AN
ACT Relating to membership in the public employees' retirement system for the
chief administrative officer of a public utility district, port district, or a
county; amending RCW 41.40.023; and creating a new section.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. It is
the intent of the legislature that retirement benefits represent a valuable
element of the total compensation and benefits employees receive for their
service. The value of these benefits is contained in the retirement income and
cost-of-living adjustments provided to employees who remain in public service
until retirement. For the majority of public employees, this requires
membership in the public employees' retirement system.
The
legislature recognizes, however, that certain occupations display a pattern of
interstate mobility which requires retirement benefits which are highly
portable. Incumbents in these occupations gain little value from membership in
the public employees' retirement system. In order to remove any barrier to
employing qualified personnel in positions with high mobility, membership in
the retirement system should be optional in those occupations.
Sec.
2. RCW
41.40.023 and 1997 c 254 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
Membership
in the retirement system shall consist of all regularly compensated employees
and appointive and elective officials of employers, as defined in this chapter,
with the following exceptions:
(1)
Persons in ineligible positions;
(2)
Employees of the legislature except the officers thereof elected by the members
of the senate and the house and legislative committees, unless membership of
such employees be authorized by the said committee;
(3)(a)
Persons holding elective offices or persons appointed directly by the
governor: PROVIDED, That such persons shall have the option of applying for
membership during such periods of employment: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That any
persons holding or who have held elective offices or persons appointed by the
governor who are members in the retirement system and who have, prior to
becoming such members, previously held an elective office, and did not at the
start of such initial or successive terms of office exercise their option to
become members, may apply for membership to be effective during such term or
terms of office, and shall be allowed to establish the service credit
applicable to such term or terms of office upon payment of the employee
contributions therefor by the employee with interest as determined by the
director and employer contributions therefor by the employer or employee with
interest as determined by the director: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That all
contributions with interest submitted by the employee under this subsection
shall be placed in the employee's individual account in the employee's savings
fund and be treated as any other contribution made by the employee, with the
exception that any contributions submitted by the employee in payment of the
employer's obligation, together with the interest the director may apply to the
employer's contribution, shall not be considered part of the member's annuity
for any purpose except withdrawal of contributions;
(b)
A member holding elective office who has elected to apply for membership
pursuant to (a) of this subsection and who later wishes to be eligible for a
retirement allowance shall have the option of ending his or her membership in
the retirement system. A member wishing to end his or her membership under
this subsection must file, on a form supplied by the department, a statement
indicating that the member agrees to irrevocably abandon any claim for service
for future periods served as an elected official. A member who receives more
than fifteen thousand dollars per year in compensation for his or her elective
service, adjusted annually for inflation by the director, is not eligible for
the option provided by this subsection (3)(b);
(4)
Employees holding membership in, or receiving pension benefits under, any
retirement plan operated wholly or in part by an agency of the state or
political subdivision thereof, or who are by reason of their current employment
contributing to or otherwise establishing the right to receive benefits from
any such retirement plan: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, In any case where the retirement
system has in existence an agreement with another retirement system in
connection with exchange of service credit or an agreement whereby members can
retain service credit in more than one system, such an employee shall be
allowed membership rights should the agreement so provide: AND PROVIDED
FURTHER, That an employee shall be allowed membership if otherwise eligible
while receiving survivor's benefits: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That an employee
shall not either before or after June 7, 1984, be excluded from membership or
denied service credit pursuant to this subsection solely on account of: (a)
Membership in the plan created under chapter 2.14 RCW; or (b) enrollment under
the relief and compensation provisions or the pension provisions of the
volunteer fire fighters' relief and pension fund under chapter 41.24 RCW;
(5)
Patient and inmate help in state charitable, penal, and correctional
institutions;
(6)
"Members" of a state veterans' home or state soldiers' home;
(7)
Persons employed by an institution of higher learning or community college,
primarily as an incident to and in furtherance of their education or training,
or the education or training of a spouse;
(8)
Employees of an institution of higher learning or community college during the
period of service necessary to establish eligibility for membership in the
retirement plans operated by such institutions;
(9)
Persons rendering professional services to an employer on a fee, retainer, or
contract basis or when the income from these services is less than fifty
percent of the gross income received from the person's practice of a
profession;
(10)
Persons appointed after April 1, 1963, by the liquor control board as agency
vendors;
(11)
Employees of a labor guild, association, or organization: PROVIDED, That
elective officials and employees of a labor guild, association, or organization
which qualifies as an employer within this chapter shall have the option of
applying for membership;
(12)
Retirement system retirees: PROVIDED, That following reemployment in an
eligible position, a retiree may elect to prospectively become a member of the
retirement system if otherwise eligible;
(13)
Persons employed by or appointed or elected as an official of a first class
city that has its own retirement system: PROVIDED, That any member elected or
appointed to an elective office on or after April 1, 1971, shall have the option
of continuing as a member of this system in lieu of becoming a member of the
city system. A member who elects to continue as a member of this system shall
pay the appropriate member contributions and the city shall pay the employer
contributions at the rates prescribed by this chapter. The city shall also
transfer to this system all of such member's accumulated contributions together
with such further amounts as necessary to equal all employee and employer
contributions which would have been paid into this system on account of such
service with the city and thereupon the member shall be granted credit for all
such service. Any city that becomes an employer as defined in RCW 41.40.010(4)
as the result of an individual's election under this subsection shall not be
required to have all employees covered for retirement under the provisions of
this chapter. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a city of the first
class with its own retirement system from: (a) Transferring all of its current
employees to the retirement system established under this chapter, or (b)
allowing newly hired employees the option of continuing coverage under the
retirement system established by this chapter.
