BILL REQ. #: H-0623.1
State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2003 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/2003. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to reimbursement of public entities for payments made because of criminal acts of officers, employees, or contractors; amending RCW 4.92.070, 41.28.200, 41.40.052, and 43.43.310; reenacting and amending RCW 6.15.020, 41.26.053, and 41.32.052; adding a new section to chapter 4.22 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that citizens, through
their government, are frequently unable to collect reimbursement from
employees, officers, and contractors whose criminal conduct results in
payment of public money to injured parties. The legislature further
finds that this inability is a drain on public resources and
facilitates the avoidance or responsibility by those who engage in
criminal conduct. The purpose of this act is to enable public entities
on behalf of the citizens to obtain reimbursement from such employees,
officers, and contractors.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 4.22 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) When a public entity enforces a right of contribution against
an officer, employee, or contractor, the court may order that the
contribution be paid from the benefits of a retirement system or plan
that would otherwise be paid to the officer, employee, or contractor,
if the officer, employee, or contractor has been convicted of a felony,
the commission of which was a proximate cause of the injury, death, or
harm for which the public entity and the officer, employee, or
contractor are jointly and severally liable. This source of
contribution is in addition to any other source that may be available.
(2) An order under subsection (1) of this section shall protect the
community property interests of a spouse in the benefits of the
retirement system or plan.
(3) The administrator of any public retirement system shall adopt
rules providing for the assignment of benefits to a public entity under
subsection (1) of this section. The administrator shall also provide
a form to be signed by each officer or employee at the time he or she
first becomes a member of a public retirement system. The form shall
indicate that the officer or employee acknowledges that his or her
benefits are subject to the provisions of this section.
(4) This section applies to the following officers, employees, and
contractors:
(a) With respect to a public retirement system, an officer or
employee who, after the effective date of this act, becomes a member of
a public retirement system, including but not limited to a retirement
system under chapter 2.14, 28A.400, 28B.10, 41.26, 41.28, 41.32, 41.40,
or 43.43 RCW; and
(b) To the extent not prohibited by federal law, a person
participating in an employee benefit plan identified in RCW
6.15.020(4).
(5) For purposes of this section:
(a) "Contractor" includes any person who contracts with a public
entity for the purpose of providing goods or services to a public
entity; and
(b) "Public entity" includes the state, its political subdivisions,
municipal corporations, quasi-municipal corporations, and special
districts.
Sec. 3 RCW 4.92.070 and 1999 c 163 s 5 are each amended to read
as follows:
If the attorney general ((shall find)) finds that ((said)) the
officer, employee, or volunteer's acts or omissions were, or were
purported to be in good faith, within the scope of that person's
official duties, or, in the case of a foster parent, that the
occurrence arose from the good faith provision of foster care services,
((said)) the request shall be granted((, in which event)). The
attorney general may also grant a request to represent the officer,
employee, or volunteer if the attorney general believes that there is
a reasonable doubt whether the acts or omissions were performed in good
faith and within the scope of official duties and that it is therefore
in the state's interest to grant the request. If a request is granted,
the necessary expenses of the defense of ((said)) the action or
proceeding relating to a state officer, employee, or volunteer shall be
paid as provided in RCW 4.92.130. In the case of a foster parent,
necessary expenses of the defense shall be paid from the appropriations
made for the support of the department to which such foster parent is
attached. In such cases the attorney general shall appear and defend
such officer, employee, volunteer, or foster parent, who shall assist
and cooperate in the defense of such suit. However, the attorney
general may not represent or provide private representation for a
foster parent in an action or proceeding brought by the department of
social and health services against that foster parent.
Sec. 4 RCW 6.15.020 and 1999 c 81 s 1 and 1999 c 42 s 603 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) It is the policy of the state of Washington to ensure the well-being of its citizens by protecting retirement income to which they are
or may become entitled. For that purpose generally and pursuant to the
authority granted to the state of Washington under 11 U.S.C. Sec.
522(b)(2), the exemptions in this section relating to retirement
benefits are provided.
(2) Unless otherwise provided by federal law, any money received by
any citizen of the state of Washington as a pension from the government
of the United States, whether the same be in the actual possession of
such person or be deposited or loaned, shall be exempt from execution,
attachment, garnishment, or seizure by or under any legal process
whatever, and when a debtor dies, or absconds, and leaves his or her
family any money exempted by this subsection, the same shall be exempt
to the family as provided in this subsection. This subsection shall
not apply to child support collection actions issued under chapter
26.18, 26.23, or 74.20A RCW, if otherwise permitted by federal law.
