Z-0626.1
HOUSE BILL 2338
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By Representatives Bergquist, Volz, Bronoske, Griffey, Rule, Leavitt,
Bateman, Nance, Pollet, and Ramel; by request of LEOFF Plan 2
Retirement Board
Read first time 01/12/24. Referred to Committee on Appropriations.
1 AN ACT Relating to the law enforcement officers' and
2 firefighters' retirement system plan 2; amending RCW 41.26.048,
3 41.26.030, 41.26.030, 41.50.130, and 41.26.470; adding a new section
4 to chapter 41.26 RCW; providing effective dates; and providing an
5 expiration date.
6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
7 Part I
8 Statute of Limitations for Applying for the Special Death Benefit
9 Sec. 101. RCW 41.26.048 and 2010 c 261 s 2 are each amended to
10 read as follows:
11 (1) A two hundred fourteen thousand dollar death benefit shall be
12 paid to the member's estate, or such person or persons, trust or
13 organization as the member shall have nominated by written
14 designation duly executed and filed with the department. If there be
15 no such designated person or persons still living at the time of the
16 member's death, such member's death benefit shall be paid to the
17 member's surviving spouse or domestic partner as if in fact such
18 spouse or domestic partner had been nominated by written designation,
19 or if there be no such surviving spouse or domestic partner, then to
20 such member's legal representatives.
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 1 (2) The benefit under this section shall be paid only when death
2 occurs: (a) As a result of injuries sustained in the course of
3 employment; or (b) as a result of an occupational disease or
4 infection that arises naturally and proximately out of employment
5 covered under this chapter. The determination of eligibility for the
6 benefit shall be made consistent with Title 51 RCW by the department
7 of labor and industries. There is no statute of limitations for this
8 benefit. The department of labor and industries shall notify the
9 department of retirement systems by order under RCW 51.52.050.
10 (3) The department of labor and industries shall determine
11 eligibility under subsection (2) of this section for the special
12 death benefit for any beneficiaries who were denied the special death
13 benefit for failing to meet the statute of limitations under Title 51
14 RCW. If the department of labor and industries determines the
15 beneficiary is eligible for the special death benefit the department
16 must provide the beneficiary an option to reelect their pension
17 benefit under RCW 41.26.510(2) and if the member elects an ongoing
18 pension benefit the department must pay the beneficiary retroactive
19 to the date of the member's death.
20 (4)(a) Beginning July 1, 2010, and every year thereafter, the
21 department shall determine the following information:
22 (i) The index for the 2008 calendar year, to be known as "index
23 A;"
24 (ii) The index for the calendar year prior to the date of
25 determination, to be known as "index B;" and
26 (iii) The ratio obtained when index B is divided by index A.
27 (b) The value of the ratio obtained shall be the annual
28 adjustment to the original death benefit and shall be applied
29 beginning every July 1st. In no event, however, shall the annual
30 adjustment:
31 (i) Produce a benefit which is lower than two hundred fourteen
32 thousand dollars;
33 (ii) Exceed three percent in the initial annual adjustment; or
34 (iii) Differ from the previous year's annual adjustment by more
35 than three percent.
36 (c) For the purposes of this section, "index" means, for any
37 calendar year, that year's average consumer price index — Seattle,
38 Washington area for urban wage earners and clerical workers, all
39 items, compiled by the bureau of labor statistics, United States
40 department of labor.
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1 Part II
2 Definition of Firefighter
3 Sec. 201. RCW 41.26.030 and 2021 c 12 s 2 are each amended to
4 read as follows:
5 As used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly
6 required by the context:
7 (1) "Accumulated contributions" means the employee's
8 contributions made by a member, including any amount paid under RCW
9 41.50.165(2), plus accrued interest credited thereon.
10 (2) "Actuarial reserve" means a method of financing a pension or
11 retirement plan wherein reserves are accumulated as the liabilities
12 for benefit payments are incurred in order that sufficient funds will
13 be available on the date of retirement of each member to pay the
14 member's future benefits during the period of retirement.
15 (3) "Actuarial valuation" means a mathematical determination of
16 the financial condition of a retirement plan. It includes the
17 computation of the present monetary value of benefits payable to
18 present members, and the present monetary value of future employer
19 and employee contributions, giving effect to mortality among active
20 and retired members and also to the rates of disability, retirement,
21 withdrawal from service, salary and interest earned on investments.
22 (4)(a) "Basic salary" for plan 1 members, means the basic monthly
23 rate of salary or wages, including longevity pay but not including
24 overtime earnings or special salary or wages, upon which pension or
25 retirement benefits will be computed and upon which employer
26 contributions and salary deductions will be based.
