Washington State School Retirees' Political Action Committee

2008 Legislative Bill News

HB 3022 / SB 6651 — Plan 3 Vesting - Removal of Age Restrictions

This bill resolves the disparity among the vesting requirements of different retirement plans.

SCPP Request Proposal: Allows members of Plan 3 in TRS, SERS, and PERS to become fully vested after five years of service by removing age provisions from the Plan 3 vesting criteria. The members impacted are the non-vested Plan 3 members with hire ages below age 40 and less than 10 years of service: approximately 8,947 out of 21,216 PERS 3; 22,537 out of 51,475 TRS 3; and 9,174 out of 30,963 SERS 3.

HB 3002 — sponsored by Representatives Fromhold, Conway, Hurst, Simson, and Linville; by request of the Select Committee on Pension Policy
SB 6651 — sponsored by Senators Pridemore, Schoesler, Fraser, Holmquist, Shin, and Rasmussen; by request of the Select Committee on Pension Policy

Links: HB 3022 SB 6651

HB 3027 / SB 6648 — PLAN 2 Separated from Service Member Access to the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB)

This bill allows Plan 2 folks who are separated from service to have access to PEBB benefits without having to be 55 years of age and to have 20 years of service. Instead this benefit would accrue in 5 years without drawing a pension.

SCPP Request Proposal: Allows TRS/SERS/PERS Plan 2 members access to PEBB benefit offerings upon separation from service without beginning to draw a retirement pension at age 55 with at least 20 years of service. This proposal increases the years of service requirement compared to previous proposal, resulting in a proposal of no fiscal impact.

HB 3027 — sponsored by Representatives Cody, Fromhold, Crouse, Hurst, Simpson, and Morrell; by request of the select Committee on Pension Policy
SB 6648 — sponsored by Senators Keiser, and Kohl-Wells; by request of the Select Committee on Pension Policy

Links: HB 3027 SB 6648

HB 3028 / SB 6649 — "2nd Chance" Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) Enrollment Window

This bill would restore PEBB (Public Employees Benefits Board) medical coverage to a select few retirees who do not now have PEBB coverage.

SCPP Request Proposal: Provides a limited second PEBB health insurance enrollment window for state and K-12 employees who retired prior to 1/1/01, and who can meet PEBB continuity of care requirements.

The "2nd chance" window is provided only to those retired or disabled K-12 and state employees who were receiving a pension benefit as of 1/01/01, when the opportunity to defer PEBB retiree coverage began. This reduces the number of potential new enrollees, and thus the costs.
The "2nd chance" enrollment window is delayed until 2010. This accommodates HCA (Health Care Authority) concerns regarding their abilty to implement this Proposal while maintaining quality service for current PEBB enrollees.
The "2nd chance" PEBB window is limited for Medicare retirees to a participation rate of 25% of those Medicare retirees currently "locked-out" of the PEBB. This reduces the number of potential new Medicare eligible enrollees from approximately 14,061 to 3,504 (K-12 = 1,794; state = 1710), and thus the costs. It has been estimated that of the approximately 1,687 Non-Medicare eligible retirees currently "locked-out" of the PEBB 972 (K-12 = 415; state = 557) would be impacted by this proposal.

HB 3028 — sponsored by Representatives Conway, Cody, Crouse, Hurst, Simpson, Linville; by request of the Select Committee on Pension Policy
SB 6649 — sponsored by Senators Keiser, Fraser, McAuliffe, Shin, Kohl-Welles, Rasmussen; by request of the Select Committee on Pension Policy

Links: HB 3028 SB 6649