(3) The right of a person to a pension, annuity, or retirement
allowance or disability allowance, or death benefits, or any optional
benefit, or any other right accrued or accruing to any citizen of the
state of Washington under any employee benefit plan, and any fund
created by such a plan or arrangement, shall be exempt from execution,
attachment, garnishment, or seizure by or under any legal process
whatever. This subsection shall not apply to child support collection
actions issued under chapter 26.18, 26.23, or 74.20A RCW if otherwise
permitted by federal law. This subsection shall permit benefits under
any such plan or arrangement to be payable to a spouse, former spouse,
child, or other dependent of a participant in such plan to the extent
expressly provided for in a qualified domestic relations order that
meets the requirements for such orders under the plan, or, in the case
of benefits payable under a plan described in sections 403(b) or 408 of
the internal revenue code of 1986, as amended, or section 409 of such
code as in effect before January 1, 1984, to the extent provided in any
order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction that provides for
maintenance or support. This subsection shall not prohibit actions
against an employee benefit plan, or fund for valid obligations
incurred by the plan or fund for the benefit of the plan or fund. This
subsection does not apply to an order entered under section 2 of this
act.
(4) For the purposes of this section, the term "employee benefit
plan" means any plan or arrangement that is described in RCW 49.64.020,
including any Keogh plan, whether funded by a trust or by an annuity
contract, and in sections 401(a) or 403(a) of the internal revenue code
of 1986, as amended; or that is a tax-sheltered annuity described in
section 403(b) of such code or an individual retirement account
described in section 408 of such code; or a Roth individual retirement
account described in section 408A of such code; or a medical savings
account described in section 220 of such code; or an education
individual retirement account described in section 530 of such code; or
a retirement bond described in section 409 of such code as in effect
before January 1, 1984. The term "employee benefit plan" also means
any rights accruing on account of money paid currently or in advance
for purchase of tuition units under the advanced college tuition
payment program in chapter 28B.95 RCW. The term "employee benefit
plan" shall not include any employee benefit plan that is established
or maintained for its employees by the government of the United States,
by the state of Washington under chapter 2.10, 2.12, 41.26, 41.32,
41.34, 41.35, 41.40 or 43.43 RCW or RCW 41.50.770, or by any agency or
instrumentality of the government of the United States.
(5) An employee benefit plan shall be deemed to be a spendthrift
trust, regardless of the source of funds, the relationship between the
trustee or custodian of the plan and the beneficiary, or the ability of
the debtor to withdraw or borrow or otherwise become entitled to
benefits from the plan before retirement. This subsection shall not
apply to child support collection actions issued under chapter 26.18,
26.23, or 74.20A RCW, if otherwise permitted by federal law. This
subsection shall permit benefits under any such plan or arrangement to
be payable to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a
participant in such plan to the extent expressly provided for in a
qualified domestic relations order that meets the requirements for such
orders under the plan, or, in the case of benefits payable under a plan
described in sections 403(b) or 408 of the internal revenue code of
1986, as amended, or section 409 of such code as in effect before
January 1, 1984, to the extent provided in any order issued by a court
of competent jurisdiction that provides for maintenance or support.
This subsection does not apply to an order entered under section 2 of
this act.
(6) Unless contrary to applicable federal law, nothing contained in
subsection (3), (4), or (5) of this section shall be construed as a
termination or limitation of a spouse's community property interest in
an individual retirement account held in the name of or on account of
the other spouse, the account holder spouse. At the death of the
nonaccount holder spouse, the nonaccount holder spouse may transfer or
distribute the community property interest of the nonaccount holder
spouse in the account holder spouse's individual retirement account to
the nonaccount holder spouse's estate, testamentary trust, inter vivos
trust, or other successor or successors pursuant to the last will of
the nonaccount holder spouse or the law of intestate succession, and
that distributee may, but shall not be required to, obtain an order of
a court of competent jurisdiction, including a nonjudicial dispute
resolution agreement entered into pursuant to RCW 11.96.170 or other
order entered under chapter 11.96A RCW, to confirm the distribution.
