S-1590               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 4327

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senator Patterson

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Education.

AN ACT Relating to employees' insurance and health care; and amending RCW 41.05.050.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 9, chapter 2, Laws of 1983 as last amended by section 1, chapter 107, Laws of 1984 and RCW 41.05.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Every department, division, or separate agency of state government, and such county, municipal, or other political subdivisions as are covered by this chapter, shall provide contributions to insurance and health care plans for its employees and their dependents, the content of such plans to be determined by the state employees insurance board.  Such contributions, which shall be paid by the county, the municipality, or other political subdivision for their employees, shall include an amount determined by the state employee's insurance board to pay the administrative expenses of the board and the salaries and wages and expenses of the benefits supervisor and other necessary personnel:  PROVIDED, That this administrative service charge for state employees shall not result in an employer contribution in excess of the amount authorized by the governor and the legislature as prescribed in RCW 41.05.050(2), and that the sum of an employee's insurance premiums and administrative service charge in excess of such employer contribution shall be paid by the employee.  All such contributions will be paid into the state employees insurance fund to be expended in accordance with RCW 41.05.030.

          (2) The contributions of any department, division, or separate agency of the state government, and such county, municipal, or other political subdivisions as are covered by this chapter, shall be set by the state employees insurance board, subject to the approval of the governor for availability of funds as specifically appropriated by the legislature for that purpose:  PROVIDED, That ((provision for school district personnel shall not be made under this chapter:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That)) insurance and health care contributions for ferry employees shall be governed by RCW 47.64.270.

          (3) The trustee with the assistance of the department of personnel shall survey private industry and public employers in the state of Washington to determine the average employer contribution for group insurance programs under the jurisdiction of the state employees insurance board.  Such survey shall be conducted during each even-numbered year but may be conducted more frequently.  The survey shall be reported to the board for its use in setting the amount of the recommended employer contribution to the employee insurance benefit program covered by this chapter.  The board shall transmit a recommendation for the amount of the employer contribution to the governor and the director of financial management for inclusion in the proposed budgets submitted to the legislature.