H-1422              _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 705

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Sayan, Belcher, Grimm, Brekke, Ballard, R. King, Gallagher, Sanders, P. King, Valle, Doty, May, Brough, Hine, Unsoeld, L. Smith, Lux, Betrozoff, Hankins and Todd

Read first time 2/6/87 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

AN ACT Relating to cost-of-living adjustments of retirement benefits; amending RCW 41.32.485 and 41.40.198; making an appropriation; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 2, chapter 96, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. as amended by section 2, chapter 306, Laws of 1986 and RCW 41.32.485 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, effective July 1, ((1986)) 1987, as a cost-of-living adjustment, no beneficiary receiving a retirement allowance pursuant to this chapter shall receive, as the pension portion of that retirement allowance, less than ((thirteen)) fifteen dollars per month for each year of service creditable to the person whose service is the basis of the pension.  Portions of a year shall be treated as fractions of a year and the decimal equivalent shall be multiplied by ((thirteen)) fifteen dollars.  Where the pension payable was adjusted at the time benefit payments to the beneficiary commenced, the minimum pension provided in this section shall be adjusted in a manner consistent with that adjustment.

          (2) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, effective July 1, 1979, the retirement allowance of each beneficiary who either is receiving benefits pursuant to RCW 41.32.520 or 41.32.550 as of December 31, 1978, or commenced receiving a monthly retirement allowance under this chapter as of a date no later than July 1, 1974, shall be permanently increased by a post-retirement adjustment.  This adjustment shall be in lieu of any adjustments provided under RCW 41.32.499(6) as of July 1, 1979, or July 1, 1980, for the affected beneficiaries.  Such adjustment shall be calculated as follows:

          (a) Retirement allowances to which this subsection and subsection (1) of this section are both applicable shall be determined by first applying subsection (1) and then applying this subsection.  The department shall determine the total years of creditable service and the total dollar benefit base accrued as of December 31, 1978, except that this determination shall take into account only those beneficiaries to whom this subsection applies;

          (b) The department shall multiply the total benefits determined in (a) of this subsection by six percent and divide the dollar value thus determined by the total service determined in (a) of this subsection.  The resultant figure shall then be a post-retirement increase factor which shall be applied as specified in (c) of this subsection;

          (c) Each beneficiary to whom this subsection applies shall receive an increase which is the product of the factor determined in (b) of this subsection multiplied by the years of creditable service.

          (3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall not be applicable to those receiving benefits pursuant to RCW 41.32.540 or 41.32.760 through 41.32.825.

        Sec. 2.  Section 1, chapter 96, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. as amended by section 3, chapter 306, Laws of 1986 and RCW 41.40.198 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, effective July 1, ((1986)) 1987, as a cost-of-living adjustment, no beneficiary receiving a retirement allowance pursuant to this chapter shall receive, as the pension portion of that retirement allowance, less than ((thirteen)) fifteen dollars per month for each year of service creditable to the person whose service is the basis of the pension.  Portions of a year shall be treated as fractions of a year and the decimal equivalent shall be multiplied by ((thirteen)) fifteen dollars.  Where the pension payable was adjusted at the time benefit payments to the beneficiary commenced, the minimum pension provided in this section shall be adjusted in a manner consistent with that adjustment.

          (2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not be applicable to those receiving benefits pursuant to RCW 41.40.220(1), 41.44.170(5), or 41.40.610 through 41.40.740. For persons who served as elected officials and whose accumulated employee contributions and credited interest was less than seven hundred fifty dollars at the time of retirement, the minimum benefit under subsection (1) of this section shall be ten dollars per month for each year of creditable service.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     There is appropriated seventeen million one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, from the general fund for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, for the purposes of paying the cost-of-living adjustments provided in sections 1 and 2 of this act.  Of this amount, seven million eight hundred thousand dollars shall be deposited in the teachers' retirement fund and nine million three hundred thousand dollars shall be deposited in the public employees' retirement fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1987.