Read first time 01/21/08.   Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

     AN ACT Relating to purchasing service credit in plan 2 and plan 3 of the teachers' retirement system for public education experience performed as a teacher in a public school in another state or with the federal government; and amending RCW 41.32.813 and 41.32.868.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 41.32.813 and 2006 c 257 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) An active member who has completed a minimum of ((five)) two years of creditable service in the teachers' retirement system may, upon written application to the department, make a one-time purchase of up to seven years of service credit for public education experience outside the Washington state retirement system, subject to the following limitations:
     (a) The public education experience being claimed must have been performed as a teacher in a public school in another state or with the federal government; ((and))
     (b) The public education experience being claimed must have been covered by a retirement or pension plan provided by a state or political subdivision of a state, or by the federal government; and
     (c) The member is not currently receiving a benefit or currently eligible to receive an unreduced retirement benefit from a retirement or pension plan of a state or political subdivision of a state or the federal government that includes the service credit to be purchased.
     (2) The service credit purchased shall be membership service, and may be used to qualify the member for retirement.
     (3) The member shall pay the actuarial value of the resulting increase in the member's benefit calculated in a manner consistent with the department's method for calculating payments for reestablishing service credit under RCW 41.50.165.
     (4) The member may pay all or part of the cost of the service credit to be purchased with a lump sum payment, eligible rollover, direct rollover, or trustee-to-trustee transfer from an eligible retirement plan. The department shall adopt rules to ensure that all lump sum payments, rollovers, and transfers comply with the requirements of the internal revenue code and regulations adopted by the internal revenue service. The rules adopted by the department may condition the acceptance of a rollover or transfer from another plan on the receipt of information necessary to enable the department to determine the eligibility of any transferred funds for tax-free rollover treatment or other treatment under federal income tax law.
     (5) The employer also may pay all or a portion of the member's cost of the service credit purchased under this section.

Sec. 2   RCW 41.32.868 and 2006 c 257 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) An active member who has completed a minimum of ((five)) two years of creditable service in the teachers' retirement system may, upon written application to the department, make a one-time purchase of up to seven years of service credit for public education experience outside the Washington state retirement system, subject to the following limitations:
     (a) The public education experience being claimed must have been performed as a teacher in a public school in another state or with the federal government;
     (b) The public education experience being claimed must have been covered by a retirement or pension plan provided by a state or political subdivision of a state, or by the federal government; and
     (c) The member is not currently receiving a benefit or currently eligible to receive an unreduced retirement benefit from a retirement or pension plan of a state or political subdivision of a state or the federal government that includes the service credit to be purchased.
     (2) The service credit purchased shall be membership service, and may be used to qualify the member for retirement.
     (3) The member shall pay the actuarial value of the resulting increase in the member's benefit calculated in a manner consistent with the department's method for calculating payments for reestablishing service credit under RCW 41.50.165.
     (4) The member may pay all or part of the cost of the service credit to be purchased with a lump sum payment, eligible rollover, direct rollover, or trustee-to-trustee transfer from an eligible retirement plan. The department shall adopt rules to ensure that all lump sum payments, rollovers, and transfers comply with the requirements of the internal revenue code and regulations adopted by the internal revenue service. The rules adopted by the department may condition the acceptance of a rollover or transfer from another plan on the receipt of information necessary to enable the department to determine the eligibility of any transferred funds for tax-free rollover treatment or other treatment under federal income tax law.
     (5) The employer also may pay all or a portion of the member's cost of the service credit purchased under this section.