27 (b) "Basic salary" for plan 2 members, means salaries or wages
28 earned by a member during a payroll period for personal services,
29 including overtime payments, and shall include wages and salaries
30 deferred under provisions established pursuant to sections 403(b),
31 414(h), and 457 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, but shall
32 exclude lump sum payments for deferred annual sick leave, unused
33 accumulated vacation, unused accumulated annual leave, or any form of
34 severance pay. In any year in which a member serves in the
35 legislature the member shall have the option of having such member's
36 basic salary be the greater of:
37 (i) The basic salary the member would have received had such
38 member not served in the legislature; or
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 1 (ii) Such member's actual basic salary received for
2 nonlegislative public employment and legislative service combined.
3 Any additional contributions to the retirement system required
4 because basic salary under (b)(i) of this subsection is greater than
5 basic salary under (b)(ii) of this subsection shall be paid by the
6 member for both member and employer contributions.
7 (5)(a) "Beneficiary" for plan 1 members, means any person in
8 receipt of a retirement allowance, disability allowance, death
9 benefit, or any other benefit described herein.
10 (b) "Beneficiary" for plan 2 members, means any person in receipt
11 of a retirement allowance or other benefit provided by this chapter
12 resulting from service rendered to an employer by another person.
13 (6)(a) "Child" or "children" means an unmarried person who is
14 under the age of eighteen or mentally or physically disabled as
15 determined by the department, except a person who is disabled and in
16 the full time care of a state institution, who is:
17 (i) A natural born child;
18 (ii) A stepchild where that relationship was in existence prior
19 to the date benefits are payable under this chapter;
20 (iii) A posthumous child;
21 (iv) A child legally adopted or made a legal ward of a member
22 prior to the date benefits are payable under this chapter; or
23 (v) An illegitimate child legitimized prior to the date any
24 benefits are payable under this chapter.
25 (b) A person shall also be deemed to be a child up to and
26 including the age of twenty years and eleven months while attending
27 any high school, college, or vocational or other educational
28 institution accredited, licensed, or approved by the state, in which
29 it is located, including the summer vacation months and all other
30 normal and regular vacation periods at the particular educational
31 institution after which the child returns to school.
32 (7) "Department" means the department of retirement systems
33 created in chapter 41.50 RCW.
34 (8) "Director" means the director of the department.
35 (9) "Disability board" for plan 1 members means either the county
36 disability board or the city disability board established in RCW
37 41.26.110.
38 (10) "Disability leave" means the period of six months or any
39 portion thereof during which a member is on leave at an allowance
40 equal to the member's full salary prior to the commencement of
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 1 disability retirement. The definition contained in this subsection
2 shall apply only to plan 1 members.
3 (11) "Disability retirement" for plan 1 members, means the period
4 following termination of a member's disability leave, during which
5 the member is in receipt of a disability retirement allowance.
6 (12) "Domestic partners" means two adults who have registered as
7 domestic partners under RCW 26.60.020.
8 (13) "Employee" means any law enforcement officer or firefighter
9 as defined in subsections (17) and (19) of this section.
10 (14)(a) "Employer" for plan 1 members, means the legislative
11 authority of any city, town, county, district, or regional fire
12 protection service authority or the elected officials of any
13 municipal corporation that employs any law enforcement officer and/or
14 firefighter, any authorized association of such municipalities, and,
15 except for the purposes of RCW 41.26.150, any labor guild,
16 association, or organization, which represents the firefighters or
17 law enforcement officers of at least seven cities of over 20,000
18 population and the membership of each local lodge or division of
19 which is composed of at least sixty percent law enforcement officers
20 or firefighters as defined in this chapter.
21 (b) "Employer" for plan 2 members, means the following entities
22 to the extent that the entity employs any law enforcement officer
23 and/or firefighter:
24 (i) The legislative authority of any city, town, county,
25 district, public corporation, or regional fire protection service
26 authority established under RCW 35.21.730 to provide emergency
27 medical services as defined in RCW 18.73.030;
28 (ii) The elected officials of any municipal corporation;
29 (iii) The governing body of any other general authority law
30 enforcement agency;
31 (iv) A four-year institution of higher education having a fully
32 operational fire department as of January 1, 1996; or
33 (v) The department of social and health services or the
34 department of corrections when employing firefighters serving at a
35 prison or civil commitment center on an island.
36 (c) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter,
37 "employer" does not include a government contractor. For purposes of
38 this subsection, a "government contractor" is any entity, including a
39 partnership, limited liability company, for-profit or nonprofit
40 corporation, or person, that provides services pursuant to a contract
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 1 with an "employer." The determination whether an employer-employee
2 relationship has been established is not based on the relationship
3 between a government contractor and an "employer," but is based
4 solely on the relationship between a government contractor's employee
5 and an "employer" under this chapter.
