BILL REQ. #:  Z-0382.1 

Read first time 01/17/11.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to providing a partial lump sum benefit payment option for certain survivors of active members of the teachers' retirement system plan 1; and amending RCW 41.32.520.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 41.32.520 and 2009 c 226 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as specified in subsection (3) of this section, upon receipt of proper proofs of death of any member before retirement or before the first installment of his or her retirement allowance shall become due his or her accumulated contributions, less any amount identified as owing to an obligee upon withdrawal of accumulated contributions pursuant to a court order filed under RCW 41.50.670, and/or other benefits payable upon his or her death shall be paid to his or her estate or to such persons, trust, or organization as he or she shall have nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the department. If a member fails to file a new beneficiary designation subsequent to marriage, divorce, or reestablishment of membership following termination by withdrawal, lapsation, or retirement, payment of his or her accumulated contributions, less any amount identified as owing to an obligee upon withdrawal of accumulated contributions pursuant to a court order filed under RCW 41.50.670, and/or other benefits upon death before retirement shall be made to the surviving spouse, if any; otherwise, to his or her estate. If a member had established ten or more years of Washington membership service credit or was eligible for retirement, the beneficiary or the surviving spouse if otherwise eligible may elect, in lieu of a cash refund of the member's accumulated contributions, the following survivor benefit plan actuarially reduced, except under subsection (4) of this section, by the amount of any lump sum benefit identified as owing to an obligee upon withdrawal of accumulated contributions pursuant to a court order filed under RCW 41.50.670:
     (a) A widow or widower, without a child or children under eighteen years of age, may elect a monthly payment of fifty dollars to become effective at age fifty, provided the member had fifteen or more years of Washington membership service credit. A benefit paid under this subsection (1)(a) shall terminate at the marriage of the beneficiary.
     (b) The beneficiary, if a surviving spouse or a dependent (as that term is used in computing the dependent exemption for federal internal revenue purposes) may elect to receive a joint and one hundred percent retirement allowance under RCW 41.32.530.
     (i) In the case of a dependent child the allowance shall continue until attainment of majority or so long as the department judges that the circumstances which created his or her dependent status continue to exist. In any case, if at the time dependent status ceases, an amount equal to the amount of accumulated contributions of the deceased member has not been paid to the beneficiary, the remainder shall then be paid in a lump sum to the beneficiary.
     (ii) If at the time of death, the member was not then qualified for a service retirement allowance, the benefit shall be based upon the actuarial equivalent of the sum necessary to pay the accrued regular retirement allowance commencing when the deceased member would have first qualified for a service retirement allowance.
     (c) A beneficiary who qualifies for survivor benefits under (b) of this subsection and who is the beneficiary of a member who was eligible for retirement may choose the following survivor benefit plan in lieu of the allowance provided in (b) of this subsection. The qualified beneficiary may irrevocably elect to withdraw all or a part of the member's accumulated contributions, other than any amount paid under RCW 41.50.165(2), and receive a reduction in the allowance provided under (b) of this subsection of the actuarially determined amount of monthly annuity that would have been purchased by the contributions.
     (2) If no qualified beneficiary survives a member, at his or her death his or her accumulated contributions, less any amount identified as owing to an obligee upon withdrawal of accumulated contributions pursuant to a court order filed under RCW 41.50.670, shall be paid to his or her estate, or his or her dependents may qualify for survivor benefits under benefit plan (1)(b) or (1)(c) in lieu of a cash refund of the members accumulated contributions in the following order: Widow or widower, guardian of a dependent child or children under age eighteen, or dependent parent or parents.
     (3) If a member dies within sixty days following application for disability retirement under RCW 41.32.550, the beneficiary named in the application may elect to receive the benefit provided by:
     (a) This section; or
     (b) RCW 41.32.550, according to the option chosen under RCW 41.32.530 in the disability application.
     (4) The retirement allowance of a member who is killed in the course of employment, as determined by the director of the department of labor and industries, or the retirement allowance of a member who has left the employ of an employer due to service in the national guard or military reserves and dies while honorably serving in the national guard or military reserves during a period of war as defined in RCW 41.04.005, is not subject to an actuarial reduction. The member's retirement allowance is computed under RCW 41.32.480.