CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

HOUSE BILL 1481

Chapter 77, Laws of 2023

68TH LEGISLATURE

2023 REGULAR SESSION

TRIBAL PEACE OFFICERS—RETIREMENT SYSTEM PARTICIPATION

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2025

HOUSE BILL 1481

ByRepresentatives Cortes, Stearns, Chopp, Chapman, Peterson, Jacobsen, Ramel, Orwall, Ormsby, Reeves, Senn, Leavitt, Ortiz-Self, Taylor, Bergquist, and Pollet

AN ACT Relating to permitting general authority peace officers certificated by the criminal justice training commission and employed on a full-time basis by the government of a federally recognized tribe to participate in the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2; amending RCW 41.26.030 and 41.26.450; adding new sections to chapter 41.26 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 41.26.030 and 2021 c 12 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context:

(1) "Accumulated contributions" means the employee's contributions made by a member, including any amount paid under RCW 41.50.165(2), plus accrued interest credited thereon.

(2) "Actuarial reserve" means a method of financing a pension or retirement plan wherein reserves are accumulated as the liabilities for benefit payments are incurred in order that sufficient funds will be available on the date of retirement of each member to pay the member's future benefits during the period of retirement.

(3) "Actuarial valuation" means a mathematical determination of the financial condition of a retirement plan. It includes the computation of the present monetary value of benefits payable to present members, and the present monetary value of future employer and employee contributions, giving effect to mortality among active and retired members and also to the rates of disability, retirement, withdrawal from service, salary and interest earned on investments.

(4)(a) "Basic salary" for plan 1 members, means the basic monthly rate of salary or wages, including longevity pay but not including overtime earnings or special salary or wages, upon which pension or retirement benefits will be computed and upon which employer contributions and salary deductions will be based.

(b) "Basic salary" for plan 2 members, means salaries or wages earned by a member during a payroll period for personal services, including overtime payments, and shall include wages and salaries deferred under provisions established pursuant to sections 403(b), 414(h), and 457 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, but shall exclude lump sum payments for deferred annual sick leave, unused accumulated vacation, unused accumulated annual leave, or any form of severance pay. In any year in which a member serves in the legislature the member shall have the option of having such member's basic salary be the greater of:

(i) The basic salary the member would have received had such member not served in the legislature; or

(ii) Such member's actual basic salary received for nonlegislative public employment and legislative service combined. Any additional contributions to the retirement system required because basic salary under (b)(i) of this subsection is greater than basic salary under (b)(ii) of this subsection shall be paid by the member for both member and employer contributions.

(5)(a) "Beneficiary" for plan 1 members, means any person in receipt of a retirement allowance, disability allowance, death benefit, or any other benefit described herein.

(b) "Beneficiary" for plan 2 members, means any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit provided by this chapter resulting from service rendered to an employer by another person.

(6)(a) "Child" or "children" means an unmarried person who is under the age of eighteen or mentally or physically disabled as determined by the department, except a person who is disabled and in the full time care of a state institution, who is:

(i) A natural born child;

(ii) A stepchild where that relationship was in existence prior to the date benefits are payable under this chapter;

(iii) A posthumous child;

(iv) A child legally adopted or made a legal ward of a member prior to the date benefits are payable under this chapter; or

(v) An illegitimate child legitimized prior to the date any benefits are payable under this chapter.

(b) A person shall also be deemed to be a child up to and including the age of twenty years and eleven months while attending any high school, college, or vocational or other educational institution accredited, licensed, or approved by the state, in which it is located, including the summer vacation months and all other normal and regular vacation periods at the particular educational institution after which the child returns to school.

(7) "Department" means the department of retirement systems created in chapter 41.50 RCW.

(8) "Director" means the director of the department.

(9) "Disability board" for plan 1 members means either the county disability board or the city disability board established in RCW 41.26.110.

(10) "Disability leave" means the period of six months or any portion thereof during which a member is on leave at an allowance equal to the member's full salary prior to the commencement of disability retirement. The definition contained in this subsection shall apply only to plan 1 members.

