The Washington State School Retirees’ Political Action Committee (WSSR-PAC) is made up of active and retired school personnel. WSSR-PAC’s mission is to develop, propose, and support action benefiting all school retirees.

WSSRA 2023 legislative priorities:

• Pass Plan 1 COLA Legislation.
  • Reinstate a permanent Cost-of-Living Adjustment for PERS 1 and TRS 1 retirees. At minimum, WSSRA is seeking COLA legislation to provide inflationary increases in July 2023 and July 2024. The 2023 increase should match the 8.7% Social Security increase.
• Protect and Expand Retiree Healthcare Benefits.
  • The Legislature lowered the Medicare Healthcare Benefit from $183 to $150 in 2011. In 2018 and 2019 we successfully lobbied for increases back to $183 per month. Protecting and expanding the Medical Benefit at $183 per month will help keep retiree medical premiums affordable.
• Equalize Plan 2/3 retiree health insurance.
  • Under current law, PEBB retiree insurance allows Plan 3 retirees to defer PEBB insurance if the retiree has alternative insurance. No such exceptions are made for Plan 2 retirees. If the 60-day window is missed, a Plan 2 retiree can never access PEBB insurance. That needs to be corrected.
• Pay Off the TRS 1 & PERS 1 Unfunded Liability
  • The State Actuary has the Washington State Legislature on a plan to pay off the Unfunded Accrued Actuarial Liability (UAAL) in TRS 1 and PERS 1. WSSRA fully supports that plan. WSSRA also supports efforts to speed up the payoff dates and insists the $800 million TRS 1 payoff scheduled for June 30, 2023 remains in the budget.