For purposes of subsection (3) of this section, the distributee of the
nonaccount holder spouse's community property interest in an individual
retirement account shall be considered a person entitled to the full
protection of subsection (3) of this section. The nonaccount holder
spouse's consent to a beneficiary designation by the account holder
spouse with respect to an individual retirement account shall not,
absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, be deemed a
release, gift, relinquishment, termination, limitation, or transfer of
the nonaccount holder spouse's community property interest in an
individual retirement account. For purposes of this subsection, the
term "nonaccount holder spouse" means the spouse of the person in whose
name the individual retirement account is maintained. The term
"individual retirement account" includes an individual retirement
account and an individual retirement annuity both as described in
section 408 of the internal revenue code of 1986, as amended, a Roth
individual retirement account as described in section 408A of the
internal revenue code of 1986, as amended, and an individual retirement
bond as described in section 409 of the internal revenue code as in
effect before January 1, 1984. As used in this subsection, an order of
a court of competent jurisdiction includes an agreement, as that term
is used under RCW 11.96A.220.
Sec. 5 RCW 41.26.053 and 1991 c 365 s 20 and 1991 c 35 s 25 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), and (((3))) (4) of this
section, the right of a person to a retirement allowance, disability
allowance, or death benefit, to the return of accumulated
contributions, the retirement, disability or death allowance itself,
any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to any person
under the provisions of this chapter, and the moneys in the fund
created under this chapter, are hereby exempt from any state, county,
municipal, or other local tax and shall not be subject to execution,
garnishment, attachment, the operation of bankruptcy or insolvency
laws, or any other process of law whatsoever, and shall be
unassignable.
(2) On the written request of any person eligible to receive
benefits under this section, the department may deduct from such
payments the premiums for life, health, or other insurance. The
request on behalf of any child or children shall be made by the legal
guardian of such child or children. The department may provide for
such persons one or more plans of group insurance, through contracts
with regularly constituted insurance carriers or health care service
contractors.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit the
department from complying with (a) a wage assignment order for child
support issued pursuant to chapter 26.18 RCW, (b) an order to withhold
and deliver issued pursuant to chapter 74.20A RCW, (c) a notice of
payroll deduction issued pursuant to RCW 26.23.060, (d) a mandatory
benefits assignment order issued by the department, (e) a court order
directing the department of retirement systems to pay benefits directly
to an obligee under a dissolution order as defined in RCW 41.50.500(3)
which fully complies with RCW 41.50.670 and 41.50.700, or (f) any
administrative or court order expressly authorized by federal law.
(4) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to an order
entered under section 2 of this act.
Sec. 6 RCW 41.28.200 and 1939 c 207 s 21 are each amended to read
as follows:
The right of a person to a pension, an annuity or a retirement
allowance, to the return of contributions, the pension, annuity or
retirement allowance itself, any optional benefit, any other right
accrued or accruing to any person under the provisions of this chapter,
and the moneys in the fund created under this chapter shall not be
subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, or any other process
whatsoever and shall be unassignable except as in this chapter
specifically provided. This section does not apply to an order entered
under section 2 of this act.
Sec. 7 RCW 41.32.052 and 1991 c 365 s 21 and 1991 c 35 s 63 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), and (((3))) (4) of this
section, the right of a person to a pension, an annuity, a retirement
allowance, or disability allowance, to the return of contributions, any
optional benefit or death benefit, any other right accrued or accruing
to any person under the provisions of this chapter and the moneys in
the various funds created by this chapter shall be unassignable, and
are hereby exempt from any state, county, municipal or other local tax,
and shall not be subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, the
operation of bankruptcy or insolvency laws, or other process of law
whatsoever.
(2) This section shall not be deemed to prohibit a beneficiary of
a retirement allowance who is eligible:
(a) Under RCW 41.05.080 from authorizing monthly deductions
therefrom for payment of premiums due on any group insurance policy or
plan issued for the benefit of a group comprised of public employees of
the state of Washington or its political subdivisions;
(b) Under a group health care benefit plan approved pursuant to RCW
28A.400.350 or 41.05.065 from authorizing monthly deductions therefrom,
of the amount or amounts of subscription payments, premiums, or
contributions to any person, firm, or corporation furnishing or
providing medical, surgical, and hospital care or other health care
insurance; or
(c) Under this system from authorizing monthly deductions therefrom
for payment of dues and other membership fees to any retirement
association composed of retired teachers and/or public employees
pursuant to a written agreement between the director and the retirement
association.