Notwithstanding
any other provision of this chapter, persons transferring from employment with
a first class city of over four hundred thousand population that has its own
retirement system to employment with the state department of agriculture may
elect to remain within the retirement system of such city and the state shall
pay the employer contributions for such persons at like rates as prescribed for
employers of other members of such system;
(14)
Employees who (a) are not citizens of the United States, (b) do not reside in
the United States, and (c) perform duties outside of the United States;
(15)
Employees who (a) are not citizens of the United States, (b) are not covered by
chapter 41.48 RCW, (c) are not excluded from membership under this chapter or
chapter 41.04 RCW, (d) are residents of this state, and (e) make an irrevocable
election to be excluded from membership, in writing, which is submitted to the
director within thirty days after employment in an eligible position;
(16)
Employees who are citizens of the United States and who reside and perform
duties for an employer outside of the United States: PROVIDED, That unless
otherwise excluded under this chapter or chapter 41.04 RCW, the employee may
apply for membership (a) within thirty days after employment in an eligible
position and membership service credit shall be granted from the first day of
membership service, and (b) after this thirty-day period, but membership
service credit shall be granted only if payment is made for the noncredited
membership service under RCW 41.50.165(2), otherwise service shall be from the
date of application;
(17)
The city manager or chief administrative officer of a city or town, other than
a retiree, who serves at the pleasure of an appointing authority: PROVIDED,
That such persons shall have the option of applying for membership within
thirty days from date of their appointment to such positions. Persons serving
in such positions as of April 4, 1986, shall continue to be members in the
retirement system unless they notify the director in writing prior to December
31, 1986, of their desire to withdraw from membership in the retirement
system. A member who withdraws from membership in the system under this
section shall receive a refund of the member's accumulated contributions.
Persons
serving in such positions who have not opted for membership within the
specified thirty days, may do so by paying the amount required under RCW
41.50.165(2) for the period from the date of their appointment to the date of
acceptance into membership;
(18)
Persons serving as: (a) The chief administrative officer of a public
utility district as defined in RCW 54.16.100; (b) the chief administrative
officer of a port district formed under chapter 53.04 RCW; or (c) the chief
administrative officer of a county who serves at the pleasure of an appointing
authority: PROVIDED, That such persons shall have the option of applying for
membership within thirty days from the date of their appointment to such
positions. Persons serving in such positions as of the effective date of this
act shall continue to be members in the retirement system unless they notify
the director in writing prior to December 31, 1999, of their desire to withdraw
from membership in the retirement system. A member who withdraws from
membership in the system under this section shall receive a refund of the
member's accumulated contributions upon termination of employment or as
otherwise consistent with the plan's tax qualification status as defined in
internal revenue code section 401.
Persons
serving in such positions who have not opted for membership within the
specified thirty days, may do so at a later date by paying the amount required
under RCW 41.50.165(2) for the period from the date of their appointment to the
date of acceptance into membership;
(19)
Persons enrolled in state-approved apprenticeship programs, authorized under
chapter 49.04 RCW, and who are employed by local governments to earn hours to
complete such apprenticeship programs, if the employee is a member of a
union-sponsored retirement plan and is making contributions to such a
retirement plan or if the employee is a member of a Taft-Hartley retirement
plan.