(11) "Disability retirement" for plan 1 members, means the period following termination of a member's disability leave, during which the member is in receipt of a disability retirement allowance.

(12) "Domestic partners" means two adults who have registered as domestic partners under RCW 26.60.020.

(13) "Employee" means any law enforcement officer or firefighter as defined in subsections (17) and (19) of this section.

(14)(a) "Employer" for plan 1 members, means the legislative authority of any city, town, county, district, or regional fire protection service authority or the elected officials of any municipal corporation that employs any law enforcement officer and/or firefighter, any authorized association of such municipalities, and, except for the purposes of RCW 41.26.150, any labor guild, association, or organization, which represents the firefighters or law enforcement officers of at least seven cities of over 20,000 population and the membership of each local lodge or division of which is composed of at least sixty percent law enforcement officers or firefighters as defined in this chapter.

(b) "Employer" for plan 2 members, means the following entities to the extent that the entity employs any law enforcement officer and/or firefighter:

(i) The legislative authority of any city, town, county, district, public corporation, or regional fire protection service authority established under RCW 35.21.730 to provide emergency medical services as defined in RCW 18.73.030;

(ii) The elected officials of any municipal corporation;

(iii) The governing body of any other general authority law enforcement agency;

(iv) A four-year institution of higher education having a fully operational fire department as of January 1, 1996; or

(v) The department of social and health services or the department of corrections when employing firefighters serving at a prison or civil commitment center on an island.

(c) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, "employer" does not include a government contractor. For purposes of this subsection, a "government contractor" is any entity, including a partnership, limited liability company, for-profit or nonprofit corporation, or person, that provides services pursuant to a contract with an "employer." The determination whether an employer-employee relationship has been established is not based on the relationship between a government contractor and an "employer," but is based solely on the relationship between a government contractor's employee and an "employer" under this chapter.

(15)(a) "Final average salary" for plan 1 members, means (i) for a member holding the same position or rank for a minimum of twelve months preceding the date of retirement, the basic salary attached to such same position or rank at time of retirement; (ii) for any other member, including a civil service member who has not served a minimum of twelve months in the same position or rank preceding the date of retirement, the average of the greatest basic salaries payable to such member during any consecutive twenty-four month period within such member's last ten years of service for which service credit is allowed, computed by dividing the total basic salaries payable to such member during the selected twenty-four month period by twenty-four; (iii) in the case of disability of any member, the basic salary payable to such member at the time of disability retirement; (iv) in the case of a member who hereafter vests pursuant to RCW 41.26.090, the basic salary payable to such member at the time of vesting.

(b) "Final average salary" for plan 2 members, means the monthly average of the member's basic salary for the highest consecutive sixty service credit months of service prior to such member's retirement, termination, or death. Periods constituting authorized unpaid leaves of absence may not be used in the calculation of final average salary.

(c) In calculating final average salary under (a) or (b) of this subsection, the department of retirement systems shall include:

(i) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by a state agency or institution during the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium as a result of reduced work hours, mandatory or voluntary leave without pay, temporary reduction in pay implemented prior to December 11, 2010, or temporary layoffs if the reduced compensation is an integral part of the employer's expenditure reduction efforts, as certified by the employer;

(ii) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by the state or a local government employer during the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium as a result of reduced work hours, mandatory leave without pay, temporary layoffs, or reductions to current pay if the reduced compensation is an integral part of the employer's expenditure reduction efforts, as certified by the employer. Reductions to current pay shall not include elimination of previously agreed upon future salary increases; and

(iii) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by the state or a local government employer during the 2019-2021 and 2021-2023 fiscal biennia as a result of reduced work hours, mandatory leave without pay, temporary layoffs, furloughs, reductions to current pay, or other similar measures resulting from the COVID-19 budgetary crisis, if the reduced compensation is an integral part of the employer's expenditure reduction efforts, as certified by the employer. Reductions to current pay shall not include elimination of previously agreed upon future salary increases.