6 (15)(a) "Final average salary" for plan 1 members, means (i) for
7 a member holding the same position or rank for a minimum of twelve
8 months preceding the date of retirement, the basic salary attached to
9 such same position or rank at time of retirement; (ii) for any other
10 member, including a civil service member who has not served a minimum
11 of twelve months in the same position or rank preceding the date of
12 retirement, the average of the greatest basic salaries payable to
13 such member during any consecutive twenty-four month period within
14 such member's last ten years of service for which service credit is
15 allowed, computed by dividing the total basic salaries payable to
16 such member during the selected twenty-four month period by twenty-
17 four; (iii) in the case of disability of any member, the basic salary
18 payable to such member at the time of disability retirement; (iv) in
19 the case of a member who hereafter vests pursuant to RCW 41.26.090,
20 the basic salary payable to such member at the time of vesting.
21 (b) "Final average salary" for plan 2 members, means the monthly
22 average of the member's basic salary for the highest consecutive
23 sixty service credit months of service prior to such member's
24 retirement, termination, or death. Periods constituting authorized
25 unpaid leaves of absence may not be used in the calculation of final
26 average salary.
27 (c) In calculating final average salary under (a) or (b) of this
28 subsection, the department of retirement systems shall include:
29 (i) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by a state
30 agency or institution during the 2009-2011 fiscal biennium as a
31 result of reduced work hours, mandatory or voluntary leave without
32 pay, temporary reduction in pay implemented prior to December 11,
33 2010, or temporary layoffs if the reduced compensation is an integral
34 part of the employer's expenditure reduction efforts, as certified by
35 the employer;
36 (ii) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by the state
37 or a local government employer during the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium
38 as a result of reduced work hours, mandatory leave without pay,
39 temporary layoffs, or reductions to current pay if the reduced
40 compensation is an integral part of the employer's expenditure
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 1 reduction efforts, as certified by the employer. Reductions to
2 current pay shall not include elimination of previously agreed upon
3 future salary increases; and
4 (iii) Any compensation forgone by a member employed by the state
5 or a local government employer during the 2019-2021 and 2021-2023
6 fiscal biennia as a result of reduced work hours, mandatory leave
7 without pay, temporary layoffs, furloughs, reductions to current pay,
8 or other similar measures resulting from the COVID-19 budgetary
9 crisis, if the reduced compensation is an integral part of the
10 employer's expenditure reduction efforts, as certified by the
11 employer. Reductions to current pay shall not include elimination of
12 previously agreed upon future salary increases.
13 (16) "Fire department" includes a fire station operated by the
14 department of social and health services or the department of
15 corrections when employing firefighters serving a prison or civil
16 commitment center on an island.
17 (17) "Firefighter" means:
18 (a) Any person who is serving on a full time, fully compensated
19 basis as a member of a fire department of an employer and who is
20 serving in a position which requires passing a civil service
21 examination for firefighter, and who is actively employed as such;
22 (b) Anyone who is actively employed as a full time firefighter
23 where the fire department does not have a civil service examination;
24 (c) Supervisory firefighter personnel;
25 (d) Personnel serving on a full-time, fully compensated basis as
26 an employee of a fire department in positions that necessitate
27 experience as a firefighter to perform the essential functions of
28 those positions;
29 (e) Any full time executive secretary of an association of fire
30 protection districts authorized under RCW 52.12.031. The provisions
31 of this subsection (17)(((d))) (e) shall not apply to plan 2 members;
32 (((e))) (f) The executive secretary of a labor guild, association
33 or organization (which is an employer under subsection (14) of this
34 section), if such individual has five years previous membership in a
35 retirement system established in chapter 41.16 or 41.18 RCW. The
36 provisions of this subsection (17)(((e))) (f) shall not apply to plan
37 2 members;
38 (((f))) (g) Any person who is serving on a full time, fully
39 compensated basis for an employer, as a fire dispatcher, in a
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 1 department in which, on March 1, 1970, a dispatcher was required to
2 have passed a civil service examination for firefighter;
3 (((g))) (h) Any person who on March 1, 1970, was employed on a
4 full time, fully compensated basis by an employer, and who on May 21,
5 1971, was making retirement contributions under the provisions of
6 chapter 41.16 or 41.18 RCW; and
7 (((h))) (i) Any person who is employed on a full-time, fully
8 compensated basis by an employer as an emergency medical technician
9 that meets the requirements of RCW 18.71.200 or 18.73.030(((12)))
10 (13), and whose duties include providing emergency medical servi