Deductions under (a) and (b) of this subsection shall be made in
accordance with rules that may be adopted by the director.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit the
department from complying with (a) a wage assignment order for child
support issued pursuant to chapter 26.18 RCW, (b) an order to withhold
and deliver issued pursuant to chapter 74.20A RCW, (c) a notice of
payroll deduction issued pursuant to RCW 26.23.060, (d) a mandatory
benefits assignment order issued by the department, (e) a court order
directing the department of retirement systems to pay benefits directly
to an obligee under a dissolution order as defined in RCW 41.50.500(3)
which fully complies with RCW 41.50.670 and 41.50.700, or (f) any
administrative or court order expressly authorized by federal law.
(4) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to an order
entered under section 2 of this act.
Sec. 8 RCW 41.40.052 and 1999 c 83 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), and (((3))) (4) of this
section, the right of a person to a pension, an annuity, or retirement
allowance, any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to
any person under the provisions of this chapter, the various funds
created by this chapter, and all moneys and investments and income
thereof, are hereby exempt from any state, county, municipal, or other
local tax, and shall not be subject to execution, garnishment,
attachment, the operation of bankruptcy or insolvency laws, or other
process of law whatsoever, and shall be unassignable.
(2)(a) This section shall not be deemed to prohibit a beneficiary
of a retirement allowance from authorizing deductions therefrom for
payment of premiums due on any group insurance policy or plan issued
for the benefit of a group comprised of public employees of the state
of Washington or its political subdivisions and which has been approved
for deduction in accordance with rules that may be adopted by the state
health care authority and/or the department, and this section shall not
be deemed to prohibit a beneficiary of a retirement allowance from
authorizing deductions therefrom for payment of dues and other
membership fees to any retirement association or organization the
membership of which is composed of retired public employees, if a total
of three hundred or more of such retired employees have authorized such
deduction for payment to the same retirement association or
organization.
(b) This section does not prohibit a beneficiary of a retirement
allowance from authorizing deductions from that allowance for
charitable purposes on the same terms as employees and public officers
under RCW 41.04.035 and 41.04.036.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit the
department from complying with (a) a wage assignment order for child
support issued pursuant to chapter 26.18 RCW, (b) an order to withhold
and deliver issued pursuant to chapter 74.20A RCW, (c) a notice of
payroll deduction issued pursuant to RCW 26.23.060, (d) a mandatory
benefits assignment order issued by the department, (e) a court order
directing the department of retirement systems to pay benefits directly
to an obligee under a dissolution order as defined in RCW 41.50.500(3)
which fully complies with RCW 41.50.670 and 41.50.700, or (f) any
administrative or court order expressly authorized by federal law.
(4) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to an order
entered under section 2 of this act.
Sec. 9 RCW 43.43.310 and 1991 c 365 s 23 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), and (((3))) (4) of
this section, the right of any person to a retirement allowance or
optional retirement allowance under the provisions hereof and all
moneys and investments and income thereof are exempt from any state,
county, municipal, or other local tax and shall not be subject to
execution, garnishment, attachment, the operation of bankruptcy or the
insolvency laws, or other processes of law whatsoever and shall be
unassignable except as herein specifically provided.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not prohibit the
department of retirement systems from complying with (a) a wage
assignment order for child support issued pursuant to chapter 26.18
RCW, (b) an order to withhold and deliver issued pursuant to chapter
74.20A RCW, (c) a notice of payroll deduction issued pursuant to RCW
26.23.060, (d) a mandatory benefits assignment order issued pursuant to
chapter 41.50 RCW, (e) a court order directing the department of
retirement systems to pay benefits directly to an obligee under a
dissolution order as defined in RCW 41.50.500(3) which fully complies
with RCW 41.50.670 and 41.50.700, or (f) any administrative or court
order expressly authorized by federal law.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not be deemed to prohibit
a beneficiary of a retirement allowance from authorizing deductions
therefrom for payment of premiums due on any group insurance policy or
plan issued for the benefit of a group comprised of members of the
Washington state patrol or other public employees of the state of
Washington, or for contributions to the Washington state patrol
memorial foundation.
(4) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to an order
entered under section 2 of this act.