(16) "Fire department" includes a fire station operated by the department of social and health services or the department of corrections when employing firefighters serving a prison or civil commitment center on an island.

(17) "Firefighter" means:

(a) Any person who is serving on a full time, fully compensated basis as a member of a fire department of an employer and who is serving in a position which requires passing a civil service examination for firefighter, and who is actively employed as such;

(b) Anyone who is actively employed as a full time firefighter where the fire department does not have a civil service examination;

(c) Supervisory firefighter personnel;

(d) Any full time executive secretary of an association of fire protection districts authorized under RCW 52.12.031. The provisions of this subsection (17)(d) shall not apply to plan 2 members;

(e) The executive secretary of a labor guild, association or organization (which is an employer under subsection (14) of this section), if such individual has five years previous membership in a retirement system established in chapter 41.16 or 41.18 RCW. The provisions of this subsection (17)(e) shall not apply to plan 2 members;

(f) Any person who is serving on a full time, fully compensated basis for an employer, as a fire dispatcher, in a department in which, on March 1, 1970, a dispatcher was required to have passed a civil service examination for firefighter;

(g) Any person who on March 1, 1970, was employed on a full time, fully compensated basis by an employer, and who on May 21, 1971, was making retirement contributions under the provisions of chapter 41.16 or 41.18 RCW; and

(h) Any person who is employed on a full-time, fully compensated basis by an employer as an emergency medical technician that meets the requirements of RCW 18.71.200 or 18.73.030(((12)))(13), and whose duties include providing emergency medical services as defined in RCW 18.73.030.

(18) "General authority law enforcement agency" means any agency, department, or division of a municipal corporation, political subdivision, or other unit of local government of this state, the government of a federally recognized tribe, and any agency, department, or division of state government, having as its primary function the detection and apprehension of persons committing infractions or violating the traffic or criminal laws in general, but not including the Washington state patrol. Such an agency, department, or division is distinguished from a limited authority law enforcement agency having as one of its functions the apprehension or detection of persons committing infractions or violating the traffic or criminal laws relating to limited subject areas, including but not limited to, the state departments of natural resources and social and health services, the state gambling commission, the state lottery commission, the state parks and recreation commission, the state utilities and transportation commission, the state liquor and cannabis board, and the state department of corrections. A general authority law enforcement agency under this chapter does not include a government contractor.

(19) "Law enforcement officer" beginning January 1, 1994, means any person who is commissioned and employed by an employer on a full time, fully compensated basis to enforce the criminal laws of the state of Washington generally, with the following qualifications:

(a) No person who is serving in a position that is basically clerical or secretarial in nature, and who is not commissioned shall be considered a law enforcement officer;

(b) Only those deputy sheriffs, including those serving under a different title pursuant to county charter, who have successfully completed a civil service examination for deputy sheriff or the equivalent position, where a different title is used, and those persons serving in unclassified positions authorized by RCW 41.14.070 except a private secretary will be considered law enforcement officers;

(c) Only such full time commissioned law enforcement personnel as have been appointed to offices, positions, or ranks in the police department which have been specifically created or otherwise expressly provided for and designated by city charter provision or by ordinance enacted by the legislative body of the city shall be considered city police officers;

(d) The term "law enforcement officer" also includes the executive secretary of a labor guild, association or organization (which is an employer under subsection (14) of this section) if that individual has five years previous membership in the retirement system established in chapter 41.20 RCW. The provisions of this subsection (19)(d) shall not apply to plan 2 members; ((and))

(e) The term "law enforcement officer" also includes a person employed on or after January 1, 1993, as a public safety officer or director of public safety, so long as the job duties substantially involve only either police or fire duties, or both, and no other duties in a city or town with a population of less than ten thousand. The provisions of this subsection (19)(e) shall not apply to any public safety officer or director of public safety who is receiving a retirement allowance under this chapter as of May 12, 1993; and

(f) The term "law enforcement officer" also includes a person who is employed on or after January 1, 2024, on a full-time basis by the government of a federally recognized tribe within the state of Washington that meets the terms and conditions of section 2 of this act, is employed in a police department maintained by that tribe, and who is currently certified as a general authority peace officer under chapter 43.101 RCW.

