee contributions made by such member and all state matching contributions credited or attributed to such member; and (b) a record of service credited to such member.

          (2) The member shall be given year-for-year credit for years of service, as determined under RCW 2.10.030(8), earned under the judicial retirement system.  Service credit granted under the judicial retirement system pursuant to RCW 2.10.220 shall not be transferred under this section.  The director instead shall reverse the transfer of contributions and service credit previously made under RCW 2.10.220 and shall credit the member for such periods of service and contributions under this chapter as though no transfer had ever occurred, subject to the limitations imposed by section 3 of this act.

          (3) All employee contributions transferred pursuant to this section shall be treated the same as other employee contributions made under this chapter, subject to the limitations imposed by section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     No member of the judicial retirement system may transfer membership to the retirement system provided by this chapter, as otherwise permitted by section 2 of this act, unless such member agrees to have all of the member's rights, benefits, and responsibilities be determined as though the member had first become a member of the retirement system provided by this chapter after October 1, 1977.  The director may, however, give such members credit for service and contributions made under the retirement system provided by this chapter prior to October 1, 1977, when calculating such member's retirement allowance if the contributions have not previously been withdrawn.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each added to chapter 41.40 RCW.