(20) "Medical services" for plan 1 members, shall include the following as minimum services to be provided. Reasonable charges for these services shall be paid in accordance with RCW 41.26.150.

(a) Hospital expenses: These are the charges made by a hospital, in its own behalf, for

(i) Board and room not to exceed semiprivate room rate unless private room is required by the attending physician due to the condition of the patient.

(ii) Necessary hospital services, other than board and room, furnished by the hospital.

(b) Other medical expenses: The following charges are considered "other medical expenses," provided that they have not been considered as "hospital expenses".

(i) The fees of the following:

(A) A physician or surgeon licensed under the provisions of chapter 18.71 RCW;

(B) An osteopathic physician and surgeon licensed under the provisions of chapter 18.57 RCW;

(C) A chiropractor licensed under the provisions of chapter 18.25 RCW.

(ii) The charges of a registered graduate nurse other than a nurse who ordinarily resides in the member's home, or is a member of the family of either the member or the member's spouse.

(iii) The charges for the following medical services and supplies:

(A) Drugs and medicines upon a physician's prescription;

(B) Diagnostic X-ray and laboratory examinations;

(C) X-ray, radium, and radioactive isotopes therapy;

(D) Anesthesia and oxygen;

(E) Rental of iron lung and other durable medical and surgical equipment;

(F) Artificial limbs and eyes, and casts, splints, and trusses;

(G) Professional ambulance service when used to transport the member to or from a hospital when injured by an accident or stricken by a disease;

(H) Dental charges incurred by a member who sustains an accidental injury to his or her teeth and who commences treatment by a legally licensed dentist within ninety days after the accident;

(I) Nursing home confinement or hospital extended care facility;

(J) Physical therapy by a registered physical therapist;

(K) Blood transfusions, including the cost of blood and blood plasma not replaced by voluntary donors;

(L) An optometrist licensed under the provisions of chapter 18.53 RCW.

(21) "Member" means any firefighter, law enforcement officer, or other person as would apply under subsection (17) or (19) of this section whose membership is transferred to the Washington law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system on or after March 1, 1970, and every law enforcement officer and firefighter who is employed in that capacity on or after such date.

(22) "Plan 1" means the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system, plan 1 providing the benefits and funding provisions covering persons who first became members of the system prior to October 1, 1977.

(23) "Plan 2" means the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system, plan 2 providing the benefits and funding provisions covering persons who first became members of the system on and after October 1, 1977.

(24) "Position" means the employment held at any particular time, which may or may not be the same as civil service rank.

(25) "Regular interest" means such rate as the director may determine.

(26) "Retiree" for persons who establish membership in the retirement system on or after October 1, 1977, means any member in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit provided by this chapter resulting from service rendered to an employer by such member.

(27) "Retirement fund" means the "Washington law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system fund" as provided for herein.

(28) "Retirement system" means the "Washington law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system" provided herein.

(29)(a) "Service" for plan 1 members, means all periods of employment for an employer as a firefighter or law enforcement officer, for which compensation is paid, together with periods of suspension not exceeding thirty days in duration. For the purposes of this chapter service shall also include service in the armed forces of the United States as provided in RCW 41.26.190. Credit shall be allowed for all service credit months of service rendered by a member from and after the member's initial commencement of employment as a firefighter or law enforcement officer, during which the member worked for seventy or more hours, or was on disability leave or disability retirement. Only service credit months of service shall be counted in the computation of any retirement allowance or other benefit provided for in this chapter.

(i) For members retiring after May 21, 1971 who were employed under the coverage of a prior pension act before March 1, 1970, "service" shall also include (A) such military service not exceeding five years as was creditable to the member as of March 1, 1970, under the member's particular prior pension act, and (B) such other periods of service as were then creditable to a particular member under the provisions of RCW 41.18.165, 41.20.160, or 41.20.170. However, in no event shall credit be allowed for any service rendered prior to March 1, 1970, where the member at the time of rendition of such service was employed in a position covered by a prior pension act, unless such service, at the time credit is claimed therefor, is also creditable under the provisions of such prior act.

(ii) A member who is employed by two employers at the same time shall only be credited with service to one such employer for any month during which the member rendered such dual service.

(iii) Reduction efforts such as furloughs, reduced work hours, mandatory leave without pay, temporary layoffs, or other similar situations as contemplated by subsection (15)(c)(iii) of this section do not result in a reduction in service credit that otherwise would have been earned for that month of work, and the member shall receive the full service credit for the hours that were scheduled to be worked before the reduction.

(b)(i) "Service" for plan 2 members, means periods of employment by a member for one or more employers for which basic salary is earned for ninety or more hours per calendar month which shall constitute a service credit month. Periods of employment by a member for one or more employers for which basic salary is earned for at least seventy hours but less than ninety hours per calendar month shall constitute one-half service credit month. Periods of employment by a member for one or more employers for which basic salary is earned for less than seventy hours shall constitute a one-quarter service credit month.

(ii) Members of the retirement system who are elected or appointed to a state elective position may elect to continue to be members of this retirement system.

(iii) Service credit years of service shall be determined by dividing the total number of service credit months of service by twelve. Any fraction of a service credit year of service as so determined shall be taken into account in the computation of such retirement allowance or benefits.

(iv) If a member receives basic salary from two or more employers during any calendar month, the individual shall receive one service credit month's service credit during any calendar month in which multiple service for ninety or more hours is rendered; or one-half service credit month's service credit during any calendar month in which multiple service for at least seventy hours but less than ninety hours is rendered; or one-quarter service credit month during any calendar month in which multiple service for less than seventy hours is rendered.

(v) Reduction efforts such as furloughs, reduced work hours, mandatory leave without pay, temporary layoffs, or other similar situations as contemplated by subsection (15)(c)(iii) of this section do not result in a reduction in service credit that otherwise would have been earned for that month of work, and the member shall receive the full service credit for the hours that were scheduled to be worked before the reduction.

(30) "Service credit month" means a full service credit month or an accumulation of partial service credit months that are equal to one.

(31) "Service credit year" means an accumulation of months of service credit which is equal to one when divided by twelve.

(32) "State actuary" or "actuary" means the person appointed pursuant to RCW 44.44.010(2).

(33) "State elective position" means any position held by any person elected or appointed to statewide office or elected or appointed as a member of the legislature.

(34) "Surviving spouse" means the surviving widow or widower of a member. "Surviving spouse" shall not include the divorced spouse of a member except as provided in RCW 41.26.162.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 41.26 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The governor is authorized to enter into state-tribal compacts for the participation of tribal general authority peace officers meeting the terms and conditions of this section in the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2.

(2) The governor shall establish an application and approval process, procedures, and timelines for the negotiation, approval or disapproval, and execution of state-tribal law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2 compacts.

(3) The process may be initiated by submission, to the governor, of a resolution by the governing body of a federally recognized tribe in the state of Washington.

(4) The resolution must be accompanied by an application that indicates the police department whose employees will be offered participation in the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2, and that demonstrates that the police department will be operated solely as a governmental entity and compliant with all applicable state and federal laws, the rules adopted thereunder, and the terms and conditions set forth in the application.

(5) Within 90 days of receipt of a resolution and application under this section, the governor must convene a government-to-government meeting for the purpose of considering the resolution and application and initiating negotiations.

(6) State-tribal law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2 participation compacts must include provisions regarding:

(a) Acknowledgment by the tribe that it affirmatively chooses to participate in the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system for tribal law enforcement officers meeting the criteria of this section;

(b) Evidence that the person or persons who sign the compact on behalf of a tribe have authority under tribal law to bind the tribe to all provisions in the compact, including any waiver of sovereign immunity;

(c) If the tribe chooses to participate in the law enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system:

(i) Agreement by the tribe that it meets the definition of an employer as defined in this chapter;

(ii) Agreement by the tribe to adhere to all reporting, contribution, and auditing requirements as defined in this chapter, and all rules adopted under authority of RCW 41.50.050(5), including RCW 41.26.062; and

(iii) Agreement by the tribe that, at the request of the criminal justice training commission, the tribe will make available any records the tribe has provided to the department of retirement systems as required under the reporting, contribution, and auditing requirements defined in this chapter or chapter 41.50 RCW, and rules implementing those chapters;

(d) Agreement by the tribe to a limited waiver of sovereign immunity and consent to the jurisdiction of the Washington state courts for the purpose of enforcing the reporting, contribution, and auditing requirements defined in this chapter and all rules adopted under authority of RCW 41.50.050(5), including RCW 41.26.062;

(e) Agreement by the tribe to dissolution procedures memorialized in the state-tribal compact so that all parties are aware of their expectations and duties if the compact terminates or the tribal law enforcement agency chooses to no longer participate in the state retirement systems at a future date, specifically including withdrawal liability and examples of the scale of withdrawal liability for an employer with a tribal law enforcement agency similar in size to the tribe memorializing the compact;

(f) Acknowledgment by the tribe that it has been advised that choosing to no longer participate in the retirement systems may result in federal tax implications for the governing body and its employees that are outside the control of the state of Washington, the department of retirement systems, and that the tribe has been encouraged to seek counsel before agreeing to any dissolution procedures in the compact; and

(g) Acknowledgment by both parties that the pension system participation portions of the state-tribal compact are null and void if the federal internal revenue service issues guidance stating that any portion of those sections are in conflict with the plan qualification requirements for governmental plans in section 401(a) of the internal revenue code, and the conflict cannot be resolved through administrative action, statutory change, or amendment to the state-tribal compact.

(7) For tribes that opt out of pension system participation, such tribal law enforcement employees shall have no right to earn additional service credit in the plan.

Sec. 3. RCW 41.26.450 and 2021 c 334 s 965 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Port districts established under Title 53 RCW ((and)), institutions of higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016, and tribal governments participating through a state-tribal compact as defined in section 2 of this act shall contribute both the employer and state shares of the cost of the retirement system for any of their employees who are law enforcement officers.

(2) Institutions of higher education shall contribute both the employer and the state shares of the cost of the retirement system for any of their employees who are firefighters.

(3) During fiscal years 2018 and 2019 and during the 2019-2021 and 2021-2023 fiscal biennia:

When an employer charges a fee or recovers costs for work performed by a plan member where:

(a) The member receives compensation that is includable as basic salary under RCW 41.26.030(4)(b); and

(b) The service is provided, whether directly or indirectly, to an entity that is not an "employer" under RCW 41.26.030(14)(b);

the employer shall contribute both the employer and state shares of the cost of the retirement system contributions for that compensation. Nothing in this subsection prevents an employer from recovering the cost of the contribution from the entity receiving services from the member.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 41.26 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A member who is employed as a law enforcement officer with the police department of the government of a federally recognized tribe on July 1, 2025, may establish credit for such service rendered prior to July 1, 2025, unless service is either already credited for those periods, or a member was in receipt of retirement benefits from any retirement system listed in RCW 41.50.030. Upon receipt of a written request, the department of retirement systems must notify the member of the cost to establish credit for all or part of such service. Service credit may only be established for periods prior to July 1, 2025, if that service meets the requirements of RCW 41.26.030.

(2) Before July 1, 2026, a member may elect to establish credit in plan 2 under this section. Such election must be filed in writing with the department of retirement systems by June 30, 2026. The elected period must be in monthly increments beginning with the oldest service.

(a) To establish service under this section, the member must pay the actuarial value of the resulting increase in their benefit in a manner defined by the department: (i) No later than five years from the effective date of the election made under this section; and (ii) prior to retirement.

(b) Upon full payment of employee contributions for the elected period of service the department of retirement systems must credit the member with the service.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5. This act takes effect July 1, 2025.

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